I really needed this past weekend. Friday night, Craig and I drove down to Indy to meet my parents at the hotel. The drive was extremely stressful. The combination of rain and wind was so bad that we had to go about 15mph under the speed limit for quite a while; but we made it! We decided to take our time Saturday morning getting to the Lucas Oil Stadium (to watch the marching bands) and thought we would simply sacrifice "better" seats so we could avoid some of the rush to get in. Surprisingly, we actually got better seats than we did last year! After the competition, my mom, Craig, and I drove to Carmel to meet up with my dad and the band (my dad spent all day taking picture of the band). The four of us ate lunch in Carmel, and then Craig and I killed some time around Wal-mart before heading to his aunt's house for the annual Halloween party.

The party was a blast! We ate and socialized (of course), and then played some fun games. Some of the games were Halloween-oriented, while the last one was charades and had us on the ground laughing. Almost six hours after we arrived, we decided we needed to make the trip back to Fort Wayne. On the way back, at about 11pm, we almost got hit by a car. There weren't many cars out but were in the right-hand lane of the highway and another car began to pass us on the left. When the back door of the passenger's side was basically right next to us, the other car begin moving into our lane! We had to move almost completely onto the shoulder to avoid being hit. The car zoomed ahead and tailed another car until they both got off on the next exit. Needless to say, I was a bit paranoid the rest of the trip home. Thankfully there were no other issues!

The next morning, I was supposed to work at the school for Campus Visit Day. Unfortunately, when I woke up that morning, my eyes were both red and hurting. I couldn't keep my eyes open for any amount of time because of the pain, so I called in...again. I did wear contacts the day before so I am hoping that is really the only reason my eyes started hurting again. I haven't worn contacts since then and I haven't had problems again so we'll see.

Despite the downers, this past weekend was awesome and really helped me remember what it's like to have a life not full of tests and homework!

Unfortunately, things are starting to stress me out again. I had a test today (Wednesday) that had me worried for a while. Our professor gave us study guides which I had answered on a separate sheet--well, sheets. By the time I finished answering questions of the 5 chapters, I had filled out 11 sides of notebook paper! That's a ton of information to memorize. I did my best to leave out some information that I didn't think would be on the test so I could focus on the more important things. This paid off. Our test amounted to a puny 3 sides of printed paper. There were certainly questions that I didn't not know but our professor likes giving out extra credit if you add more information (pertaining to what we learned in class of course), in the margins or on the back. I took advantage of this :). We'll see how it turns out!

There is so much more going on right now but I absolutely have to get back to studying!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The past three days have been wonderful. I've gotten things done, enjoyed most of my classes, and attended a Halloween party with the music therapy club. On Tuesday, in my research methods class, Dr. Jackson was talking about all kinds of qualitative research studies that have been done with the dozens of designs there are and it really got me excited again. Then I got frustrated because I just want to know more about everything but I don't have time right now and I don't even know where to start! So, as usual, I stopped by Dr. Jackson's office to have a chat. To make a long story short, I will be doing another research project: a hermeneutic self-study on how my classes influence my feelings and thoughts on who I am/want to be as a music therapist and my learning process. This will be extremely good for me because it will help me iron out some thoughts and learn more about myself. That in itself made my week.

Then, I had my voice lesson on Wednesday. I had been dreading it because I felt a little unprepared. When I walked in, my professor was in a very good, yet crazy, mood. He said he actually considered calling me to tell me not to come in because I'm so far ahead (and he didn't want to hear those songs again :) )! But since I was there, we looked at two more pieces I could sing. Then, when my accompanist came in, my professor said, "How about we just chat and have coffee and donuts next week?" He was serious. So, my lesson next week will consist of having breakfast with my voice instructor and accompanist :). That night was the Halloween party with the club. It was a lot of fun! A ton of people came and it was great to just get to know each other better. I brought Killer Bunnies which is an AWESOME card game. Craig and Bethany and I taught it to some people and we played it for a while.

The next morning I woke up with a familiar pain in my left eye. I looked at my eyes in the mirror and they were completely bloodshot. Not pink, but red. Then the pain intensified and I had to keep my eyes closed. It seems like my corneas are still weak and I may have issues with my eyes again. I did wear my contacts a lot longer than usual yesterday so I am just going to wait a few days and see if they get better before I make an appointment with my doctor. I really hope I don't have to do away with my contacts forever!

