Best Careers 2009: School Psychologist – US News and World Report

Best Careers 2009: School Psychologist – US News and World Report

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i heart technology

It’s officially Fall Break! Yay! I was originally planning on camping at Lost Maples this weekend but it just didn’t quite come together. It would’ve been really amazing to see this time of year, but I’m happy to have a day off either way. And it’s probably better this way because I would’ve had to skip my last 2 classes today to go claim a campsite with Cory before it got too late, but it turns out my Lifespan test was postponed to today at 3:30. I was supposed to have the exam on Tuesday, but there was a chemical spill at the science building and they cleared the whole building! [Chemical Spill Clears BSB] They made us keep a good 50 feet from the building, blocked off the roads.. it was a big deal! I felt bad for all the professors whose students were outside with their midterms in hand, unable to find their class and with no idea what to do haha. I’m sure they had to take their midterms all over again! They ended up letting people back in the building like 3 hours later. Obviously my class was long over by then so that’s why I took it today.

I don’t know why I’m looking more forward to this weekend than others before. I guess just because I have a full extra day to do NOTHING, which is how I usually spend my weekends haha. Well, I say nothing.. what I mean is nothing really productive. I do a little homework Sunday nights but other than that it’s a lot of spending time with Cory (can’t complain!) and watching movies, eating good food, napping.. things that I’ve come to find may not be “productive” but are essential to my well-being. Seriously! I guess that probably sounds like I’m rationalizing being lazy, but really, those are the things that make me happy. So spending a lot of my time and energy on those things is a good thing. I’m overall a really happy person, and I think that has a lot to do with it.

Other things… tonight I’m hanging out with my friend Morgan! We haven’t really hung out since last semester. I was dating Ben then, and living with Lacey. Weird how circumstances change so much so quickly! It sucks living here sometimes because I don’t like having people over since I don’t know my roommates very well. And a lot of times I wish Cory lived here. It was nice when I was dating Ben because if I wanted to see him he was just 5 minutes away. But at the same time, living 3 hours from Cory gives me a chance to spend time with my girl friends. Because I know if he was here I’d never leave his side! I mean I probably spend the majority of my time with him anyway and we don’t even live in the same city. He’s gonna get sick of me one of these days haha. I cannot get enough of that boy.. Nothing he doesn’t already know though Hi Cory!

Another little side note.. I just heard about a site called Grooveshark that’s kind of similar to Pandora. I LOVE Pandora, but you don’t really get to choose the actual songs you want to hear, just the genre. I like that when I don’t have anything in particular I want to hear, but Grooveshark lets you choose specific songs and make playlists out of them. Both have cool features so I’ll probably switch off between them.

I’ve come to realize this period of time – whether you define it as this decade, this era, this generation – is marked by convenience. Among other things of course, the past decade or two has seen a huge surge in consumer products geared toward convenience. There are a lot of great things about that, because it means we can use our time more efficiently and generally makes life easier. Obviously there are plenty of negatives too.. laziness, depersonalization, etc. I think as long as you pick and choose the conveniences in life that are most beneficial without being detrimental, you’re fine. Like take microwaves for example. They make it quicker and easier to get food cooked, as long as you don’t eat eggrolls and hot pockets all the time haha. But the reason I bring this up is because it seems like every day I find something else new and exciting that makes my life just a little bit easier. Case in point: Redbox. Not only are movies only $1 a night (which is awesome because who needs a movie for more than a night?), but you can reserve them online to make sure no one else gets the one you want, and just show up to any Redbox (they’re everywhere), swipe your card, and your movie pops right out. Netflix is the same concept except you don’t even have to leave your house haha. Another convenience that I love: iPhones. Everything about them is meant to be convenient. There’s an app you can get for iPhones called Shazam, and it identifies songs that are playing. So if you hear a song you like and want to download, or you hear a song and cannot think of the artist’s name, you turn on Shazam, it listens to it for like 30 seconds, analyzes it, and then tells you all the info about that song. As if that weren’t enough, it also gives you links to watch the music video for that song on YouTube, read the lyrics, and download it on iTunes. It cracks me up to think back to when I was my youngest sister’s age and we had only gotten dial-up internet in our house like 3 years before that. There was no such thing as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and no one blogged. How did people survive?!

