Couch 248: Curiouser and Curiouser

I feel weird sharing multiple pics, but here's one with the fish (whose fate is to be determined in the new office, but I feel more OK about that now).

I am just sitting here and sweating like a pig. I am not going to enjoy this summer.

I was reading about the making of Deliverance last night. It came out the same year as Cabaret and The Godfather, so lots of nominations but no wins. What a year for film!

The most interesting thing to me is that Ronny Cox had hypermobility, so when he gets his arm dislocated up around his head, that was NOT done with smoke and mirrors, that was actually him. I remember almost losing my lunch at that scene, also how sad the picture with him and Jon Voigt.

Oh i can see why a change. I mean, im messy and a hoarder, but that looks cluttered and unbalanced to me, and just not the correct container for a bunch of rocks and then miscellaneous little animal statuettes scattered all over the place? I wanna put it all into a terrarium!

And all those tiny leaves are making me nervous! This is NOT what i expected a sports guy's office to look like. Do you think his wife brings the plants in? I find them annoying and intrusive. I hope his new office doesnt include her.

Sorry for the rant! Im kinda laughing at myself for having such a visceral response to the photo. Esp the plants. Its very feminine. Like she wants you to remember he is married. Maybe he has the green thumb, not her, but still!

That is but one small portion of all the stuff in his office! And the plants are his doing, from my understanding. One is ivy (with quite long tendrils) that's from a cutting of his late grandmother's plant. He said he'd have to get rid of a few of the plants because they're too big or dying (including a palm that's like 7 feet tall) and was talking like they were his and was sad about it.

I'm glad you were able to get pics of the office, LT. These T's and not wanting to be in a picture... sigh. A couple of times I took pictures of a sand tray I'd just done, and L would always practically leap backwards to not be in the pics. I had zoomed in on the sand tray so she would not have been anyway but whatev... T's are weird

And it really doesn't look like a sports psychologist's office. The only nod to that he has, besides some sports psychology books on a shelf behind him, are some bobbleheads from our local baseball team on the verrrry top of a very tall cabinet, just shy of the ceiling, that you wouldn't notice unless you happened to look up there. He has some Japanese (I think?) art hanging around, too, very calming, but probably jarring to an athlete coming in.

It's quite eclectic. I hope he doesn't completely get rid of that vibe in the new office. Like I don't want to suddenly feel like I'm in a sports bar, say. Or for it to be very minimalist, as it won't feel like him.

the training was not bad. one of those where, questions will come up after the change is implemented, supposedly by June 1.

If I’m being honest that’s not what I expected the office to look like either. What is that brown hugging statue, animals and all of the rocks ?

I thought the fish would be bigger.

Thaat table looks like my wobbly carp. How many times has it been knocked over??? Makes me nervous!!!

Im sure stopdog will have a field day analysing my analysis of this room!

I’m not made for the sun either. I like the rain and clouds. Nothing over 20 degrees C.

My accordion next door neighbour has been playing all afternoon with his friends since 5pm.
He’s still playing away at 8.15pm. I don’t have have double glazed windows and no other rooms to vanish to. The perks of summer.

Hes playing accordion??? What sort of music? I love that!

Yeah, he said something about fears of what AI could do with it? I said, if he didn't want his picture taken, "Well, maybe update the photo on your website then, assuming you haven't already." He said it's like 15 years old. I said he looked a lot like a former coworker in it, and it gave me pause initially for seeing him, like, "Do I want to get therapy from Jake?" (former coworker's name). He doesn't really look like him now, except very occasionally in the eyes when he gives a certain look. Plus, I said he was wearing a suit jacket in that pic, which he never wears in session (maybe once in 6+ years).

Yeah, he has lots of stones (in other spots in the office, too), which is why I asked for one ages ago. The brown hugging statue doesn't seem to fit with him at all, as he's said he doesn't like to hug in outside life either. ( probably shared this at the time, but he told a story once where his sister-in-law asked his wife after they'd been married for like 5 years if it was OK to hug him, as he seemed so closed off. She said it was.

He has a lot of animals (hence my thinking the fish was OK!) Many African animals and a big turtle. He's never mentioned being to Africa, though maybe he has?

The fish is about 2.5 inches long per Amazon, so not too big (not sure what that is in cm--or do you use inches in the UK? I can never keep that straight).

For some odd reason we use both, LT.

2.5in would be just over 6cm.

