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today the glitterbomber is... |
2003-07-16 i�m teaching my first nutrition class today, and i�m pretty nervous about it. i feel mostly prepared, but the butterflies are still there. i�ve taught classes before, and things at the clinic are so relaxed and informal that i shouldn�t be nervous at all. i guess i�m afraid that i�ll forget something, and having my boss there doesn�t help much, either. there is a lot for me to remember to do today. i�m going to give an introduction to the program and go over the consent forms. then we have about a million questionnaires for the participants to fill out while we take physical measurements, like weight and blood pressure. the questionnaires that we have are somewhat weird. most questionnaires that are used in studies are. here is an example: how much of the time in the past 4 weeks have you felt downhearted or blue? or: when you are exercising in your usual fashion, how would you rate your level of exertion? but, we have to track progress and improvements in mental and physical health, so we must use questionnaires, and it�s best to use ones that have already been used countless times before in other studies, so we know they�re valid. (isn�t the world of research fun?) i think the questionnaires will take a very long time for everyone to complete. once they�re done, i�m going to talk about why it�s important to eat right and exercise, the food pyramid, portion sizes, and a diet that will guarantee weight loss. if the weather stays nice, we�ll finish up with a walk. i just hope it all goes smoothly. for almost the past two years, i�ve been researching and planning in order to bring this program about. this is a special program, tailored to the needs of low-income people with chronic mental illnesses, and we�d like, eventually, for it to be adopted in other places. god, will you listen to me? you�d think i was at work or something� yesterday was another catch-up-with-people-from-the-past day. after work, i went back to the neighborhood where i grew up to visit with debbie, an old friend of my mother�s. we keep in touch, but sporadically, so it was nice to sit and talk and get caught up with our lives and families and gossip about our old neighbors. debbie�s daughter, julie, one of my best friends from elementary and high school, lives nearby, and we went over to see her. julie is recently married and has a cute 13-month-old son. at first, it was a little awkward because we hadn�t seen each other in years, and our lives are so different now, but things were more relaxed after a while. we ordered pizza and chatted. julie�s brother jim stopped by, too, so it was a nice reunion of sorts. jim was good friends with my sister when we were young. (are you following all of this?) it was nice to catch up and reconnect with people these past couple of days. it makes me want to write to other people with whom i�ve lost touch. perhaps i�ll get on a letter-writing kick one of these days. last night was the first night since before independence day that i was not woken up in the night by firecrackers. the stupid kids in my neighborhood think it�s hilarious to set off firecrackers at night in the alley behind my house. the other night, they were doing it at one in the morning, and i was jostled out of a deep sleep by it. i was hoping one of my neighbors would take some initiative and call the police. i don�t think anyone did, but i did hear a woman let a verbal barrage loose on then, so i hope that did the trick. |
