Went to play with my little kid A this morning. He was in the best mood I've ever seen him in. His house is amazing - huge with a gorgeous backyard, lots of room, nice furniture, CRAZY MANY TOYS, including two playground sets in the yard and another playhouse in the basement! And a very expensive-looking table train set, cooking stove, basketball hoop, and baseball set... Seriously I was looking at at least a thousand dollars worth of toys.
We had the best time. He really was very sociable and chatty today, and he gave me a big bear hug before I left which he has never done before. :))
Anyway, now I'm pretty tired and I'm going to nap a bit before I start writing the darn ASHA application essay. Sigh. I'm so not in the mood for work.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I really do love spring
No school, sleeping in, chilling out with friends, cooking, redecorating, enjoying the glorious sunshine and sprouting plants.. LOVING LIFE!!
I decided to join in the spring fever and bought a couple of plants at Walmart today. Lots of people I know are getting out their gardening gloves and patio furniture and grills, so I figure yeah why not jump on the bandwagon too. ;) After all, we only get four months of gorgeous sunshine a year right. I love the seasonal changes, I really really do.
So yeah, anyway, here are my new babies - sitting on my desk:
I decided to join in the spring fever and bought a couple of plants at Walmart today. Lots of people I know are getting out their gardening gloves and patio furniture and grills, so I figure yeah why not jump on the bandwagon too. ;) After all, we only get four months of gorgeous sunshine a year right. I love the seasonal changes, I really really do.
So yeah, anyway, here are my new babies - sitting on my desk:
Bonsai Ficus Ginseng
And on the balcony:
And on the balcony:Perennial
and Impatiens
I'm also half tempted to grow my own strawberries and herbs! Haha. We'll see. ;)
and Impatiens
Monday, May 12, 2008
I love spring
As expected, the TB skin test showed up positive and now I have to go for a blood test! AH AH AH AH AH!!!! Apparently its very common for international students to show up positive. Does that mean we all have TB infection or there's just something different in our blood?? But anyway I talked to my supervisor and she says its ok I can still go for the orientation on Thursday but I can't interact with clients until my TB test clears.
But I'm having fun these days, no school, just chilling out. I'm tutoring a Korean guy in English twice a week, and talking to him is pretty interesting. He was in Singapore quite a few times on business when he used to work in ExxonMobil and we swapped horror stories about how ***awful Singaporean English is. Haha. I get compliments on my American English a lot.. the Americans all think I grew up in the US. All thanks to the wonderful American English Accent book+CDs that I got off Amazon for $30!! Its like the equivalent of getting 50 hours of accent modification therapy, but for 1/100th the price. Just in case any of you guys are interested!
Tonight me and roomie are having friends over for dinner. I just bought a new rice cooker and it comes with free recipes inside - we are going to make 水饺! And Japanese curry and lemon chicken. Its Jamie's last day in West Lafayette so I guess its a celebration/farewell party.
And then tomorrow I'd get to play with my kid Av from preschool last semester! Yay! I miss him a lot and I'm sure he's improved quite a bit since the last time I saw him. Apparently he's been spending the last few weeks at his grandparents' farm riding tractors and loving every minute of it. LOL.
Finally, my clinic supervisor very nicely agreed to write me a recommendation letter for the ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association) minority leadership program in November. Yep after sitting on it for several weeks/months I finally decided to apply. So I'd have to spend the next 2 days writing up a nice application essay. I guess thats the only "work" I'd be doing this week! Regardless of whether I get in the program or not, I plan to attend the ASHA conference this year and I'm looking forward to it already! Hanging out with half the SLPs and audiologists in America for 3 whole days! Fun times. :))
But I'm having fun these days, no school, just chilling out. I'm tutoring a Korean guy in English twice a week, and talking to him is pretty interesting. He was in Singapore quite a few times on business when he used to work in ExxonMobil and we swapped horror stories about how ***awful Singaporean English is. Haha. I get compliments on my American English a lot.. the Americans all think I grew up in the US. All thanks to the wonderful American English Accent book+CDs that I got off Amazon for $30!! Its like the equivalent of getting 50 hours of accent modification therapy, but for 1/100th the price. Just in case any of you guys are interested!
