sorry, i've been napping.

i wish i could tell you the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of not slowness.

but, you know i'd be lying.

last week i started my internship!  exciting.  i have my own office (which i may have to share with another part timer, but still).  it's a CORNER office with a big desk and chair and whatnot.  it's pretty bad ass.  it's a private catholic organization (and i didn't even burst into flames) and the part i'm working with is the chemical dependency unit.  the location only handles outpatient substance abuse issues - some are from dwi/dui, some are mandated by probation, some just need help.  i sat in on my first assessment on tuesday and it was a 24 year old kid who had an opioid problem.  his mom told him either he had to leave or get help - he chose to get help.

i'll be interning for 12 hours a week.  the new new york state rules for mental health stuff that went through june 30th of this summer mean that my 300 hours of intern experience must be spread out over SIX DAMN MONTHS.  stupid crap.  so that's about 12 hours a week.  we were hoping to bang out my 300 hours in a couple of months but the state stopped that.

but it leaves me time to work a job that will actually pay me.  i had been working with my dad a day or two a week out in queens (a two hour commute each way) which i love doing but i do not love the commute.  especially since my ra diagnosis and starting the medication i'm on.  the fatigue is horrible and more than once i've been afraid i might fall asleep at the wheel.  in the middle of the day.  damn it.  last week i interviewed for a per diem counselor job with another non profit here on long island where i'd work in houses for mentally ill adults who are working towards independence.  i was offered the job and now will be starting the long-ish road of getting hired.  the new york state office of mental health has really tightened their standards for hiring, which is good, but annoying when you're trying to get hired.

school is driving me slightly nuts.  it's not that i don't have enough time to get my schoolwork done, it's that i'd rather spend that time napping.  i do not know how to quantify the amount of time i want to sleep.  it's more than 10 or 11 hours a day.  if i don't have to move, i don't want to.  i get tired enough and just lying on the couch staring at a cat is restful enough for me.  it's disgusting how much i don't want to do things.  i mean, i do - i cleaned the apartment (with some help from awesome husband).  we went holiday shopping.  i cooked.  i keep wanting to be more productive and get things done, but my body is like NO WE ARE TAKING A DAMNED NAP AND YOU ARE DOING NOTHING.

we decorated for the holidays over the last two weekends.  we're not christian so we don't 'celebrate' christmas as, you know.  the birth of jesus.  which it isn't.  jesus wasn't born in winter.

ANYWAY.  we bought a little 4" tree and put our fave ornaments on it.  we put some lights on the porch and got a 3.5" inflatable santa yoda.  it's nice.  i like to call christmas 'traditional american familial holiday' because that's how we celebrate it.  i like seeing family and giving people gifts and enjoying time with people i love.  i've done a lot of my holiday shopping online.  i REFUSE to give any of my holiday money to any shops that are open on thanksgiving.  (i do not include grocery and pharmacy stores in this because they have always been open on t-day.)  it's mostly about the other types of stores - macy's, kohl's, target, kmart, sears are all on my no-no list.  i was bummed that macy's was open on thanksgiving - i did a huge portion of my holiday shopping there last year because they were closed on turkey day.  not this year.

we decided to give 'the kids' cash.  the kids are my 17 year old twin sisters and our nieces and nephews (age range is like 10-24).  i saved a bit of money each week from like october to cover them.  and then i've been trying to buy something every week to cover the stockings and whatever.  i'm always in charge of stockings since my mom died.  chocolate marshmallow santas, bits of candy, tiny gifts - i get all types of shit to put in the stockings.

the biggest issue i'm having is finding a damn playstation 4.  i told awesome husband he could have one and made him trade in all his xbox crap (he has two games to hold him over) so we could put it towards a new ps4.  and now i can't find one.  fuck fuck fuck.  and remember, i can't buy it certain places - i'm planning on buying it from gamestop because they didn't open until 12am on black friday.  yes, it's practically opening on thanksgiving, but it's technically black friday.  they do midnight releases all the time, i'll give them that one.  they haven't had them in stock for weeks.  the other day awesome husband called one store and they were like, order it online - they're shipping by december 16.  i got on the website and - nope.  so today i'll be calling a fuckton of gamestop locations to figure out what's up.

and i'll be cooking.  napping.  watching american dad.  gathering info needed for my new per diem offer.  you know, just steph gas being steph gas.