Senior Year

My senior year has started off with a bang... lots of school work right off the bat and an awesome Pumpkin Fest this October. While we did not bring the title back to Keene, there were more pumpkins than needed in one single place. The food like always was good, but even better was the fact that the Boston Red Sox won their game that night also.
I am currently pondering the importance of study for an exam tomorrow because quite frankly I've done enough work the past week. I can not wait for this week to end because I'm off to Providence Rhode Island for the first time. Not only do I get to go to the NEACSM conference but I get some serious shopping time in! I am not much of a shopper but when the holiday season comes, I get very excited about getting gifts for my family and friends.
Class time has come so I must be going, but I think I may get into the habit of writing more often...

Finals

As my finals come to an end my stress level is slowing going down. I have begun to recieve my grades today and that has made my stress levels spike and I have to admit I have become an email checker addict. Since technology allows us to recieve our grades through our email I am constantly checking to see if a new one has popped up yet. I did have a near heart-attack when I recieved a very low mark for a class I have enjoyed going to and done well in. After tracking down the teacher and voicing my concern, the grade did not stand because he had not put in my mid-term grade. He graded the exam but it never made it into his computer, talk about a relief!

Goodluck to everyone on the rest of their test, and those who are graduating good luck in the real world!

FINALS WEEK

SO my presentation didn't crash and burn on Wednesday so I can't complain to bad... although I missed some information I wanted to share, but that is ok... I didn't do too bad.

This week is HELL week aka finals week. Although most of my finals were take home exams, I'm super stressed out, and I would like to say that Abnormal Psychology was the only exam that was NOT a take home... I am so throughly disappointed!!

Well back to studying.. GOODLUCK everyone!

Presentations

The presentations on Monday were all very good. I enjoyed all of them, but the one that stood out the most was the one that contained a young man speaking openly of a friend who has been having a very difficult year. The gentlemen has bi-polar disorder and personality disorder, and unfortunately has not been hanging out with the "right" crowd. I hope that things look up for both of them and they are able to continue their friendship.

As I had hoped I was bumped to Wednesday, which is very thrilling for me. I am a natural procrastinator so any reason not to do something is fine with me. I have been doing well this year because I haven't left too many projects to the last minute. I tend to leave papers until the night before but things that require presentation I give a few days. I do better at writing papers at the last minute, those that I spend an extensive amount of time on and done weeks in advance are the ones that get a lower grade. Which is odd because you would think that since I had so much time to revise it that it would be graded higher, but it is not the case so I will continue my last minute work.

The year is slowly coming to an end, which of course I am somewhat sad about but in truth I can't wait to be out of school! I will have a week off and then I will be working. Unfortunately I don't have a permanent job this summer because I am switching gears. For the past four years (five in June) I have been working at retirement community as a waitress in their dining room. It is a very fancy place and the residents pay a good chunk of change to live there. I enjoy it very much but the residents that were there when I started having started to die and the new people are great, it is just getting harder to work there. So I am going in the complete opposite direction and have applied to numerous jobs at summer camps.

Well I just went off on quite the tangent! Time to go do some work.. yes it is due tomorrow if you were wondering!

Class Cancelled

So as I mentioned before Wednesday's class was cancelled.... Which allowed me to catch up on some work I definitely needed to do!
Hope you all enjoyed the day off!

Presentations

For the next few days we are presenting to the class information and a case study we found on a certain disorder. On Monday there were some very interesting ones. I liked Shane's because he added his own personal story which made the information that much more powerful.

Wednesday we do not have class, which of course I am thoroughly disappointed about! So that means the presentations for Wednesday are moved back a day, which means that quite possibly my presentation due Monday will be bumped. Yet again I so disappointed by this series of events, so it may take a while for me to recover from my disappointment.

Ironic

Today we started class with a short discussion about our presentations. We have to pick a disorder in which we have studying during the semester.. yada yada yada. So I don't enjoy presentations, I don't enjoy speaking in front of people at all... and I realized how much anxiety I had when thinking about speaking in front of people. And then I remembered, I am tutor for a Fundamentals Of Speech class... hmm that is a little ironic!

