Working, working out, working more.

Working an insane amount of overtime.
Spending far too much of what little free time I have with someone who is, in all likelyhood, going to end up being Bad News.

Oh, and I'm redecoraing my kitchen. The theme is WWII bomber art. (In other words, I tricked my WWII buff roommate into letting me have the pin-up kitchen theme I wanted and he initially shot down!)

And... I bought a bed! A queen size bed! It should be here next weekend, and I can't wait! I was going to symbolically trash my futon, but it turns out a friend of mine is without bed, so my old broken futon is better than nothing. And since my new bed is a different size, she gets all my old linens, too.

Is there even such a thing as a Psychoanalyst anymore? It sounds so Vienna-in-the-40s.

Making plans to go to Chicago. Idly compiling notes about starting a business. Hiring for the 2007 program season. Applying for a seminar in Bloomington next fall. Stewing and brooding. Lazing and eating too much. Killing an hour on the internet while waiting for the next interview to arrive.

Matildaben, I wonder that about psychoanalysis, too. Especially because the way therapy is seen in movies is so often skewed to that stereotype of talking-cure, couch analysis. I really do wonder if that has gone by the wayside completely, the idea that someone might be in analysis for 30 years, in a quest for some sort of deep self-understanding. It seems that maybe our cultural priorities have shifted away from the need to thoroughly understand and more toward the need to reliably function, and perhaps therapy has made that shift too.

I'm talking about something I don't know much about, though. Therapy's been helpful to me at various points in my life, but I haven't used it long-term. The person I'm working with now says she combines Gestalt and CBT methodology. Whatever it is, it's sensible and I like it. Hajidboy, you seem like a deep-thinking sort; CBT seems to work well for people who think so much they over-think, because it's so based on the reasoning process thinkers love to use so much.

ps - WWII bomber art theme? Brilliance!

my neck.

I was at the opticians today. I've been getting some starburst on my night vision - the optician thinks it's nothing serious, just tiredness from too much computer work, so it didn't cost me big bucks for new glasses, just £22 for the test.

At the weekend I think I'll put in my contacts and head off to Specsavers to try on all kinds of different frames, so I can see what I like/suits me in new styles and then order some over the net from a discount retailer. Instead of the usual £400, they'll be around £50, and it's worth spending £50 to see if they turn out ok or not in terms of fit and vision.

Fighting off the flu. Wish me luck.

Re McDonalds - in the UK, in urban areas they tend to get loads of teenagers hanging around them. I remember when I was a divorce lawyer, McDonalds was the popular choice for delivery/collection of children for parental access visits.

I remember when the first McDonalds opened in the UK in the late 70s in Woolwich, but the first one I went to was in Ilford a couple of years after that, and it was for a few years the only McDonalds in Essex. I remember my then-boyfriend and I going to the cinema and then afterwards he'd 'take me out for dinner' to McDonalds. But in the 70s it was so totally different from anything we'd seen in England, it's hard to imagine that now, because there are fast food places everywhere, but back in the day it was a really, well, exotic experience to go to McDonalds.

The local council where I live now has for the most part resisted fast food coming to the area, but there is one McDonald's, right on the border of this borough and the next, miles away from anywhere, so you need a car to get there, and it's in a building that you wouldn't know was a McDonalds if there wasn't a sign outside. I've never been in there, but from its location, I'd be surprised if it's a hangout for teenagers, I expect it's more of a drive-through trade.

Psychoanalysis still exists, but I'm not sure it's really used all that much anymore. One of the programs I was looking into was exclusively psychoanalytical, but also brought in some Eastern philosophy -- which sounds awesome, but unless you have wealthy, therapy-positive clients who are going to be willing to pay out of pocket for many years of therapy, I was having trouble figuring out how one would make money as a psychoanalyst. Especially as much of therapy's moving into managed care settings, or at least paid-by-insurance, which is going to limit the number of sessions you can productively have with someone.

And apparently the average number of sessions patients usually want to show up for, when they have a specific problem, is about 8.