Tonight me and roomie are having friends over for dinner. I just bought a new rice cooker and it comes with free recipes inside - we are going to make 水饺! And Japanese curry and lemon chicken. Its Jamie's last day in West Lafayette so I guess its a celebration/farewell party.
And then tomorrow I'd get to play with my kid Av from preschool last semester! Yay! I miss him a lot and I'm sure he's improved quite a bit since the last time I saw him. Apparently he's been spending the last few weeks at his grandparents' farm riding tractors and loving every minute of it. LOL.
Finally, my clinic supervisor very nicely agreed to write me a recommendation letter for the ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association) minority leadership program in November. Yep after sitting on it for several weeks/months I finally decided to apply. So I'd have to spend the next 2 days writing up a nice application essay. I guess thats the only "work" I'd be doing this week! Regardless of whether I get in the program or not, I plan to attend the ASHA conference this year and I'm looking forward to it already! Hanging out with half the SLPs and audiologists in America for 3 whole days! Fun times. :))
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Its the weekend!
I forgot to mention that I'm somewhat inspired to learn Cantonese since that appears to be the most commonly spoken chinese dialect here in the USA. My friends all tell me they learned Cantonese from watching HK dramas so maybe I'll try that. ;) Oh this reminds me, you know the W. Lafayette library here has 大长今?!!!! LOL. So the public libraries here are quite well-stocked one okay?
Strawberries were on sale yesterday at Pay Less.. 3 boxes for $5!!! I have never seen cheaper strawberries in my entire life (and they were good too!). So yah of course we bought 3 boxes and spent yesterday and today making chocolate strawberries. HAHAHAHA. Yeah I'm taking them to friend's graduation party later. ;)
My bubble from the TB test is red but fairly flat. I'm still praying about it..
Strawberries were on sale yesterday at Pay Less.. 3 boxes for $5!!! I have never seen cheaper strawberries in my entire life (and they were good too!). So yah of course we bought 3 boxes and spent yesterday and today making chocolate strawberries. HAHAHAHA. Yeah I'm taking them to friend's graduation party later. ;)
My bubble from the TB test is red but fairly flat. I'm still praying about it..
Friday, May 9, 2008
Summer plans summer plans!
Clinic/school:
MWTh - Phonology Group in morning, classes in afternoon
Tu - IVH in morning, classes in afternoon
Work:
20 hrs a week for assistantship
Speech therapy with A twice a week
Tutor C in English twice a week
I have quite a plateful, doncha think? But who can pass up the opportunity to make extra bucks.. especially with gas prices being what they are (!!). And anyway my roommate has 3 jobs too.
The things we do to pay for grad school... *sighs melodramatically*.
MWTh - Phonology Group in morning, classes in afternoon
Tu - IVH in morning, classes in afternoon
Work:
20 hrs a week for assistantship
Speech therapy with A twice a week
Tutor C in English twice a week
I have quite a plateful, doncha think? But who can pass up the opportunity to make extra bucks.. especially with gas prices being what they are (!!). And anyway my roommate has 3 jobs too.
The things we do to pay for grad school... *sighs melodramatically*.
Harbinger of gloom
I'm convinced that I'm the harbinger of bad weather. Gray clouds follow me everywhere I go! (Either that or the weather in the whole of continental USA just sucks this week). It was pouring with rain when I finally arrived back at Indianapolis yesterday. Gee.
Anyhow, I'm home!! Room is extremely messy and so I'm going to have to clean up today. And also go get an overdue TB test shot (please please please let it be negative), and maybe cook dinner tonight. I found a whole boxful of sauces last week that my parents sent from Singapore and I haven't found the time to use. My and roommie are doing a big 打扫除 of the apartment.