Anyways... we reviewed tick disorders. The one I found most interesting was Trichotillomania aka hair pulling. I was curious to see if the people who have this disorder, know what they are doing while they are physically doing it. I would think that it would be painful, and socially unacceptable. I mean people seem to prize long hair. People who have cancer treatments and lose their hair are given sympathy for their disease and hair loss.

I decided to do some research on Trichotillomania and found this website, in case anyone is interested in learning more... http://www.trich.org/index.asp

Playground Rules of Survival

Today's class we started off by discussing the rules of the playground. Our class put together the rules that ruled the playground when we were younger. Rule number one, if you ask a teacher with help about a bully you will be beat up more. Rule number two, retaliate when the teacher is not looking. Rule number three, dodgeball puts you in the hierarchy of the school. Those were the basic ones, I remember dodgeball was one of the roughest games on the playground, but you always knew where you stood!

We also spoke about teaching styles of young children. How some teachers focus on having students express themselves in writing but do not do all the spelling corrections because it is possibly harmful to the students self-esteem. For me that doesn't make sense because the child will learn to spell words the wrong way continually. It is a learning experience so the child should not take it as a mark against them as a person.

I recently spent the day in a kindergarten class, observing both the morning and afternoon session. The teacher had a big board with "Star Words" written across the top, and in the grid like formation were words like he, she, like, it, I, be, and can. I asked the teacher to explain what "Star Words" were and she explained that the children have been reading books through out the year. In those books, are words of high frequency in our language, a.k.a "Star Words". So about each week or so a new word is introduced and the books go up in levels as the year progresses. Children bring the books home and review and read them with their parents.

That seemed to very well. The words they do not know in the books have pictures above the word to explain what it means. While I was there one child picked up a book she had yet to read before, and had many words that had not been reviewed and read it to me. She was so impressed with herself, she went around to read it to everyone! It was so cute!

Rainy Day

On a cold rainy day our class had to review depression... how fitting! We spoke about learned helplessness, and how an experiment was done using dogs. The experiment had the dogs receive an electric shock if they walked on certain panels in their kennel. Others would receive a shock no matter where they stood. Those dogs who would receive the shock no matter what, learned to just sit there an bare it... aka learned helplessness.

The treatments for depression we spoke about were medications but also exercise. How exercise can be beneficial because of the endorphins and other hormones released. That is why people feel so much better after a good session of exercise. "Runners High" is one name to the feel good feeling after running a long distance. I know that once I come out of the gym, I have been able to take my mind off of anything bothering me, maybe even solve a problem that was bothering me, and just feel better because of the frustration worked off and the release of hormones.

One of my classmates brought up the subject of Rolfing. According to the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration (http://www.rolf.org/), Rolfing was developed over 50 years ago by Dr. Ida Rolf, Ph.D. It works on a person's "Web-like complex of connective tissue (fascia) to release, realign and balance the whole body." It is said to take care of pain related to aging, repetitive motion, and trauma. I am always up to try something new so I may have to look further into Rolfing.

The official website which I stated above, was very helpful in finding a history about Rolfing, ways to become a trained Rolfer, and also search to find a Rolfer near you!

Late

WOW I am so late in writing this blog! I had been on such a roll with getting them done the same day of class!! OPPS! So on about class.. I found it very interesting that there is a birth control with an anti-depressant in it for women who suffer from premenstrual dygphoric disorder. I don't know much about this disorder but found it interesting so I may have to do some research into it.

Also post-partum depression should most definitely be in its own category. There seem to have been alot of news stories about women suffering from this who have killed their children. In another class I was discussing with a classmate about Andrea Yates. This women drowned her five children in a bath tub. The following link will bring you to the MSN/NBC news article that states what she had done and also about the verdict of her second trial which ended in the summer of 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14024728/

Rants

Professor Welkowitz started the class off great by handing out chocolates. It was just what I needed after my rough morning. After that tasty treat the class went on one tangent after another... it was all quite interesting especially watching Welkowitz rant!

