What a terrible blogger I am this summer! In order to get back on track and get a current post published I’ll go to bullet points (in no particular order):
-Today I’m tired. I think the activity of the previous week caught up to me finally.
-I found out that my boss is going on vacation over Labor Dave Weekend (when we have SEATS for Friday and Sunday) 
and she found someone else to house-sit for 15 days. I’m disproportionately disappointed about that because it is excellent money, easy work, and access to satellite TV. I s’pose it’s better because I’ll be in school by that time and have daily class, so the commute would have been awful annoying.
-We had a really great visit with my parents. I think they had fun too.
-If you haven’t heard of the “30 minutes to fitness” series by Kathy Coffey-Meyer–check it out. Immediately! I have 
never, ever watched an exercise video that didn’t annoy me. Whether it was a catch-phrase, overall phony/annoying bubbliness, too hard-core, too repetitive, bad music, there are a lot of workout video sins. Coffey’s vids don’t have any of that irritating stuff. And she’s feisty and funny and motivating at the same time. We have weights, cardio-blast, and kickboxing and I really like them. And my mom was a real good sport and fully participated in plyometrics, which is HARD. And she did awesome.
-At Dad’s (70th!!!) birthday dinner, our “Day’s of Our Lives,” jeans-model look-alike waiter did a magic trick that each one of us loved. And one we couldn’t find on the web for at least an hour–a real feat in today’s technology.
-speaking of technology, I am still not convinced that Apple and smart-phones make life any easier. If they’re off, slow, unanswered, or whatever, they’re useless. I was no worse off without any gadgets than anyone, and they were not helped all that much. I think it has more to do with status than anything.
-The kitties were as big and brave as they could be with frequent company on our apartment. And Choco-Luv doesn’t 
have the herp (knock on wood)! They are glued to my sides today though–with all the running around, I think they missed us.
-My parents gave me the most beautiful beadwork barrettes from various reservations along their route. And my mom got beadwork from each place they stopped, which I am very envious of–and excited to inherit one day.
-I saw my former advisor in the hallway today, and she only managed to choke out a very obligatory “hello how was your summer?” Lame. And I’m so over that attitude from people at my school. I am an awesome student and an asset to the program–she/they need to get a grip and grow up. I’m not sure why she doesn’t like me, but she needs to act as a professional, because I shouldn’t even know she doesn’t. . .
-My aunt got super-sloppy at the extended family gathering, and was generally negative, complainy, passive-aggressive, and unwilling to exercise the whole duration of company. But at least now everyone sees what I’m saying. Maybe they thought I was exaggerating or a drama queen before???
-I was asked to do a presentation about the speech and hearing sciences for Native American teens ages 15-17. It’s a group close to my heart (my people!) and I think it went well yesterday. There had been a little snaffu in the beginning because a group member hijacked out “team” power-point, deleting/changing my every contribution and making me crazy that way. I tried subtly conveying my feelings, and eventually had to be direct. But everything was restored in the end and everything worked out.
-I always feel a little bit like a dud when you put me next to a bubbly, extroverted SLP student/teacher. I am much more reserved and it really shows when I’m put up against that. But my family said they didn’t get that impression and I looked good (and smart) so I guess it’s OK. . .
-I have another presentation on Tuesday, but I’m less excited because it’s 20 minutes long, which is almost no time at all.
-I have not worked on or even looked at my personal statement, scholarly paper, or neuroanatomy outline/drawings for 
1.5-2 weeks. Even though I’m sad my parents are gone, and think the visit was MUCH too short–I’m relieved to get to my normal routine soon. After my next presentation, and oh–an interview.
-I have an interview. Which was initially a real bummer because they wanted to do it on June 25th–my Dad’s milestone 70th birthday. The birthday, my parents were going to be in town for (instead of 17 hours away). Also the day, which this special presentation had fallen on. And I had only agreed to do that because I think it’s important for Indians (only representing less than 1% on all health professions) are exposed to my program. And the job is some random ticket agent, so I just told them I was out of town until the day my parents were gone. And to my great surprise, they moved my interview day out to July 1st! So I’m not sure what the job really entails or how many hours they want or what times, but depending on the factors I at least have a chance for a job.
-Cool went off her meds, and we all remembered that she used to have a personality. So now she’s going to talk to her doctor and insist that whatever mood stabilizer she is put on does not have any drowsiness what-so-ever involved. 
Bipolar meds are horrible in the fact they work by making you a complete zombie–which isn’t exactly quality-of-life. We’ll see if this can be adjusted. Oh and when she went off the meds, of course she vomited to the point of having to come home from work 2 days in a row = withdrawals. So scary she has to depend on that to miss extreme highs and lows–I’m not certain which is worse.
-Despite a lot of dinners out, shopping trips, gifts, “visiting-type expenditures” I really managed to keep resigned in financially. Partially because of my parents’ extreme generosity and partly due to sheer willpower. I’m not nearly as behind as I thought I would be, and I even have some house-sitting money left over–which I in no way expected.
-My water consumption really suffered when my routine was thrown off. I could stick with my exercise routine because it’s at home, first thing in the morning, but liquid availability, portability, and bathrooms make water really tough. I have to get back into it in a hurry because my lips are always lizard-like lately.
-I have no idea what to do for my birthday. Partially because 3-1 is anticlimactic, partly because I’m not sure if I’ll have to accommodate a job, or if I’ll even have money to do anything. And I don’t know if this rainy Washington weather will cooperate at all–it’s rained all day today, and it rained from Cool’s birthday to the time my parents arrived a week later. I guess I’d like to do something special–I’ll have to think on it.
Kit10Phish Explains it all __has moved! https://tinyurl.com/bdad9vdm 
Catty Remarks