I can imagine trying to hug Dr. T would be akin to hugging a cactus, based on his people skills as you've portrayed them so far.

Seems as though people might want to spare themselves.

I also grew up with a hoarder mother. I would be over to clean and organise too.

The kid next door is screaming. Hoping his parents will complain now given that it’s 10.44pm and the music needs to stop.

I don't see anything all that odd about the office -it is not unlike how I would picture a reasonable office for a therapist to look. Plants die when they come to me so I don't have them, but I am not alarmed by it or anything. With some of the reactions (exhankster comes to mind - how would it get knocked over? do you think clients do ecstatic dance in his office or something?) I would have thought it looked much more chaotic and almost trashy. I don't even think the guy has bad people skills - but if someone wanted someone huggy they could easily hire one of those guys who is. Hugging is not for us all.

I tried acupuncture twice and would go again if I was back in the big smoke. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would and I actually enjoyed it. Felt better afterwards so maybe hugging a cactus wouldn’t be so bad. 😂

For me unkempt/ unhealthy plants demonstrate neglect. From the 8 or 9 plants I bought when I first moved into my new place, two are currently still alive. Both are desert plants from Ethiopia (snake plants).

I overwatered and unwatered, you need to the balance to help them grow same like humans. It’s what they symbolise, growth and healing.

Maybe I do just have high expectations.

I’ve been binge watching the remake of interview with a vampire. Such a toxic relationship Louis and Les had.

His French accent was cute.

I'm not good with plants and just bought a big peace lily, which is supposed to help with mold/mycotoxins (as long as I don't overwater it, which shouldn't be an issue, as I'm much more likely to underwater--note, this is not the case for animals, like my guinea pigs!). We'll see how I do with that. It's lasted 2 days so far...

I have become surprisingly good with houseplants. Much easier to care for than human relationships - simple needs until overcome by pestilence. Hmm, maybe more similar than I thought ...

LT- His office looks very eclectic. This fish is smaller than I was expecting and very funky. I like it. I also like the plants with trailing vines. Personally, I think plants in an office are nice (unless they are dying or look neglected). Healthy green plants bring some life to the indoors. They say green is a calming color too- which I do find to be true.

Glad you like the fish! And yes, I like the plants, too. They won't all make it to the new office. I was touched when he said the ivy was a cutting from his grandmother's plant.

My parents have a bay window in their house that was filled with plants when I was growing up. Plus another cart in the living room filled with plants. I used to like watering them. Flowers (daisies and snapdragons) and vegetables (green beans and tomatoes) outside, too. They don't really have indoor plants anymore, though still some outdoor flowers.

Hm, maybe that's part of why I connect to his office? I did just buy a peace lily for my new home office (we shifted rooms in my house)--Dr. T doesn't have one of those, but I read it's good for filtering the air.

You can also see lots of trees out the window (second floor)--older, tall trees. There was a tufted titmouse in one the other day--I noticed the bird, and he showed me what it was on his phone. Also, squirrels and an occasional hawk (not at the same time!) The new place only has one small tree lower than the window. He said recently that he'd miss the trees and wildlife, too. Which helped to hear.

So, it's occurring to me that maybe part of why the Dr. T couch thing is hitting me so hard is that just before the session, I realized my car had been gone through overnight, about 15 feet from my house (parking lot--townhouse without a driveway), presumably because I accidentally left the door unlocked. Like, someone went in, went through my glove box and the center console storage thing (stuff was on the seat that's normally in there), presumably looking for money or drugs or something. They may have gotten a few quarters, but I don't keep any other cash in the car. Not aware of anything being stolen. But I still felt violated.

In response, Dr. T shared a story of his car being stolen years ago. And it being recovered, but the thieves having chewed his gum and thrown it in the back, along with chicken wing bones. Which felt disrespectful. He said that bothered him more than the theft. (See: example of helpful disclosure.)

Anyway, it struck me just now that two safe spaces for me--my car and Dr. T's office--are changing or were violated. Plus the mold in my house we remediated recently. Like, is any place safe anymore? But maybe that's why I'm reacting so strongly. It's helping me to understand it that way (and keeping me from sending an email to Dr. T where I'm just rambling about a couch). Like, this is a natural reaction to all of those things. I can just cry and get it out. Write about it here and maybe for the memoir. Maybe listen to some music in a bit. I'll be OK. (And don't need to contact him.)

Progress. (I'm making that statement,not a question as I normally would have.)