LED – From Wikipedia: Canada clinched first overall in gold medal wins on the second last day of competition[3] and became the first host nation since Norway in 1952 to lead the gold medal count. With 14 gold medals, they set a new gold medal record for Winter Olympics host countries, surpassing the 10 won by Norway in 1994 and the United States in 2002. Canada also broke the record of the most golds won at a single Winter Olympics, which was 13, set by the former Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002.[4] (Link)

I followed it up with a delightful breakfast of homemade spicy, crunchy, sweet summer rolls that were leftover from yesterday. (They’re even better the second day when the filling has had time to.. fill.. or.. something.) I love how easy they are to make – soft little envelopes of crispy veggies and whatever else we toss in for flavour..

Tonight’s dinner is extra-spicy tempeh wingz (using our usual variance on the recipe part-way down this page). A big, happy salad on the side.

We’re starting dried pineapple rings today, too.

You are hereby notified that I will be unable to attend school this week – none of my clothes will fit and I’ll be too busy making “nom” noises.

Nom.

The problem is that I’m reading about consciousness, sleep, dreaming, hypnosis and altered-states (i.e., “drugs”) which is making me unreasonably sleepy. I could also really go for a good stiff drink. Instead, I’m sipping drugs (in the form of caffeinated Dr. Pepper) and trying to increase my body temperature (to help eliminate sleepiness) by randomly jumping around.

It’s a good thing that the part about hypnosis talks about “suggestibility” – on that, at least, I clearly know my stuff.

LED – “When spermidine was applied to human immune cells, they too lived longer, with three times as many surviving after 12 days as in a comparison batch.” (link)

And, Happy Birthday to The Man in Black.

LED – Canada is considering Bill C-384. I strongly support this proposed change to the criminal code.

There are specific terms for nearly every response, every comment, every aspect of counseling. I am learning about appropriate times to use them and how to make them flow naturally. I know a good chunk of the techniques now and I will continue to learn more until the end of my 2nd year in the program.

The problem is that I can’t help but think that if I were sitting with a counselor who attempted to use one of those skills, I’d immediately reply, “OH! That was a GREAT use of X skill! Nice! Very natural sounding!” and “Ohhhhh, good use of X skill to make me look deeper at the problem! Sweeeeeeeet!”

I might even prompt the therapist with, “Y’know, now that I’ve mentioned X, it might be helpful if you asked me about Y and Z, no?”

Eep.

Of course, I know that the whole point behind learning these particular skills is to help me make sure I’m covering everything that needs to be covered with a client – remembering to discuss the presenting problem isn’t hard, but remembering to ask other important questions can sometimes be forgotten “in the moment”. It’s also about making people feel comfortable in a situation that, for many, is particularly uncomfortable.

I know, too, that once you’re in a counseling session as the worker, it’s not about a mental checklist – it’s about the flow of things and trying to get a really big picture of the client’s perspectives. The mental checklist only comes in to play when the worker is ‘stuck’ (or new at all of this) and needs to move things along appropriately.

But I am pretty sure I will never be able to seek therapy for myself again. At least, not without being that therapist’s worst client EVER.

LED – Scarleteen, one of The Best sources for online sex education for teens, has started answering questions via text message. In other words, teens who aren’t near a computer, or who have an urgent question, can TEXT it and get a reply.