Life of a Middle-Aged Student: October 2010

Welcome to My Bumpy Ride.......

Before you all read on, I guess it is best to introduce myself to you and let you know a bit about myself. I am Susan, and first and foremost, I am a mother to a wonderful young man. Though he is grown, he will always be that three year old little boy, that asked all those questions and expected answers to them all. Though I will tell you much about myself in this blog there is no one or nothing that is as important to me as him, even if I don't discuss him much, because he kina likes to remain private.

For years I was actively trying to find myself, but that was a big waste of time, since by doing so I was not living. All my life I have always known that I was "different", but was unable to know why that was. I first thought that perhaps it was because I was adopted, but that was not the case. Turns out, I am bipolar and pretty much have been all my life. This was explained to me about nine years ago when I had a major melt down. I tend to be more on the depressive side, but have on occasion been quite manic. My last episode was early thru mid 2008, with full blown depression. For five months, I bearly left my house, let alone my bed. Why am I telling you this? I just want it out in the open and let you understand that I discuss my illness from time to time.

Present day, I am currently a full time student, studying social work. At the end of 2011 I was approached by a mentor of mine, who mentioned a new program that was going to launch here in Rhode Island. This new program called the Peer Wellness Coaching, was something that I had always wished would become a reality and to add even more excitement was the fact that this mentor was inviting me to train for a position as one of the Peer Wellness Coaches.

So currently (spring 2012) I am part of the three phases of training and should be employed by the fall of 2012. What is even more excellent about this program is that they are aware of my education goals and are willing to work with me on maintaining those goals.

Also you might hear me mention NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), because I am actively involved with them. I am a facilitator and state trainer for the NAMI Connection groups (peer run support group) here in Rhode Island, and I also help teach high school and college students about mental illness through NAMI RI's Inside Mental Illness program.

So with all that being said...I hope you read on to my daily activities and thoughts and such.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Entry for October 31, 2010 So it is Halloween

Decisions, decisions. Today I could really use the time to catch up on the reading I have for both Western Civilization and Psychology or I can go to the city and listen to Bill Clinton speak about how he supports Governor Candidate, Frank Caprio. This is tough since it could be a really good thing to get an opportunity to see Bill Clinton. Seriously though I am thinking that he is only going to talk for like a few minutes and then be whisked off to another rally to support someone else. Also, most likely it will be crowded and I won’t even get a real good view, let alone to be able to hear him speak.

Well, just now got a call from Dennis. I hate to say boyfriend, being that it is such a juvenile word really, but I don’t know how else to describe him really to those that don’t know me. So I guess we will stick with that. Anyways looks like I am going to go to the rally. Sometimes it is so hard to chose between something and school. Seems that people my age who have already finished school don’t remember how much work is really involved, and the ones who have not gone on to college, are not aware. I just have to be more proactive in sticking to the schedule that I laid out for myself as far as study time and homework time goes. So I will start that tomorrow. LOL

With it being Halloween, I am showing you all a picture of the costume I wore back in the day. Notice the plastic mask. This was a norm of the 70’s. I am not sure what the adults of that time were thinking with the plastic mask and costume, because when you breathed the mask was wet and yucky around the inside mouth and the costume itself was ripped by the end of the day. Anyways this costume, Tinker bell, was worn one year that Halloween was on a Saturday. I remember I was Tink and my brother, Tommy, was Spock. We basically got up early and wore the costumes all day. Not much else to remember about that day really. It was just a good memory about being a kid and not having a care in the world except for when we could go out and collect our loot.

Well, there you have it folks. Now you know I chose to go to the rally and now you get a glimpse into a bit of my childhood again. TTFN

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Entry for October 30, 2010 First Post

I want to first welcome you all to my blog. I will only tell you that though this is labelled as a back to school kind of blog, I will write about different aspects of my life. What that basically means is, I will be writing about anything my mind wants to. So with that said, here we go.....

I should be studying for my Logic exam on Wednesday or perhaps working on that outline for the How To presentation I have due on Tuesday, but here I sit, in front of the computer, typing my thoughts. Good use of my time, don’t you think.

I did get a lot done today though. I went to Staples and picked up the external hard drive I have needed with a gift card that I had for that store. I think 1TB will do the trick. Funny you know, I can remember back in the mid 90’s when someone I knew bought a new computer with one gig, he said, “Can you imagine! 1 gig! No one could ever use up more than that!” Now that is funny if you think about it. Here I am now wondering how much I can fit on the 1TB.

So I also went to Wal-Mart and picked up a few things I needed for my new apartment. I have been here for two months now and just finally bought a microwave. Talk about going back in time there. I actually remember the first microwave we had in the house. I was about eleven years old and we moved into a new built townhouse and there it was. That is pretty much the same time that I started cooking, so I really only knew the microwave life.

Ok so what else did I buy at Wal-Mart. I got a wall clock that is big enough to see without my glasses. It makes it easier at night to know if it is really time to get up or if I can sleep a few minutes more.

The rest of the stuff I got was basic things that I needed for the apartment. I did spend more then I wanted to, but that always seems to happen there.

Ok, so, this is the end for today, only because I just wanted to get a first entry in and wanted to see what it looked like on the page. For each entry though I am going to post a picture of something that reminds me of my childhood in the 70’s. I figured that if any of you on my Facebook page, happen to read, you might get a kick out of seeing some of the various items, commercials, entertainment, electronics, or any other pictures I happen to find on the net, which pertains to my childhood memories.

Today I will show you a picture that resembles my most treasured childhood possession all throughout my childhood. It was a Sears plush Winnie-the-Pooh.

Well that is it. TTFN