Couch 218: Northern Minnesota 2050

I saw my first tornado aftermath driving to Florida in grad school. I was like, wtf, it looks like a tornado hit here! My friend goes, a tornado DID hit here. I lived a very protected life.

No. He's getting a master's in something. It didn't really absorb when he told me what it was. Maybe I'll ask him again later.

My heart is breaking. I know he's my therapist, but we have a really meaningful relationship and I don't want to lose it.

Do you think maybe he'd at least be willing to keep in touch periodically? I know it's not the same. And I know there are some rules with therapists, but if he'd no longer be practicing...

Today's Dr. T disclosure (tied into something we were talking about): That they'd had a cat cremated at one point and kept the ashes in the house in the wooden box for a while, then eventually decided to bury them in their yard. But first he took the metal plate off the box. He said something about it all eventually decomposing, and I said, "Oh, that's why you took the metal plate off?" He said yes. Me: "Ah, I thought maybe so it couldn't be found later by a metal detector." Dr. T: "That never even occurred to me until you mentioned it." So now I know he's had at least a cat and a dog (and fish).

Maybe I'll ask at some point. I'm not ready to hear a no to that question. He said he's not selling his house and he might come back when he's finished with school, but he also said his partner has been wanting to get out of Portland, so who knows.

I feel really bad.

I screwed up some paperwork so I can't turn in my fellowship application by the first due date. My work schedule got screwed up because the stupid scheduler misunderstood an email I sent and now I'm working literally half as much in Sept (therefore earning half as much $$). Stuff with J is rocky. Studying for the boards is going crappily. It's hot AF outside. I restarted my MAOI and it's giving me Gi symptoms. I emailed my T and he didn't email me back (which is his policy but sometimes he breaks the policy and emails me back anyway and I was hoping he would this time). My BFF is out of town (hiking with crappy cell service) so I can't lean on her.

I hate this.

One of the summers I worked at my beloved girl scout camp, I think it was the first summer, we had a tornado come through. The sky was such a creepy color and the wind was something fierce. The camp is made up of 7 hills and all of the units with platform tents, they are up in the hills, so we gathered all the kids and I remember running in big groups from our units to the dining halls (they were the safest places to gather everyone) and we sat together on the floor singing songs and trying to keep the kids calm, it was a crazy time! We only lost a couple of tents and nobody got hurt when the tornado went through, we were lucky!

Today I learned that it takes longer than I thought it would to spit saliva through a straw into a test tube to the depth of an inch or so. (Pre-travel covid test.)

I lost ground when I automatically did what one does with straws and sucked it back up.

And I heard you aren't supposed to eat or drink before hand. Which would make saliva a bit more challenging

Yes, no food or drink or gum or hard candy or nicotine delivery systems of whatever sort allowed for 30 minutes beforehand.

Hugs to everyone who needs one.

Currently in the process of buying a house. It's not built yet, so we get to choose a lot of things, even where most of the walls are. But this week's been exhausting, having to decide on almost everything that a house is built out of is a lot of work...

Oh, so he's leaving the area for school? (I imagine it's all online for now...)

Hugs, that's a lot to deal with.... I hope you hear back from your T. When do you see him again? Miserably hot (with bad air quality) here as well...I hate summer.

Im gonna hafta block you for what you said in your previous post.

SOOOO GROSSSSSS!!!!!

I did a dna spit test at the mental health clinic, then they called and said oh not enough spit would you do it again? Oh sure i said but i lied. Grossest thing i ever had to do in my life. And ive picked up dog poop!

You love talking about bodily functions, gases and fluids etc more than anyone. I call shenanigans.

But now we know ex-hankster’s Achilles’ heel.

Yeah but that spit dna test did me in. I aint kidding. I never was into

Only if i step in it! Ha ha see what i did there!

The first semester is online and starts next week. He has to go in-person for 4 labs. After that he's moving.

I'm trying to figure out how to draw two links of a chain, linked, and then draw a second picture of them un-linked. My drawing sucks. Even though I did that online drawing class, I did ok copying what they were showing us how to draw, but I don't seem to know how to apply that to something I'm only picturing in my head....

welp it's done, for better or for worse haha and i will send it to L tomorrow so's i don't chicken out talking about it friday morning.

I felt steamrollered going into today's session, and since I finished, I've felt wrung out. Can't even get it together to journal...and that's saying something.

Cool Whip!

Can the Couch settle something for me? Sending an email about scheduling and getting an out of office response doesn't mean I'm a failure of a human, right?

You are not a failure of a human! Maybe t has their own appointment or something?

Thanks, Artie. I am surprised, because she didn't mention being off email until Tuesday at the end of session.