Reading - Not What I'm Reading, But Just Plain Old Reading

It has been about a month since I went to the library, and I am feeling the urge to go back but I am also feeling lazy. How does that work? Well, going to my library involves going downtown which is a warren of one-way streets, having to compete for parking, and then having to go to the outskirts of town where I live. The only time I have to do something like this is after work when my brain is absolutely exhausted and the thought of all of the effort needed to check out books makes the thought of going through the process absolutely horrific to me.

This does not mean that I am not reading, though.

Oh, of course not. I have an extensive library of my own that I am reading through. At the moment, I am re-reading The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordin because he has a new book out that continues Percy Jackson's story. I wanted to re-read the ones that I have in order to get caught up. That's 10 books to get through before I can start the new one. I am on book nine. In addition to my extensive library in my library room, I also have a stuffed Kindle that has more free books than anything else. I also have a subscription to Libby through my library account, so I have access to all sorts of books.

Before I had a Kindle that I take with me everywhere (mainly because I can play downloaded movies and television shows during my commute through my car's sound system), I rarely left the house without a book. I made sure that my purses were large enough for a paperback in addition to my wallet, and off I would go! I don't have to have big purses anymore, but I miss the days of hauling a book around.

I am someone who prefers to select my own books rather than reading something as an assignment. I do not like writing book reports, and I hate reading books in order to analyze them. Reading for research is excruciating for me, so I don't do it anymore. There you go. I prefer to pick what I am reading, and reading is for entertainment for me - I don't like it when I have to read.

Today, I will be going to work to stay for 12 hours. It is our school's Open House, and I have to be around for longer than usual. I no longer have a Wednesday night job, so I will be there for the entire day. I hope that people remember me if we get to go home early, but I doubt that they will. They never do. So, I will sit in my music therapy room, waiting for people to arrive, organizing my back closet, and reading a book occasionally...

Happy Wednesday, all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear AMTA

Dear American Music Therapy Association: I am debating long and hard about remaining in this relationship. I have been in this relationship since college, and this is not a decision that I am taking lightly or without great cost.  I am not happy with what you are bringing to this relationship. Now, I have been a selfish partner over the past several years - mainly because I am not feeling like we share a common mission anymore. It is easy for me to place the blame on you, but I know that this is not all on me. I have tried to be invested in communication and support and understanding, but everyone comes to a time where enough is enough. I am trying very hard to decide if the benefits that you provide to me are worth the feelings that I have about where I think you and I are going. I am not sure that our destination is the same anymore, and this makes me sad. To be completely honest, I am only in this relationship these days for the music therapy interns. I don't think that is a hea...
Read more

Songwriting Sunday: Repetition

Image
One of the things that I find to be helpful with my client population (children, adolescents, and young adults with dual diagnoses) is repetition of phrases, lyrics, and music. As a result of 30+ years of working with this population in various iterations, I have found that my clients respond the most to songs with three repeated phrases to prime their responses with a different phrase to communicate the important part of the experience. DISCLAIMER: This is not a definite way to write music for clinical interactions. This is what seems to work well with my particular group of human beings. Don't go to your supervisors and tell them that I told you that this is the ONLY way to write music - It is NOT! You have to find what works for your clients and for their clinical goals. Since my clients respond well to this type of song, I tend to write songs in this format more than any other. What I have found is that my clients remember these songs more than the ones that I do in different f...
Read more

Being An Internship Director: On Hiatus

Image
It has been long enough since I have had an intern that I am seriously feeling like I have little to say on the subject. At the same time, I am currently writing Chapter 5 of my general internship handbook, so I am able to write about being an intern and what types of things to think about during this important time in our professional development. It is a strange place to be in, and it is one that is a bit challenging for me. Right now, I have had three vacant internship positions since the beginning of the calendar year. I will have a vacant position next month and that will be an entire year of rejected offers. In the past nine months, I have offered positions to three applicants who have declined. It is interesting how people complain that there aren't enough internship programs, but programs like mine are empty. I guess there aren't enough internship programs that pay large stipends (which mine cannot) out there. I get it. It is interesting to me how we have moved from an ...
Read more