5 Year Plan

One of the things that I do with clients is create goals.  When they first come into the program, we sit with them and make short and long term goals.  Then, every time we meet we set small tasks that eventually lead to completion of the larger goal.  Right now, my life is a little chaotic and I often don't feel like I am working towards the larger goals that I would like to achieve.  So, I am making a 5 year plan.  The hope is to work on all my goals and slowly accomplish each long term goal.  I know some will take longer than others, but hopefully writing them out will give me guidance and a purpose.  My goals are going to focus on five realms, one for each year.  They are: career, health, family, financial and home. 

Career:  One thing I have been doing is working on my education which will lead to my goal of finding a job I love.  I want to continue my education and graduate in April.  My ultimate goal is to become a licensed social worker and find a rewarding career making a difference.  Right now, I don't know where that will be but I will go through the doors that open for me and find a job where I fit.  Goal: become a licensed social worker.

Health:  I need to become healthier both mentally and physically.  Right now, due to my work and school schedule, my health is at an all time low.  I know that I need to start eating better and working out consistently.  Also, I sometimes feel that if I was a better runner, I would be able to connect to my parents better.  It's what they enjoy and maybe if I was healthier they would be more proud of me.  I also know that I need to start managing my mental health better as well.  Especially getting into the social work field, I know that self care is critical and have not been coping well.  Overall, I know that being healthier will effect my life positively in more than one area of living.  Goal: Run a marathon.

Family:  I want to have a family of my own.  And, I don't want to not have a family just because I am single.  So, once I get more financially settled and finish my education, I want to start looking at options to become a mother.  As of now, I have taken all of the required courses to be a foster parent, so it is just a matter of if I want to foster, adopt, or try and have one of my own.  I know this is a HUGE decision and will need careful consideration, but at the same time I know that I want to be a parent.  Goal: Be a mom.

Financial:  I haven't always been the best with my finances and this is something that I need to work on.  I know that I want to start being more financially stable as I will need to repay my student loans and would like to eventually be able to get a new car and be financially comfortable.  I also want to look at the long-long-term and start planning for my retirement again.  Goal: Stop living paycheck to paycheck. 

Home:  I know it may be sometime before I can purchase home again, but it is something that I ultimately want to do.  In the meantime, I want to get out of my apartment living and live in a house again.  I know that Zeus, Clubber and Rocky all miss having a yard, and I would like to live somewhere where I am happy to come home to at the end of the day.  It would also be nice to live in a place where I feel safe.  Goal: Move into a home. 

School

I made it through my first semester of graduate school at USC.  I can't believe I am about a quarter through my masters program already.  My first semester went well.  I took 17 credits and managed a 3.49.  I anticipate doing better this semester as I know what to expect and how to best manage my time.

Now, I am into the fourth week of my second semester.  I have the same professors as last semester which is nice as I already know what to expect from them.  So far, things are going well.  I am at the same internship and still really enjoy it.  I am glad that I have an internship that I look forward to and not one that I dread going to.  Next semester, I will have a new internship for my concentration year.  I can't wait to find out where I will be for my last two semesters.

Quick Update

I know it's been awhile. I have the best intentions to update my blog often, but that never seems to happen. Midterms are over and were a success. For the two weeks where I had eight papers due, I basically became a hermit. Now since that is over, I am back to the routine of things. I have about another month before this semester is over. I can't believe I am almost done with my first semester of my master's program. Only three more and I graduate. I don't think April 2013 can come soon enough.

My internship is going GREAT. It is so much better than I would have ever anticipated. I love the people I work with. both the clients and the staff. Last night, the agency celebrated it's 5 year anniversary. In the 5 years, they have served about 625 people, and that doesn't include the 56 people that are currently residents. Of those people, 74% successful move from our agency to a home of their own. The mayor was there last night and said:
“In order to serve the chronically homeless in our region, we need three Drexel Houses"
“This facility is the best example of federal, state and local collaboration that we have in the entire region"
You can read the entire story that was published in the Olympian here.

