Thoughtful - Well, Friday - and Fiction Friday - Two for ONE!

I slept in yesterday morning rather than getting up and writing. Wednesday was a busy day and kept me from waking up at the usual time, so Thursday was a rush to get out of the door, even with my late arrival at work already arranged. The good news about Wednesday was that it was a typical day for me - which means that students acted the way I expected them to act rather than being surprising. We had one tantrum due to a thrown choice board and the subsequent refusal of myself and the behavioral health technicians to allow the client who threw the board to go get the board. We had one episode (in the same session) of significant aggression and attempts to injure self and others. That was the most difficult session of the day. The rest just flowed quite nicely, even the one where the BHT was expressing doubts that I could do my job all by myself. 

Uh, yeah, I'm fine.

So, that was how Thursday started. It was a long Wednesday because of an extended day and Ash Wednesday services at night that kept me moving from thing to thing. When I got home last night, I took my medications early and then talked to family members. I tried to go to sleep early, but that didn't happen. I had a restless night and was awake and then sleeping and then awake and then sleeping. I was wide awake about 1:45am and didn't really get back to sleep for the rest of the morning. I managed to stay in bed until a drowsing dream woke me up - those are always bad for me - and then I gave up on sleeping and came out here to write a bit.

Today's events at work include three groups and the possibility of one earned coupon session. We will see. Other than that, I am going to work on file folders and rearranging the back storage room to accommodate my new task box/file folder station. I also have to replace a guitar string that popped during some very enthusiastic strumming on Wednesday. I have an alternate guitar for situations such as these, and it has been very interesting which people have noticed the switch and those who have not commented. So, that's what I am doing at work today. I am thankful that it is Friday so I have a day for what I need to do.

I've been doing my #100daychallengeArtandClean challenge (formally) for the last two days. I am doing a rolodex art creation project to use up some rolodex cards that were way too large for my rolodex system and a five-minute clean every day. There is little to no proof that the five-minute clean is happening other than some before and after pictures when I think to take them, but the pictures up to here are my first two cards. One of them is front and back. The other is just the front. I'm not sure what I am going to do for today's card, but that's the fun in what I have chosen. I can do anything with the card, but my artistic offering has to happen in the space of a rolodex card. I may just cover the card with words in different types of lettering because I love writing things.

Are you interested in how my day is going so far? It is 5:08 am, and I just found a strip of packing tape in my hair. Let's hope that the rest of the day will not include similar events!

And, now, it is time for Fiction Friday.

Here is the next bit for Persephone.

CHAPTER TWO

Dr. Licar continued to lecture, and Persephone wrote on her desktop. There would be weekly quizzes on readings. There would be tests of information synthesis every fourth Friday - on both the readings and lecture materials. Lab assignments would include essays, papers, simulations, and group leadership opportunities. Cohort assignments would include several original compositions with presentations and therapeutic music experience development based on specific populations. Students were expected to do approximately 6 hours of work away from class per week.

"So far, so good," thought Persephone. The work was equivalent to her undergraduate experiences and could be done with some creative time management.

The prose from the podium changed. Dr. Licar was starting her lecture about the course content.

"Throughout all known cultures, times, and organizations, we have found evidence of music. Where humans have lived, there has been music. Music is part of celebration, of ritual, of grief. Music invades and permeates most of our waking hours and is important to many of us for many different reasons. This course will cover the ways humans and music interact and intersect from the perspective of health and wellness. We will discuss the role of music as a treatment modality through the framework of the medical model of treatment, the educational model, the humanistic model. The most important lens for our course today, however, is that of trauma and resilience."

As Dr. Licar continued to speak, Persephone scribbled on her desktop with each of her styluses. She had one for regular writing, another for highlighting, and the third for music composition. Her note taking process was one that she had developed during the last years of her undergraduate degree program when she had been taking cognitive psychology, advanced music theory, and her best class of all, sociology of music and human behavior. She found that shifting between writing and highlighting offered her a way to take notes that included doodles, arrows, words, and annotations on pictures offered by the lecturer. Her music stylus was never far away from her because music would pop into her head at any moment. Persephone had found that the most efficient way to get those musical distractions out of her head was to write them down as soon as possible. Otherwise, the song snippets would just stay there, repeating repeatedly until the volume swelled. Persephone kept taking notes until the hour was over.

It was time to move into cohort time, so Persephone packed up her bag and moved to the next room on her course list. She filed through the hallways with the other people from her section until they reached their destination, Room 311.

Room 311 was a smaller room - only 200 seats in this room. Persephone found her desk, again labeled with her number, signed in, and waited for the course to begin.

“Welcome to your Continuum laboratory session.” The man at the front of the room indicated that it was time to listen. “My name is Alastair Palmer, and I am your lecturer for this course. Please open your tablets to your Continuum lab site, and let’s get started.”

Persephone, having already opened up her site, arranged her styluses, and spent a bit of time watching her fellow students. She could hear the rustle of carry bags and styluses being set on the desk surfaces. She had already looked through the syllabus and had put most of the assignments into her calendar before the day of coursework had started. Laboratory assignments were in green in her calendar. The first one due was a series of essays – topic “To Be Announced”, due on Wednesday. She would have started those essays if she had known the topics, but she had to wait.

The first lecture was standard for courses in Persephone’s experience. There was a review of the syllabus, especially the assignment calendar and general overview of the competencies covered by the course. The lecturer highlighted the tasks and assignments that would be linked to Dr. Licar’s lectures. Still no mention of the essays due later in the week, so Persephone kept taking notes and tried to keep her mind on the information shared.

The rest of the day included meeting her small group leader and the twenty -nine peers that she would spend time with during the semester. They all had the same coursework, so Persephone figured that they had similar interests, skills, and competencies.

Classes were finally underway.