Anyway, I should update some more about California. Hospital at Arcadia turned out to be quite a mistake, and I knew it the second the SLP told me that she spends 80% of the time doing swallowing, which seriously ranks right at the very bottom of my preferred caseload. (Ok I know there are some people out there who loove swallowing, but... WHY??) And then I found out that the hospital serves mainly adults, which was a 2nd no-no for me. And then the SLP told me twice how much she hates working with kids. She loves adults cos if they don't want treatment then they can just sign out of it and leave, she doesn't have to put in effort to persuade them or anything (unlike those darn kids!). And thats when I knew that I also probably would NOT get along with her as my supervisor.
I guess I'm crossing it off my list! I'm keeping my fingers crossed about Rady's in San Diego. I also asked my clinic director for other childrens hospitals that I can go to, just in case.
Anyhow, I'm home!! Room is extremely messy and so I'm going to have to clean up today. And also go get an overdue TB test shot (please please please let it be negative), and maybe cook dinner tonight. I found a whole boxful of sauces last week that my parents sent from Singapore and I haven't found the time to use. My and roommie are doing a big 打扫除 of the apartment.
Anyway, I should update some more about California. Hospital at Arcadia turned out to be quite a mistake, and I knew it the second the SLP told me that she spends 80% of the time doing swallowing, which seriously ranks right at the very bottom of my preferred caseload. (Ok I know there are some people out there who loove swallowing, but... WHY??) And then I found out that the hospital serves mainly adults, which was a 2nd no-no for me. And then the SLP told me twice how much she hates working with kids. She loves adults cos if they don't want treatment then they can just sign out of it and leave, she doesn't have to put in effort to persuade them or anything (unlike those darn kids!). And thats when I knew that I also probably would NOT get along with her as my supervisor.
I guess I'm crossing it off my list! I'm keeping my fingers crossed about Rady's in San Diego. I also asked my clinic director for other childrens hospitals that I can go to, just in case.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Straight As. Yay!
So, I'm glad that I'm back on track after the slight lapse last semester. However that stupid B has blown my 4.0 GPA for good and nothing will ever get it back. Not that it really matters.. when I went to visit Rady's on Monday the person didn't even care to look at my CV. She was really nice and showed me around the hospital (which also, I'm surprised to add) was very very nice. I haven't had the best experiences in hospitals so I wasn't expecting anything much. But it was very much like Purdue, nice bright and cheerful with lotsa toys (gotta love). :) Maybe because its an outpatient clinic, it didn't have that icky disinfectanty smell.
Anyhow, she seems really eager to have me, unless legal mish-mash get in the way. The lawyers at the hosp have to draw up a contract with the lawyers at Purdue because of insurance/liability/confidentiality blahblah matters and if they don't agree then I can't go there. So it has *nothing* to do with my capabilities or their desire to have me. If the lawyers say no-go, then its a no-go. (But then I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to potentially be sued for millions of dollars either)
She's also not the first person to tell me that the world is my oyster. I am always asked if I plan to return to Sg to practice. Almost every SLP I speak to tells me there's a global shortage of SLPs and how I'd be highly sought after because of the many languages I speak. Its amazing how all my interests fall nicely into place, isn't it? (Let me digress: I learned English because I loved to read and write, I learned Chinese because I loved 林志颖, I learned German because for some reason I fell in love with german history and culture at that point in my life. Following your interests does pay off. People should realize that and stop discouraging others from pursuing what they want to because "cannot make a living", "waste of time", blahblahblah. You can make a living from anything if you are freaking good at it.)
I'm flying back to Indy tonight and I'm sad to leave even tho the weather has been absolutely abysmal. I'd be VERY VERY SORRY to return my lovely convertible to Avis. Booooooo. Even tho I've really only let the top down once (it was too cold and windy the rest of the time!), but it was fun speeding around in it. It was also nice to see the ocean again. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. But well, hopefully I will be back here next summer, and with any luck the legendary perfect Californian weather will be back and I'd be able to hit the beaches. Whee!