Somehow we were got on the subject of John Irving's book Cider House Rules. Which was odd because I caught the movie on television this past weekend. Funny how things always seem to come back to psychology! So yea John Irving seems to incorporate political issues into his writing, which led us to seeing how many people in our class are registered to vote, to who voted in the last election to watching Welkowitz rant... funny how things all work out..

The last part of the rant I saw before I had to excuse myself because of an appointment was about a McDonald's commercial. The people in the commercials, according to Welkowitz, are in a manic happy that is not normal for any person. I quote " No one should be that happy... I got a quarter pounder, I'm going to develop obesity and die young.." Now come on isn't it exciting to know your fate lays in part to what you eat?

So as I ran from class in order to catch the shuttle so I didn't have to walk in the rain to my car, I thought of how much it would suck if I missed it. Thankfully I made it to campus safety before the shuttle, so as it slowed to the front of the building I walked to the curb and watched very confused as it drove past me to the end of the street and continued on its way... the best part, it splashed me as it went by and the driver even waved... yea that makes sense.. so I was cold and wet walking to my car... it was a great afternoon

Now my hot chocolate is done so I'm signing off... hope you all had a better day than me! Bye all!

Fast Food & Rules

Today was a very fun, relaxing class... just what I needed. Fast food & Rules seemed to be the topic of conversation... and how do these pertain to psychology? Well hopefully I will enlighten you on the rules part, but the fast food is just a tangent!

We spoke about a gentlemen who spoke to a group and said that he never went to fast food places because it was dumb. Well the class came to the conclusion that he thought it was dumb because he never had the need for the establishments. You see the gentlemen did not drive, so if you don't drive you do not see the advantage of driving through a place getting food and continuing to drive. Now I will admit I do consume some fast food, but being a Health Science major I know way to much about the nutrition in those foods, or lack there of!

Most amusing was the stories my classmates shared about different ways they went through the fast food drive through. Walking through of course will not let you get any food, for some reason the employees frown on that. But being pushed in a shopping car will get you some food... how interesting!

Now on the rules, we spoke about a boy who hit his best friend. The best friend walked away with a broken nose, and the boy who did it had a test for ADHA. What was found was that he had an anxiety level of zero. What 9 year old doesn't have anxiety? What person doesn't have anxiety? Then came the discussion of serial killers, and personality disorders.

My thought is if the person doesn't have any anxiety, then does that mean they have no worry of doing something against societies rules? If that is true would that mean that they do not have a "conscience"? That doesn't seem like any fun to me because if you don't know the rules or boundaries how can you have fun safely breaking them? Growing up don't children break the rules to learn what the boundaries really are? I know I did!

Well there are my thought provoking questions for the day... enjoy!

This & That

Today we focused on dissociation and somatoform disorders. Professor Welkowitz is the first professor that I have had that has acutally told me it is ok to sleep in class. He figures that if we do fall asleep we are tired or in some other way unable to focus in class. He spoke about how he presented the idea of the internet using spiders to his daughters school and saw all of the children's eyes glaze over... then mentioned that was similar to the looks he was getting from us!

We also had a discussion about wether we would want to know if we had a disease or if we would not want to take the test. Personally I have lived my life, up until recently, not knowing any of my family history. I liked it that way because I could live the way I wanted and not have to worry that in so many years some horrible disease could take over me. Now I am begining to get information about my biological family and I'm not sure if I want know.

On a lighter note I watched an old showing of MTV's Real Life that followed three young men from New York that were Autistic. It was very interesting to watch because the young men were so very different and one had Asperger Syndrome. That young man enjoyed doing stand up comedie, another young man was a very good artist, the last one just wanted to communicate with his classmates.

Well I am very impressed that I blogged on the same day that I had class.. so now I'm off. Have a good night all!

Honesty

I believe in being honest with people, so I'm going to go on that belief and share that I skipped class on Wednesday inorder for me to get lunch. Yep I skipped class for food! I have class starting at 11am and they go until 4:30pm. They of course are on the opposite sides of campus so I do not have time for food. So I made a rash decision while my stomach growled at me and headed for the Dinning Commons rather than Rhodes.

