Finally Friday

I woke up very early this morning (about two and a half hours ago - it is now 4:30 am), and was unable to get back to sleep. I took myself into the world of social media and wasted about an hour and a half checking up on things. I am now sitting at the computer. writing this post, and watching the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

This has been a long week. Fortunately, it hasn't been a hugely challenging week for my clients in music therapy, but it has been a long week nonetheless. I have had to physically intervene with aggressive clients even though I am on light duty and should not be doing any sort of physical intervention. Today is my plan/prep day, so I will have only two groups to be part of - one is just oversight and the other is mine to lead. After bus duty this afternoon, I have to get out of the town as quickly as possible so I can get to my Workers Comp doctor for a useless appointment where I will sit and wait for the doctor to say, "I don't know why the referral hasn't gone through." After that, I will navigate city traffic until I reach my home. I do not like having appointments late on Friday afternoon but that is the only time I can get that does not require me to take sick time, so off I will go into the world of holiday traffic.

I have written several TMEs this week (go me!). I am to a place in several where I need to be able to play my guitar to finish them up, so I have to wait until I am able to reach my G chord before I can continue. I have finished some using public domain and traditional children's songs that do not need me to compose the music or play an instrument. As I've finished them, I have put them into my database, so things are moving forward there.

We have six days left until the end of this work calendar year. This time next week, I will be sleeping in. I have two days off from work before a morning church service and then heading to the airport for a trip back home (if the weather cooperates - it didn't cooperate last year AT ALL!). I hope all goes as planned because I haven't been home for Christmas since 2019. I really want to be home this year.

To get through to break, I have two groups today, three groups and a dyad session on Monday, five groups and an individual on Tuesday, and six groups on Wednesday. Most of my individuals have been discharged from the facility, so it is time to start new clients in individual sessions in January. So, I will spend a bit of time trying to coordinate my new schedule. My intern will be graduating a week after we return from break, so I will be inheriting all of her individuals and getting back to the routine of running all group sessions. Since I am not a fan of being idle, I am looking forward to getting back all of my clients. I will have less "sitting in my office watching music therapy" time and much more "leading the music therapy" time in the next six months.

I made some planner labels for my work journal. I am going to print them and then cut them out to use. I am going to put them into files for printing in my TPT store pretty soon. Perhaps others will find them useful. Perhaps not. Anyway, I find them useful, so that is really what matters.

I am going to spend time in my music therapy room, going through my cabinets and trying to fix some things that are broken that I will not use between now and break. I know I have some Orff pegs to mend and several tambourines and maracas to super glue back together, so I will work on those projects this morning. Then, I have consultation with my intern before our afternoon music therapy groups. I am still not supposed to use my left upper extremity (AKA arm) to do much at work, but I might be able to fix some things with a splinted ring finger sticking out in the middle of everything.

Maybe.

It is finally Friday which means that I have a bit of rest tomorrow. The church decided to change the caroling party from Sunday to Saturday, so I am not going to attend. My Saturdays are my only day without work. I am trying really hard to make that day only for me. So, I do not feel guilty about not going for an unpaid event that others decided to switch without asking me about it. Sunday is the Sunday School contribution to worship - that is something that no one asked me about either, but I have to participate since it is worship. My students are being used by the other two classes - something else I was not consulted on at all. That will be a topic of conversation in the very near future - consulting ALL of us at the same time rather than two of the three making decisions without the input and thoughts of the third.

(Can you tell that rankles a bit?)

At the end of the day, I will have 24 hours of uninterrupted time to myself. I don't have to do anything outside of my house this Saturday. Once I am on Winter break, I have two days of not leaving home before I go. I am ready to have that quiet time. So very ready.

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