Anyhow, she seems really eager to have me, unless legal mish-mash get in the way. The lawyers at the hosp have to draw up a contract with the lawyers at Purdue because of insurance/liability/confidentiality blahblah matters and if they don't agree then I can't go there. So it has *nothing* to do with my capabilities or their desire to have me. If the lawyers say no-go, then its a no-go. (But then I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to potentially be sued for millions of dollars either)
She's also not the first person to tell me that the world is my oyster. I am always asked if I plan to return to Sg to practice. Almost every SLP I speak to tells me there's a global shortage of SLPs and how I'd be highly sought after because of the many languages I speak. Its amazing how all my interests fall nicely into place, isn't it? (Let me digress: I learned English because I loved to read and write, I learned Chinese because I loved 林志颖, I learned German because for some reason I fell in love with german history and culture at that point in my life. Following your interests does pay off. People should realize that and stop discouraging others from pursuing what they want to because "cannot make a living", "waste of time", blahblahblah. You can make a living from anything if you are freaking good at it.)
I'm flying back to Indy tonight and I'm sad to leave even tho the weather has been absolutely abysmal. I'd be VERY VERY SORRY to return my lovely convertible to Avis. Booooooo. Even tho I've really only let the top down once (it was too cold and windy the rest of the time!), but it was fun speeding around in it. It was also nice to see the ocean again. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. But well, hopefully I will be back here next summer, and with any luck the legendary perfect Californian weather will be back and I'd be able to hit the beaches. Whee!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
San Diego, CA
Some 10 hours after leaving Indiana.. here I am in San Diego, California! Somehow it doesn't quite look like what I imagined. I think I had something like palm trees and beaches and convertibles in mind. In reality, San Diego feels like a Mexico/Singapore hybrid. Its like I'm in another country. The architecture and landscape is strangely non-American (maybe because its right on the Mexican border), and the weather and atrocious roads/parking remind me too much of Singapore!
Driving here is pretty scary. I'm really glad I decided to pay extra for car insurance! My interview is at 8:30 tomorrow so I guess I'm going to turn in early tonight. The jury is still out as to whether or not I like it here. But then I've only been here a couple of hours. I'm sure it'd grow on me once I get more familiar with the area and find the beaches!
Driving here is pretty scary. I'm really glad I decided to pay extra for car insurance! My interview is at 8:30 tomorrow so I guess I'm going to turn in early tonight. The jury is still out as to whether or not I like it here. But then I've only been here a couple of hours. I'm sure it'd grow on me once I get more familiar with the area and find the beaches!
Friday, May 2, 2008
I'm free!
Exams over. Yay! Tomorrow I will be off to San Diego for a couple of days - will probably bring my laptop with me since I still have to get some things done.
I got my clinic schedule for the summer. I will be at the Indiana Veterans Home on Tuesdays, and Phonology Group on MWTh. I'm surprised they gave me Phonology Group - it'd be my third semester in a row working on artic! A whole summer of working on /l/ /r/ and /s/. Fun times! On the bright side, at least I get to work with kids again. :)
Johanna's moving in this week. We have the *exact* same clinic schedule. How coincidental is that?! We can travel to clinic and classes together. Save gas. Ha. :))
I am eagerly anticipating X-Files movie 2. July 25!
I got my clinic schedule for the summer. I will be at the Indiana Veterans Home on Tuesdays, and Phonology Group on MWTh. I'm surprised they gave me Phonology Group - it'd be my third semester in a row working on artic! A whole summer of working on /l/ /r/ and /s/. Fun times! On the bright side, at least I get to work with kids again. :)
Johanna's moving in this week. We have the *exact* same clinic schedule. How coincidental is that?! We can travel to clinic and classes together. Save gas. Ha. :))
I am eagerly anticipating X-Files movie 2. July 25!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Finals finals finals
Finals week. PAH. I have an Autism exam tomorrow and I am soooooooo not in the mood to study. On the bright side, I'm fairly certain I have 3 As down pat, so even if I get a B for this.. it won't be the end of the world. I got a 107% on my clinic final, lol. Sweet sweet success. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