Currently I'm vegging out after a long day at work. I was up at the horrible hour of 4am, which I am not yet sure why since I didn't have to get up until 5am. Work at 6am and got out around 4pm. Yucky! I'm going to do it all over again tomorrow... what fun!

Hope you all have a good Spring Break!

Class Cancelled

So I was very disappointed on Monday when I went to the class room and saw that class was cancelled... I had been looking forward to class because I missed it last Wednesday.. hopefully we will have it tomorrow! I know I'm one of the few that enjoy going to class, but it is a relief to go to Abnormal Psychology because I have such crazy Mondays & Wednesdays...

Sick Day

Unfortunately I missed class this afternoon and I would like to place all the blame on my mother. Who lovingly shared her cold with me this past weekend. I passed the favor along to one of my room mates, so now I have company in my misery.

Now I'm going to crawl back into bed and hope for chicken noodle soup....

Blah

I have been sitting and staring at the screen of my computer for a while now, trying to think of what to write about class today. I can honestly come up with not much to say.... I spent most of the class trying to stay awake since I had a horrible night last night. Lack of sleep and flu like symptoms are not how I like to start a week off. I am very proud of myself though because I took notes! That is like a miracle because normally I highlight along the notes we are given and add in thoughts here and there. But this time I actually wrote them all out!

Out of all that happened in class, I enjoyed the conversation that pertained to Camel making cigarette packages more appealing to girls with black and pink coloring, and yet having the company say that was not their plan. Ha!

Sunday Comics

So I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee and reading the Sunday morning comics yesterday, when I turned to the comic entitled "Marvin" done by Tom Armstrong. I realized it had something to do with our last class and thought I would include it...

Bed Wetting, Feeding, and Pull-ups!

Class on Monday was very informative on the secrets of feeding your children, potty training your children, and why they may wet the bed at night. All in all I was brought back to my experiences of being a baby-sitter. Of course I don't sit on babies, but I do enjoy watching my neighbors three children!

Professor Welkowitz stated that pull-ups are evil, and just prolong the torture of potty training. I may have to agree with him, because if a child has a diaper that has cool designs on it like children's underwear and literally you pull them up like underwear, then why would a child decide to use the toilet. My parents did not get me the cool designed pull-ups, instead they bribed me. Yup my parents bribed me with candy! M & M's to be exact... no wonder I like those things! Well anyways it work so I guess I will have to thank them next time we talk.

Also during class Larry demonstrated on a classmate of mine, how he would feed his daughter. Now this is exactly why I do NOT sit in the front row! He went at her with the remote to the projector, and talked about how he wouldn't do the cool airplane or force his daughter to eat. Instead he sent her the message that if SHE wanted it then SHE had to come and get it! Now that makes sense and all but come on now, every parent wants to have some fun in feeding their kids and what better fun than making airplane noises!

Eventually the conversation went on to bed wetting... Larry talked about possible reasons for why bed wetting occured, one of which was that the child slept to deeply. Or they could not distinguish the signals that they had to use the bathroom until it was too late. So he brought out this device that a child would wear, and one end would go into the diaper and the other would attach to a shirt or an arm. When the child started to pee the device would make a loud noise and it would in theory wake the child so they would begin through classical conditioning, to recongize the signals. Now if I were a child I would run if my parents brought home this device. It just is scary with the tangle of wires, and a loud noise no thank you!

Well that is all for now, I am going to study now for our awesome test on Wednesday

SNOW DAY!

So the weather had perfect timing and created a Winter Wonderland for Valentine's Day. Which in turn closed the college... I can't really complain about that because snow days are very rare to have once you are in college. I did find my self missing my Abnormal Psychology class because it is at a time that breaks up my day nicely. The humor and stories shared in that class are quite fun... guess I have to wait until Monday to get my dose of Abnormal Psychology!

Haddon Synopsis

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

By Mark Haddon

In this novel the main character is a boy named Christopher Boone, who suffers from Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is a form of autism, which makes it hard for Christopher to understand human emotions, and facial expressions. He refers back to drawings done by his aide Siobhan when he can not distinguish a person's feelings. He can understand happy and sad, but anger and confusion are harder for him to understand.