I think it's good we're more accepting of therapy in the U.S. now, but I think to some extent that's because shorter-term therapies (like CBT) have gained some ground. Most people don't really want to sit through, or pay for, years and years and years of therapy.

I get the impression things may be different in other countries, though, especially the romance country parts of Europe and Latin America.

Anyway. Some of the above does answer the question, since I've mostly been in classes, and trying to figure out which classes to take this summer and next fall, and worrying about my fall internship. Counseling on the brain. :)

Putting out fires with work. My grandmother, bless her heart, is all dressed up and wants to go for lunch but she's dozing in a chair by the pool waiting for me to get done.

Remaking figures for resubmission of a paper to a journal. Looking at the rain outside. Thinking about baseball and why the Orioles will suck again this year, even though they really shouldn't. Thinking about cricket and why the NZ team is awesome.

I’m not sure if he’s a Clinical Psychologist, or a Psycho-analyst, though my Mom was curious if he was. She seems to think the latter one would be more helpful for me...

There's something ironic about a mother recommending psychoanalysis. (What would Freud say?)

I can say that he's not a psychoanalyst, per se, since traditional psychoanalysis takes years, not 7 to 10 sessions. Clinical psychologists, however, often still use psychoanalytic techniques, such as letting the patient talk, looking at childhood memories, working through family and sexual issues, combined with cognitive therapy, family therapy, etc. (On preview, I see occhiblu had some of the same info.)

In any case, I'm glad you had a good first session, hadjboy. Back when I was in college, a therapist helped me sort a lot of things out; I am forever grateful. He probably saved my life. (Not that things have to be that dire for someone to go to a therapist.) I miss talking to him, in fact; he was one of the least judgmental people I ever met. In the past, I usually got into trouble when I tried to fit into what other people wanted from me, instead of listening to myself. He helped me at least begin to learn that how I felt and how I wanted to live was okay. Twenty years later, it's still something I'm working on.

Being hit in the face with the smell of art supplies every time i walk into my place. i think it's taking its toll on my health.

Oh, and, eating purple Snoballs.

Researching how some C# code does what it does -- and why it does it that way.

Psyching up for blizzarding the local market with 3 flavors of resumes & cover letters. I'm out of a job at the end of the month.

Getting ready for session 2 of some CBT of my own, hadjiboy.

Trying to get through a divorce process (separated for nearly 3 years now) and restart a social life in middle age here. Missing intimacy -- having somebody to fuss over and snuggle with -- more than sex itself; surprised at that. But wary: As William Holden says to Jennifer Jones in Love is A Many-Splendored Thing: "A great many mistakes are made in the name of loneliness."

It's harder to meet women, they're choosier than ever, and the stakes are higher now -- they feel they have potentially more to lose. The really fun, smart, engaging ones around my age who take care of themselves and like me? They're mostly lesbians, with a smattering of happily married self-actualized gals.

Allegedly I'm a "catch" for women of a certain age, but at church I mostly see pi$$ed-off obese women with really messed-up kids. (Kinda like my eventually-to-be-ex back home, I guess.) Wondering what they're seeing when they look at me: Ted Bundy? Angry jaw-clencher? Doofus? Weirdo? Closet sleaze?

Worrying about my son and his mother's apparent manipulating of access to him. I feel frustrated and guilty. I figure I'll be able to reconcile with him when he's older and understands better, but I fear he'll have lasting issues with her.

Psyching up, too, for a cold-wx workout after I'd been spoiled by wearing shorts and T-shirts to speedmarch. As long as I remember the heavy mittens and a face gaiter, I should be OK.

Realizing a person I know wanted to micromanage certain social contacts (jealousy? busybody-ness?) and have decided to interpret her as potential damage and route around her.

Need to get taxes done and finish reading this library book and this one. And I'm a week behind on reading The Economist.

About 6ft 1 inch. I've been up to about that for several years now. I don't know whether I'll shrink when I get older, though.

Trying to get a few items of clothing to fit properly again. Working out lots and lots. Still eating a little too much, though.

TDF, actually, you *will* shrink a bit if you age enough -- we all get slightly shorter when we's old folks.