Group Therapy

I'm taking the LAST CLASS OF MY LIFE this summer and it's group therapy. What a great course to end on! The class is 3 hours a day and the first half of it consists of all of us students forming a group with the instructor being the group therapist (he is in private practice and IS a group therapist so it's all kosher) and the second half of the class is lecture.

Being in a group is AMAZING! I recommend it to any and all! Now, granted, some of it may have to do with the fact that we're all therapists already so we kind of 'get it' as to how this whole therapy thing works, but I have to imagine that with a good leader all groups could eventually get to this place.

I've learned things about total strangers that have taken my close friends years to reveal. I've also learned that I have more in common with total strangers than I ever could've imagined! Finally, I learned that someone I had already known before the group (and did not care for) was actually quite similar to me and much of my distaste for this person probably comes from that very fact. When people display our least favorite traits in ourselves it tends to hit a chord.

The book we are reading for the class is called "The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy," and it's written by the guru of group psych, Irvin Yalom. He comes of as an intellectual snob, but he's a psychiatrist so what do you expect? :) Just check out this picture and you'll see what I mean.

L'ete

I love summer. Yes, it's hovering right around 100 degrees outside here in the Southwest, but even that can't dissuade me from loving this time of year. I love that even though I'm writing a dissertation and taking a class and working it still feels like I have endless amounts of free time (it's my delusion and I enjoy it). I love the food of summer (screw the salmonella scare-I love my tomatoes!). Summer pastas and fruits and veggies and fun summer cocktails!



I love summer clothes, too. You can live in your bikini and summer dresses. Shorts are perfectly acceptable (provided you have a tan) and everyone ends up with highlights in their hair.



I love summer books! Lighthearted reads and books you've always wanted to read but never had the time to. I'm currently reading 'Cry, the Beloved Country,' and could use some chicklit after this! Apartheid isn't for the faint of heart! It's also required that you do most of your reading sitting by a pool and that's fantastic.



Finally, the best of the best is summer romance! I know I've been complaining about all things boy related as of late, but I have a new summer crush so things are looking up. If things go well I'm sure there will be more written about it here.

Summer Lovin'

Wow, dating is just too much! Why can't you just skip the dating process and immediately know if someone's a good match and be able to call them on a Tuesday night to complain about your life? Hmm...maybe that's what friends are for!

I've been dating a whole lot lately and I'm just plain worn out! Maybe it would be one thing if I was dating one amazing person after the next, but so far that's not the case. They're either dull or annoying or possibly a closeted homosexual. Not to brag, but I'm way too cute, smart, funny, and socially adept to spend so much time on sub-par men. The scary thing is that maybe I'm not and that's why I keep dating weirdos. Maybe I'm a weirdo and I just don't realize it! Do weirdos know they're weird? This is a question that has been plaguing man kind since the dawn of time.

I still do have a crush on the intern and he officially checked me out yesterday and then we were stuck on the elevator together (fate perhaps?) and he introduced himself and we shook hands (i.e. We touched!). He went to grad school in Colorado and seems terribly outdoorsy (I'm allergic to all things fresh and organic.), but that arm band tattoo just does it for me! Yum!

I know this goes against all things preppy in me, but I actually think sleeve tattoos are hot. A somewhat nerdy, engineer-type who has pro-feminist ideals and had a sleeve tattoo would be my idea of the perfect affair.