Christopher has excellent mathematical skills, and he has a great memory when it comes to conversations and the details of certain places. He was able to notice a poster had fallen in his class room, and that it was put up slightly to the right of where it once hung. When Christopher starts to become nervous or scared he does mathematical equations in his head, which helps him clear his mind. He does quadratic equations, finds prime numbers, and squares numbers. All of the chapters in this book are prime numbers. He likes those the best, and the book is a murder mystery because that is the kind of book he likes.

When Christopher has some one touch him physically he becomes violent and panics. When he becomes uncomfortable in a situation he curls into a ball and rocks himself back and forth while groaning. These are part of Asperger Syndrome, and are Christopher's coping mechanisms. His parent's are not able to hug him so they fan their fingers out and have Christopher touch their finger tips. That is how they show their love for each other.

Since this is Christopher's murder mystery book, there has to be a mystery to solve. His neighbor, Mrs. Shear's dog Wellington was killed with a garden fork. Christopher likes dogs very much, so he is very interested in finding out who committed the murder. In order to be a detective he has to over come his fear of strangers. He goes to the neighbors houses and asks them questions about the murder. His father becomes very upset with Christopher when he discovers the murder mystery book.

Mr. Boone tells Christopher to stay out of other people's business and to stop the detective work immediately! Christopher does not truly listen and finds out that his mother is not dead, like his father told him, but she had an affair with Mr. Shears. Mr. Boone hits Christopher, and Christopher becomes very scared of his father. He then hides out in the garden and once his father leaves the house, he packs his things.

Christopher decided to run away to his mother's house, which is in London. This requires him to go on the train. The problem with that is he has to ask strangers for directions and has to be with strangers in small spaces. Some how Christopher manages to get through all of that and finds his mother's home. She is living with Mr. Shears, and is very happy to see her son. Mr. Shears is not very kind to Christopher, so Mrs. Boone takes his car and brings Christopher back to Swindon.

Things eventually work out for Christopher, he is able to take his A Level Math, and he lives with his mother in a small apartment. He stays with his father until Mrs. Boone comes home from work. Christopher was still very afraid of his father, so he refused to talk to him for a while. At the end of the book, Mr. Boone takes out a golden retriever puppy that is now Christopher's. The puppy is named Sandy, and it looks as though Christopher may be able to trust his father again.

The mystery was solved; Mr. Boone killed Wellington because Mrs. Shears loved the dog more. Christopher's parents now lived in a closer area, and Christopher was able to spend time with both of them now. It all seemed to have worked out for the best.

I think this book did a great job illustrating what it is like to have Asperger Syndrome. The novel was written very choppy, going from past to present, just as someone would think through out the day. He gives details and examples of what it is like when they do not understand what is going on. Christopher is a very smart person, and thinks very logically. It was very interesting to read this book because you had to realize what it was like if you had Asperger Syndrome.

Shy Children

In class we were talking about social phobias and the signs that a child may show when having a social phobia. There was a lot of emphasize on how a child could be shy, somewhat mute, and could be clingy. Now I would like to disagree with that. I was a very quite shy girl when I was younger and I would like to think that I turned out just fine! I think that they signs for social phobia are just too vague and you could stick any child into that category at any given time.

My dad has a cousin that always liked children and he just scared the heck out of me. He would try to play with me and just came at me altogether too fast. I refused to talk to this gentlemen for years, and at his wedding I hid under the table so I wouldn't have to dance with him! Needless to say he still kind of scares me, but I will speak with him now.

Children are all different and they have different comfort levels. It may take one child five seconds to warm up to strangers or a strange place, when it can take another child five days. Everyone is different and unfortunately people are too quick to judge and come to conclusions to fast. In the end it may be harmful to the child, when in truth the parent and/or guardian was trying to help.