This Saturday is State Finals for marching bands and I am really excited to be going again. My parents got a complimentary room at the hotel my high school band stays at because my dad volunteers to take pictures of the band. Naturally, I will be staying with them Friday night. I wish all of the bands going the best of luck and want to give a special shout-out to my old high school band, the Concord Marching Minutemen!

I hope the rest of you have a great week/end as well!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week has been pretty crazy again. My Monday was actually pretty good but after about 4:00, things just started getting crazy and hectic again.

Monday afternoon I went to my therapy session with two fellow student music therapists. There were only four kids there but three of them were pretty difficult. I didn't really get as frustrated as the other two, but it certainly stressed me out. The kids were simply messing around and not answering questions the way they were supposed to. Not a big deal though :).
Today (Thursday), I had a great session! I wish I would've done some things differently, but I'm generally happy with the way things went. Also, I had a meeting with Dr. Jackson about my research project that definitely made my week. She said I am on the right track and there are really great possibilities for my project in the future (beyond the class)! It makes me really happy to know that I'm doing things just fine. She's told me quite a few times now that I'm "on the right path; a very long one, but the right one!" Let's hope she's right :)

I've got so much to do this weekend! I have four 300+pg books to read for my research project, an arranging project, my arranging midterm (which is online, thankfully!), a conducting midterm to study for, a history test and listening exam to study for, a concert to go to and report to right on it, and the usual planning of my session, cleaning, and laundry. Despite the work waiting for me, I'm ready to have time out of the classroom and just be at home.

I realize I talk about my work load quite a bit but that's really what my life basically consists of. Sorry :)

I hope your week is going just wonderful and you have less work than me!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My break was wonderful! I had pretty busy days on Friday and Saturday. We had a meeting for STARs, went to a concert, and did homework Friday night. Saturday morning I worked at Homestead. The wind ensemble had the opportunity to have a booth set up, advertising the music program. Because most of the wind ensemble members were either working with bands or going home for break, I volunteered to work a six hour shift. I wasn't too excited about it because it was part of my weekend off, but it really ended up being fun. I spent the rest of that night doing more homework. On Sunday, I went home and attempted to finish up my homework. On Monday, I made myself take the day off. I ran a few errands, practiced a little bit, and just sat on the couch for most of the day...it was awesome! That evening, my dad and I went to a choir concert at my old high school. It was so weird to only know a handful of the people performing! Then came Tuesday. I headed back to Fort Wayne and did a little more homework. I felt pretty good about my weekend :).
Then came Wednesday...

I took a few days off over the weekend, and after just one class, I already felt behind. We had a listening exam in Music History which, I admit, I wasn't totally prepared for (apparently most of the class wasn't either). I tried not to let it get my down because I knew I wasn't ready for it, but I hate not feeling good about tests. Then I had my voice lesson. I did practice over the weekend but I was so tired and cold that I felt as though I hadn't even said a word for a week, let alone worked on my pieces. Thankfully my teacher helped me push through it and put a smile on my face as always. The rest of my classes that day weren't too bad thankfully.
That evening, one phone call made my day.

I was sitting in my car and flipping through my contacts when I came across the Eye Clinic's number. I haven't worn contacts for just over 8 months now and have had little to no pain for at least 5 of those months...I want to wear contacts again. On a whim, I called the number and explained the situation. The woman who answered the phone said I can try my contacts again! She said as long as the pain and/or extreme dryness isn't there, I don't need to wear my glasses! It was an early birthday present. :)

I'm glad this is only a three-day week but I hope I can be content with where I'm at with my school work and general feelings on life. We'll see!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am so happy that fall break is this weekend--I need it! Thankfully, most of my teachers got the tests out of the way so I won't have as much homework to do compared to a normal weekend. Despite that, I can't really afford to take four days off. I'm technically not behind in any of my classes but I feel like I've been working hard to keep up. I would like to use some of this time off to tie up some loose ends and finish up some projects and assignments that aren't due until the end of next week. I'm hoping to get a lot of it done on Saturday but I will be working six hours at Homestead (the IPFW Wind Ensemble will have a booth set up during the marching band competition). No matter what, I am going to make myself take a day and either do something fun or do absolutely nothing...hopefully to reset myself.