Anyway. I don’t know why I explained all that stuff as if no one knows what Redboxes or iPhones are. Even my dad has mastered the art of technology. My grandparents.. well I think maybe they were a little too far past the threshold of learning by the time computers made their way into every household in America. But anyone 60 and younger could probably tell you what DVR or a Blackberry is. What a world we live in…

it reminded me twice that i was alive

So you know how most people say that exercising puts them in a good mood and makes them feel generally happy? Well until about a week ago I completely disagreed with that idea. I’ve exercised plenty of times before and very rarely did I feel good afterward. In fact, really any kind of exercise tended to put me in a BAD mood. But for some reason, being in that stupid 9:30am running class has totally changed my perspective on that whole thing. Granted, I still dread waking up early to go run.. but when I get done I’m in a good mood all day long! Who knew?! Well apparently everyone but me.. So that’s a fun new development. I think I might stick with it this time.

Other fun things: As was mentioned in a previous post, I caved and bought an iPhone and am completely obsessed with it. It’s ridiculous, and maybe a little sad, but I can’t help it! It’s so handy! And while a lot of it is probably superfluous, most of it is soo helpful, and so worth the money. I am constantly using the maps, weather, pandora, and wordpress apps. And as much as I hate to admit it, Apple products really are sooo much more intuitive than PCs. Anyone could use it, even my dad if he wasn’t enamored with his Blackberry. And not only is the phone itself easy to use, but everything that goes with it is too, like iTunes – when I add music, I don’t have to go through and edit every song that doesn’t have an artist or something, iTunes does it for me. Bottom line: best purchase ever. And I’ll shut up about it now.

I also bought a 18.5″ Dell monitor because my little nugget of a netbook wasn’t cutting it in the screen size department. Unlike the iPhone though, this was kind of an unnecessary purchase, and I’ll be the first to admit it haha. Just much more convenient. But then that’s what the American way is all about anyway, right? Convenience?

Ok now that I’ve officially exhausted all forms of procrastination (Email, check. Facebook, check.Organize music, check. Clean room, check. I could keep going… I’m a master at procrastination), I should probably start studying for my neuroscience quiz that’s at 9 tomorrow morning and/or writing the paper that’s due at 11..

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Ok I’m going now..

fabulosity

I can’t believe I haven’t talked about the Sex and the City movie yet! I may or may not have mentioned it in passing in a previous post, but it was certainly not given the credit it was due. Katie, Sammie, Annie, and I bought tickets weeks before the movie premiered – just to be sure. The movie came out on the 30th, so we got all dolled up and showed up at the theater at 6:30 for the 7:40 showing. To my surprise, there was a huge crowd of girls also dressed up, already waiting at the velvet rope. I guess I wasn’t expecting there to be so many like-minded females with the same desire to look as fabulous as Carrie/Charlotte/Samantha/Miranda that night. But hey! The more people to share in your “almost-40 but single and fabulous in New York City” fantasy, the better, right?

Women come to New York for the two L’s: Labels and Love.

- Carrie Bradshaw

Anyway, the movie itself was exactly what I was hoping for. Disagree if you like, but I loved/love the series, and I think the movie gave fans of the series what they wanted: an extension of the show, slightly “Hollywood-ized”, but still funny, candid, emotional, and entertaining. Truth be told, I actually cried. On more than one occasion! Granted, I’m a bit of a sap, but I think those who fell in love with the show, and could identify with and understand the characters, probably feel the same way that I do. The ending was endearing and predictably perfect, without being boring.

Bottom line: If you watched and enjoyed the series, or if you’re a sucker for a cute, funny, and fabulous chick flick, (or if you’re a guy who is looking for an easy 99:1 girl to guy ratio) go see this movie!

oh, the formalities of life

Today I bought a new Blackberry Pearl to replace my Katana. I say I bought it.. actually it was my dad who spent an hour on the phone with AT&T trying to reactivate one of the lines on his plan, and add a fourth line, and buy two new phones all in one call. You’d think that a company as essential to American life as a phone company would be able to accommodate its customers with ease.. like perhaps offering the same price for a phone whether it’s bought online, over the phone, or in a store. But no, the consumer must research all their options and talk to at least 6 different people in order to get done what they need done. But then really, what did I expect? It’s a corporation, out for our money and not for our happiness. And it’s not as if you could just tell a salesperson “Take care of it for me, would you?” because you know they’re looking to fill their pockets with their share of commission, not look out for your best interest. At the end of the day though, I got nice, new Blackberry (thank you dad) for my birthday. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be one of those unnecessary luxuries (ahem, iPhone) with all kinds of extras that I don’t need. But my dad has a Curve and loves it, so we’ll see. Now I just have to cancel my Sprint plan.. which normally would be a pain in the backside, but my particular circumstances allow me to cancel without paying, thank God.