Synopsis

Unfortunately all those who were excited about reading my synopsis for the book by Mark Haddon, will have to wait one more day. I was in the process of finishing the book and writing up the assignment, when I ran from my room to the living room to send an email. In the process I kicked the cement wall and proceeded to fall to the floor. Now stubbing your toe hurts but I was reduced to tears. I finally let go of my foot long enough to look at my toes and see that one of them was not going to the right direction. I'm a very big klutz so kicking a wall in the process of walking didn't surprise me, but I broke my 20 year record of not breaking any bones :(

Needless to say I spent quite a few hours in the ER of the Cheshire Medical Center, with some lovely nurses and a hilarious X-ray technician, and found out I broke it. So now I get the pleasure of hobbling around campus on crutches trying to dodge the ice patches so I don't fall and break something else. The fact that I didn't sleep last night probably isn't helping my cause!

So all in all, I am OK, but the synopsis went unfinished. Hopefully I will have it up by tonight.

Stickers & Rewards

So I have decided that I'm not very good at blogging on time... I have every intention on blogging when I am done my four classes on Monday, but when I get out of that last class... I am so excited to take a nap, I just forget all about homework!!! Opps!

In class we talked about sticker charts and I thought that was funny because in another one of my classes we were talking about rewards systems, and wether or not charts like that would work. When I was in elementary school, I remember we had a new art teacher. She was just out of school and was so excited to be using a sticker chart. Every class she had was listed on a big piece of paper and it had the dates across the top. Every month she would start a new chart. At the end of the month she would count which class recieved the most stickers for being a good class, and they would get cookies she made. The problem was that most little kids could care less about art, and her cookies did not taste very good. They were hard and tasted like salt, so they weren't a good treat! So needless to say, the sticker chart was not a very big sucess.

Now if she had brought in the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies that would have been a whole other story!!!

ADHD

Another interesting class today... ADHD, biological clocks gone haywire, hair pulling, nail biting, teeth grinding, and a girl who ate her hair and had a hair ball!

On the topic of ADHD, I think some doctors are just eager beavers when it comes to handing out medications. Which is a shame, because some people do not truely need the medication and it no longer lets them feel like themselves. ADHD is something that I personally would not want to get medications for, unless it interfered with my quality of life.

But that brings up a whole other discussion about who gets to judge what is the best quality of life for anyone. Some people would walk into my room and think that something exploded. I have papers every where and it looks just like a mess, but I like to call it an "organized mess". If you were to ask me where something was I could find it immeditaly or tell you where to look. Some people just can't stand that and would have to have everything put away and labeled. That would drived me nuts!

Now as for the hairball incident... you may not believe me, but after doing some research I found many occurances of hair balls in humans. Most happened when the person had a complusive disorder that drove them to eating the ends of their hair!

If you don't believe me look at this link, it is one of many that I found... you just have to scroll down a little ways
Girl died after giant hairball was removed
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The, Aug 21, 1999

New Hampshire

Class was started today with a discussion about a gentleman who discovered sheep may be gay. The gentleman observed that 8% or something like that, were not interested in mating with a female sheep. Now the problem is once Larry gave us the background, he asked who was from New Hampshire.. I being from this lovely state raised my hand. He then asked us if we knew the mating habits of sheep or anything about them. Sorry but just because I live in New Hampshire does not mean that I farm or know anything about sheep!

On a better note, after ready some of the requirements for conditions like OCD and ADHD, I have learned most people I know, including myself fit into some of the requirements. Since it does not interfere with my "quality of life" I'm not to worried. I just don't plan on telling any doctors that I fit some of the criteria, because popping pills is not my idea of a fun time.

Well that is all for now!

Opps

I am not quite used to blogging yet. I had written out my lil section on class yesterday and instead of hitting the publish button, I hit the save as drafts. The only problem with that was I some how managed to delete the draft.... so here we go again!

Class is really fun, I never thought I would actually say that about a psychology course! The group things we have been doing is a really nice way to break up a lecture. Even the lectures don't seem like lectures because of how entertaining the class is.

Having Abnormal Psych in the middle of my day is very nice because of the break I get. Laughing in class is such a relief from the rigid structure of my other classes!
Well that is it for now!
See you all on Monday :)

First Attempt

hmmm... so this blogging stuff is all new to me. I don't normally say much so this is going to be interesting. Class today was alright... most of what was said was review but I'm looking forward to the new material... Larry seems like a cool guy, so I know I wont be taking any naps in class!!!
So long for now.