Besides that, things are about the same I guess.  Oh, I am still tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center and just picked up more hours which is exiting.  It's so fun to work with the kids.  Plus, my friend hired me to work at Portrait People at South Center Mall.  It's nice because she is working around my schedule but kind of sucks because it is a heck of a comute.  But, it is nice to get a little extra money here and there.  So, as you probably guess, right now, my life is consumed by school, my internship and work.

I will try really hard to post more and hopefully I really will this time!

Internship

I was just notified this morning of my foundation year field placement.  I am going to be doing my internship hours at the Drexel House which was created by Catholic Community Services to aid in providing emergency, transitional and permanent housing to the chronically homeless in Thurston County. I called this morning and set up my pre-placement visit for tomorrow afternoon.  I am definitely excited, but also a little nervous about starting.  I will be doing about 20 hours a week there over the next two semesters and know that working with the homeless population will definitely open my eyes to their needs.  It will be interesting working with this group as I don't have a lot of experience with that yet.

The Swing of Things

I am in the full swing of things with school.  It has been pretty crazy adjusting to everything.  Besides the hours of class time every week, there is a lot of work to do outside of class for each course as well as "other" classes (workshops) that we are required to take.  The last few weeks have been a little hectic, but I think things may actually start calming down as I get used to what is required every week and focus on my time management.  I turned in my first paper to be graded last week and am anxious to see how I did.  I am a little nervous as the teacher did say that she grades the first paper really hard.

Overall, it has been a really good experience so far.  I have taken classes online before, but never like this.  That platform that USC uses is really nice as there is a lot of face to face interaction with the professors and other students.  I feel a lot closer to my classmates here than I did in any other program that I have done online.  Also, the amount of support that USC offers is great.  So far, I am really glad I made the choice to do my MSW@VAC.

Changes

A lot has changed over the last few months.  I don't want to get into it all and will just highlight a couple of things:

- In December, I completed my BA in Sociology with a minor in Psychology at Central WA University.

- Around that same time, I was accepted into the MSW Virtual Program at USC.  I am so excited to start this 4 semester program and become a part of the Trojan family.  If everything goes as planned, I will graduate May 2013.  Maybe this will be me in a year and a half??

- I am still working at Line-X NW, but things may be changing when I find out what, when and where my internship will be.

- I have registered for a CPR/First Aid class as well as the other pre-training class required to get licensed as a foster parent.  I am hoping to complete my licensing soon and be able to be a foster parent for children in need.  I know school will be keeping me busy, but also have a strong calling to be a parent and am not going to resist that urge for much longer.

Those are the main points in my life right now.  Things between Andrew and I are weird.  We aren't together, but we aren't apart either.  We are still trying to work things out, but a lot has to change for that to happen and right now, we both have a lot going on.  I am focusing on school, getting licensed as a foster partent, and then will worry about the rest like where I will be living and working.  There is a good chance I will be moving to get closer to where my internship will be once that is announced, and that will have to occur before I can commit to being a foster parent.  Right now, it's first things first.  Classes start on January 9 and I am extremely excited, nervous and apprehensive about starting.  Here goes nothing!

1 week down, 51 more to go...

So, I have survived the first week of 2011.  It also happened to be my first week of school for the winter quarter.  This quarter, I am taking one online psychology class and two sociology classes on campus.  Due to the scheduling, I have to go to school every night (well, Monday-Thursday) for ten weeks.  At least I am getting my major requirements out of the way.  Andrew and I are taking the same classes again this quarter so at least I have someone to go to with questions and to carpool with when we can.

I like all my classes so far.  I am excited for one of my sociology classes as one of my favorite teachers is teaching it.  She is an amazing lady and I am glad that I am fortunate to get her as a teacher again.   This quarter may prove to be hard, but oh well, I like a challenge.

Besides that, not much is going on.  I am trying to focus on working out more and eating healthy and that is helping.  I can feel myself having a better day when I workout and know that I made healthy choices throughout the day.  I also hope when I become a healthier person in general everything will improve.  We shall see as only time will tell...