back to school

An intellectual shock looms this coming weekend as I return to school after taking the fall semester off. Evenings spent on the couch with Kyle, feeling smart because we beat the nerdy high schoolers on the Jeopardy Teen Tournament (Just put some mousse in that hair, sweetie! Hey kid, they even make contacts for moles like you these days!) and casting our vote for who should be told to pack up their knives and go home on Top Chef will be distant memories.



I'm a little more than halfway through my Masters program in Counseling. With about 18 classroom credits and a semester-long internship to go, I should be ready to graduate in May 2012. Even though I'm going to miss that free time to log a few extra miles or grab a drink with a girlfriend, I am planning to come back with a vengance this spring.



Why? Being halfway done with something, no matter how long the task, definitely helps motivate me to push through to the finish. Also, I'm taking Human Development from the professor who challenged me enough to lose a few decimal points from my GPA, and I want to show her and myself that I can do without that dreaded "-" after my grade.



This weekend's academic activity should help prepare me both for that class and for my busy semester and spring in general. I'm taking a quick 2-day 1-credit class on Reality Therapy, a modality which empowers the client to make real changes in his or her life through problem-solving type techniques and cognition, from one of the top practitioners and researchers of it today. See below for the title of one of the books we'll be using:

Yes, friends, this is why I study counseling. Some day it will be great to help others learn how to put and keep themselves together, but for now, it's not a bad deal to learn it for myself, for free (thanks, Hopkins!), and from one of the best. I'll letcha know how it goes.

P.S. Sign up in the comments section to borrow this book from me after class is over. :-)