Couch 157: Fair Value

I am working on this thunderstorm from a 5-year-old’s perspective assignment. I got a couple books from the library to see how others do child narrators (real child narrators, not adult narrators looking back on childhood). Thing is, these kids’ voices don’t sound anything to me like stuff I said when I was five.

ETA: why are there so few simple synonyms for "sky" in English? Firmament, wild blue yonder, heavens...all sound heavy-duty.

I think 5 year olds think in simple terms. Sky or Above or Attic would seem to cover it from my limited experience in being around them. I found them so tedious to listen to, I usually tuned them out as much as possible.

I have to do two versions--one adult 3rd person, the other child 1st person. The synonyms are for the adult one. But "above" is good for the child one.

I've been thinking that there should be a book that's a compilation of true short stories of people's bad therapy experiences. Some would be humorous and highlight the foibles of the profession, and some would be serious, underscoring real issues like therapist competence and ethics.

And then I realized we--the people on this forum--could write such a book. Start a thread that's for story contributions. Get a couple of users to volunteer as editors to help contributors polish their stories. We'll get PsychCentral involved somehow so they don't get mad at us.

Maybe PsychCentral can be the institutional author or even the publisher if it publishes books. The contributors will need to sign a waiver giving PC rights to their stories.

It's super easy to self-publish on Amazon, but it would be nice if PC is holder of the copyright.

What do you think? Any interest?

Thanks! Doing better today. Debated about whether to see T, but ended up deciding to go for a half session (which is really a full half hour). Got back about an hour ago. We didn't necessarily talk about what I'd expected to talk about--was mainly about the fight H and I'd had just before I found out about my uncle and just more general stuff with my relationship.

T was extremely talkative today, to the point that I wanted to be like, "aagh, let me talk!" Maybe he was in casual/weekend T mode or something? He also used an analogy involving his wife that included the fact that she has ADHD--which seemed like a fairly big disclosure for someone who hasn't shared much personal stuff so far. It illustrated something we were talking about, so wasn't some random disclosure, but still surprised me, as it was more of an MC thing to do.

I do think the half session was helpful, just not necessarily in the way I'd imagined. I now have some good stuff to bring to the MC session tomorrow. And then I see T again Wed. for our regular session (he asked if I wanted to keep that, and I said yes, if that was OK, which it was).

I already have such a story (the ghost of a client a therapist deliberately upset and allowed to leave session suicidal with the intended result comes back to haunt him, keeping her regular session times even though dead). Names, gender, and some details changed to protect the not-so-innocent, of course. Publication under username? LT copyedits?

Not sure I ever want my story to see the light of day anywhere, though.

Sure, I can edit Might want to contribute, too.

Yes, I was thinking the stories would be published under our usernames.

I really like the premise of your story! Maybe the stories can be partially fictionalized to protect identities and to make them more interesting. The author(s) would have discretion as to how much or how little they want to fictionalize.

Names would have to be changed to avoid lawsuits.

Oh, weekend T mode! I wonder if other people think that's a thing. I saw my T on a Sunday once because of scheduling conflicts, and she seemed kind of different. It was actually how she sounds on the phone, except in person and in her office. She seemed more relaxed and mellow. Almost warmer, somehow? Maybe 60% person/40% therapist instead of her usual 50/50. I mentioned it later, but I don't think she really knew what I was talking about.

My T also has a partner with ADHD, but I only know that because I do too. It's helpful to know that she has that perspective when we talk about my relationship, particularly because I think she and I both tend to be much more focused/intense people in general. That contrast is an interesting one to navigate in a romantic relationship.

i might go to T's game night tonight. haven't been in a while.

I am slightly mortified. I have only heard it from the back of my house, yesterday I heard it from the front and thought I would finally find out where this goat is. The bloke was standing in his front garden talking to someone when the penny dropped. It reminds me of that joke about the guy nicknamed Donkey.

You should go. I wish my t had a game night.

Why didn't you want a goat in the neighborhood?
I quite like goats

Because of the zoning laws prohibiting farmyard animals , though you are allowed to have 3 chickens but no roosters. In my area I can hear a rooster and ducks and what I thought was a goat. I don't mind all these animals in there appropriate place I did grow up on a farm

Was it bothering you or was just that the zoning law said X and somebody was doing Y?
I am just curious. I don't report people for animals unless I think the animal is being mistreated. We have had a lot of sadness with people who have to move or put their pet down around here when people reported that they saw them even though the animal was doing no harm, not bothering anyone, and was being taken care of.
I am very glad to hear it was not a goat.

I think it's more the size of the yards here, they are tiny and I think that is for of mistreatment not as bad as neglect but I think it would certainly stress an animal out. I don't object to the rooster ar Ducks as they are relatively quiet and I have seen them and the yard is quite adequate. I am not a regulations nazi with regards to animals.

But yes the noise of the "goat" did bother me and still does.

Five-year-olds don't look for poetic synonyms. They don't mind using the same word many times. A limited vocabulary and a bit of repetition would actually be a good idea for this assignment.

Personally, I'm trying to forget.

I don't know that one.

Funny Jokes | Walks Into a Bar... Donkeyboy Joke | Comedy Central

All good things must come to an end, such as 4 day weekends and peace and quiet. Preparing for work tomorrow blows!

I did—but as I explained earlier, the synonyms were for the adult-narrator version of the story.

I planned ahead and took tomorrow off...

Attempting to have rational talk with H about stuff going on...apparently H will not accept that and is p***ed at me, so epically failing...

Marriage counseling should be fun tomorrow! Especially because MC tends to think things are pretty much always are my failing, not H's... Wishing T could be a mediator...