I am starting to look ahead at my class schedule for next semester and even next year. I want my senior year to be pretty light with classes because I will have other big things to worry about: I will have my senior recital in the fall, I will need to be applying for internships, and I will need to start making some big decisions on where I need to be/go after my internship. It's scary but exciting! I feel as though this semester has really flown by and I can't imagine how fast my next three semesters will go by as well. I was joking with my friends the other day about how I feel as though I should have an assistant that tells me what I need to know, exactly when I need to know it so I won't forget to do anything important (like study for these midterms!).

My sessions are going pretty well. I am certainly learning more about myself and this practicum is stretching me. I had a chat with Dr. Jackson about some issues I have been having and she said something I hadn't thought about in a while: "Don't let yourself get in the way of what you're doing. Sometimes we can be our biggest enemy in helping people." That's important for me to remember, especially during this practicum.

Speaking of which, I should head on out to my session!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my Music Therapy Research class on Tuesday, Dr. Jackson handed out a mid-term study guide. My classmate said, "The mid-term's next week, right?" I thought that was an odd question considering I thought that we had at least another month before mid-terms. We don't. I wasn't particularly worried about not being prepared for mid-terms, I just couldn't figure out what happened with my time. This semester is just flying by!

If you would have asked me how my semester was going about a week ago, I probably would've said it's not going fast enough. My days all seem to run together and I can honestly say that I study or do school-related activities for most of my day seven days a week. On top of that, my classes have never really given me a break. In fact, I had a "quiz" on Monday in music history, and a unit test this coming Friday (I say "quiz" because the "quiz" before this one was worth 150 points). As overwhelmed as I can feel some times, I'm glad I am in this situation. It is certainly teaching me some incredible time-management skills and I am much more efficient. Some other good reasons are that this semester has flown by so far, and this heavy work load will make everything seem much easier and my senior year much lighter as far as classes are concerned. There's always a bright side :) .

As far as classes go this past week, I've really decided I need to step it up a notch. My grades aren't horrible but I know I can do better! Also, Dr. Jackson helped me work out some personal issues I have with working with my clients and I have a much better perspective on where I need to take things. Hopefully this new motivation will not be short-lived and I will be able to be happy with where I stand at the end of the semester!

Speaking of which, time to study for my test!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have two huge bits of excitement relating to music therapy:

1. I finally met my clients for the first time last week! I am working in the Alzheimer's unit at the Waters (which is a nursing home). It was quite the experience.

We had about 8 individuals with all levels of Alzheimer's. Some could carry on a coherent conversation with you while others, well, simply couldn't. I am pretty sure I do not want to be working with older adults as my main population but I certainly don't mind it. My supervisor, Jackie, did the session which meant I simply observed but I thought about what I would do the entire time. It was a little overwhelming because I felt as though I was too inexperienced to be incredibly effective. That's when I remembered that it's called a Practicum--I'm not supposed to be able to get things going during the first or even second session.

Now that I've had some time to debrief and think a little more, I am feeling much more prepared for this next session, and I'm surprisingly not anxious about singing a Hello and Goodbye song with them. I hope it goes well!

2. The other bit of exciting stuff in music therapy is my research class. Instead of a final test at the end of the semester, we will have to turn in the literature review part of a research study we design ourselves. There are a few different types of research out there, and I just happened to be most interested in a topic in the Historical Research category (this is not a very popular type of research). The topic I am interested has actually never been done before (as far as Dr. Jackson and I have been able to find), so, long story short, I will be working on an actual research project this semester! I know, this may sound a little nerdy, but I'm hoping to continue this study as Dr. Jackson suggested, and possibly get it published in one of the music therapy journals! In case you're curious, here's my research question: How do the ancient Greeks’ ideas on music and health compare to modern thought on cognitive neuroscience? I read that now and I simply have to smile because those words make me sound smart :).

I can't wait to see how things unfold both at the Waters and with my project!

-Kim

P.S. Please don't get me sick!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week is running together but at the same time, this past Monday seems like a distant memory.

Monday evening, Bethany, Emily, and I went to the Charis House to have our first session with the kids before we met with the rest of the music therapy club (Bethany is the parliamentarian, I'm the treasurer, and Emily is the president). We expected to be working with kids ranging from 3rd to 6th grade, based on what our contact had said. Well, when we got there, our contact wasn't available. Someone took us to the room we had asked for, and then proceeded to make an announcement that, "All mothers and school-aged children were to come to the third floor to hear some music. Actually, anyone interested in hearing music can go to the third floor." In case you don't know, music therapists don't just play music for people, so we were a little surprised to hear that part of the announcement. Anyway, as people started coming in the room, we all got a little scared. We didn't have mostly 3rd to 6th graders...we had 4 kids under the age of 2 yrs, one 12yr old, and the other five kids between 4 and 7. We quickly made the decision to go ahead with the activities we had planned since the mothers were there to help with the younger kids. It ended up working out just fine. We debriefed for a while afterward and brainstormed ways to make the following sessions less terrifying for our fellow therapists-to-be. We're pretty excited about it :).

I honestly don't remember much about Tuesday and Wednesday other than my back and shoulder hurt, I studied for tests, and did my best to focus.

Today (Thursday), on the other hand, was quite wonderful for three main reasons:
1. I met my clients for the first time! They're a group of 8-10 Alzheimer's patients and will certainly keep me on my toes. I just observed this first session and I must say, I'm a little anxious to see how I will do in this setting.
2. I talked to Dr. Jackson about my project in her Research Methods class. I won't go into great detail but I am going to be working on drawing a line between how the ancient Greeks' connected music and health, to modern thoughts about cognitive neuroscience. I'm sure some of you are groaning and rolling your eyes but I love it :).
3. The Office Season 6 starts tonight!! The Office is by far my favorite show ever. I have every season, have watched each season straight through more times than I can count, and I am basically addicted to it. If you haven't watched it, you need to.

I feel as though I have so much going on right now that I forget to breathe. I am sure that my schedule will soon feel "normal" to me so I won't be as exhausted by the end of the day. Wouldn't things be so much easier if we just didn't need sleep?

Well, time to get back to work.

I hope everything is going well for you!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had an awesome Labor Day weekend! On Saturday, I studied/did school-related stuff for 8-10hrs which was exhausting but I got a lot done. On Sunday, I went with Craig to his family's annual Labor-Day-Weekend cookout in Kokomo. I normally have fun but it can be a little long because all of Craig's cousins are older with little kids; this time, his sister and brother-in-law came as well as his sister's best friend. With all of them there, we were able to play games and simply have an even better time. Then, on Monday, my parents came to Fort Wayne for a visit. Craig, my parents, and I went out for lunch, played some card games, and just had a great time. Unfortunately, the day ended way too soon and before I knew it, I had to go to school again.

Tuesday was not so fun. I felt pretty overwhelmed with all of the studying that I had to do that night and I was extremely tired because of my 8am class. Yuck. Thankfully, I was able to hang out with Craig for a while which made my day much better. I felt like a whole new person on Wednesday. I got a decent about of sleep and found out one of my tests is moved to Friday!

Well, it's Wii night with my roommate so I better get going. :)

Posted by Kim Yoder at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I feel like I can finally established more of a weekly schedule now that I have all of my lessons, sessions, and practicing times figured out. I am incredibly busy still but I don't feel nearly as overwhelmed. I also found out I don't need to take Choral Union which frees up one night! Now that I'm into my second week of classes, I'm seeing that this year is going to be a huge mile-marker for me for a few reasons:

1. My apartment. I enjoyed living in student housing because I didn't have to worry about paying bills on time. Now I do. Though it shouldn't be a big issue (because I'm an extremely organized person), my perspectives on money have changed since I have to hand over the money myself.

2. Music Therapy Research Methods. Music therapy research is want I am very interested in, like I mentioned before, but I never really thought about how complicated it is. There are two theories about research that are polar opposites and I think both are valid theories. This makes my mind spin and I have worn myself out trying to figure out how those theories play a part in my interest in music therapy. This, of course, will only help me mature in my music therapy identity.

3. Charis House. The music therapy club is finally going to start the volunteer work we have been trying to plan for at least two years. Last night, my friend and I went to the facility to see what kind of space we had to work with and who we would be with. If you don't know about the Charis House, it's basically a house for women and children to go when they have nowhere else to go (we will be focusing on the children). I won't go into details about it but Bethany and I walked away with a ton of excitement. There are a ton of ways we can help the kids out and the staff at Charis House is extremely thankful and excited we want to work with them (Melissa, our contact, is actually an IPFW student majoring in Social Sciences; she is taking Intro to Music Therapy this year!). Not only will we be able to help the kids, it will help us as music therapists, the therapy program, and us as individuals. We will have the opportunity to use music activities in a more relaxed atmosphere (without a therapy supervisor grading us), help the program make more connections in the community, and help us as individuals by giving us the experience of volunteering. It's really exciting!

Well, I should get back to studying!

Posted by Kim Yoder at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)