Downtown Manhattan

I've lived in NYC for past 22 years, and never been to liberty island. So today, my mom and I went to see the statue of liberty and the Ellis island for the first time in 22 years. The weather was perfect- not too hot and humid. The total trip for the two islands took about 5 or 6 hours. We were sooo tired at the end of the trip that we crashed and dozed off on our way home via subway.
Lady liberty: Lady liberty looked rather stout than linear from numerous images I've seen on TV and pictures. And she's not standing straight with both feet stabilized on floor. She is caught frozen in her gait- her right foot is on strike. My mom was kinda driving me crazy especially when she had the camera in her hands.
Ellis Island: Reminded me of Altatrez of San Francisco. It was interesting to see the remnants of immigrants belongings.
After our trip, we head off to see ground zero, a site where my mom never got to see after 9 11. I saw the tourist bus, and some tourists smiling for the camera as they stood in front of the gate and what was left of WTC. Kinda got me angry. Don't they know it is where thousands of everyday working citizens were murdered? I can't believe that it has been 4 years since the explosion. Honestly, I forgot about it until I mumbled 9-11..- September. When I saw the photographs, I remembered that morning being pretty chaotic. I remembered all medical staffs just waiting by the outside emergency entrance for survivors, preparing cots for surviors, evacuating d/cing patients for home to make room for new ones ...but no one came. Although we were glad that a few amount needed medical help, we realized many didn't survive. In a couple of weeks, we had some patients come in for rehabilitation. You can tell from their eyes, they were not like the other rehab patients. They looked soo sad, and weary. They carried emotional baggage. Kinda makes you think, life can change at a blink of an eye and that you should cherish your family members, and friends. And live life actively and to the fullest.

my perch has grown

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Originally uploaded by naeng-myon.

My pet turtle has grown so quickly in the past couple of months that he is now the size of the rock in this picture. He constantly eats and have fights with the other immate (sewell)for food. Updated picture on perch and sewell will follow.

Play

I was blaming one of my kids for his foot odor problem. It literally brought tears to my eyes. But I realized it was me too. I probably contributed to the smell.
So anyways,
I realized that I should really bring play into therapy, instead if using a toy and having them manipulate them a certain way to achieve their goals. My first victim today screamed and ran away from me as soon I saw him in the playground. I chased after him cornering him and allowing him to "play" and test me. I allowed him to have some fun but then I changed my tone of voice, looked real serious to indicate its time to play at the therapy gym. He agreed.."whew"- and off we went. Usually I have a toy, position it a certain way and make him do something with it, but today, I decided to have some fun. I used my imagination and used a big red piggy bank, pet it like it was real, and said lets feed it with coins. After that I pretended that the pig need to go to the bathroom and need help to pull the cork out from the bottom of the belly. The kid looked at me like I was crazy, but he loved it. So literally, I was playing with him..making the session go by smoothly and quickly..and actually fun.
After taking "I" back to his classroom, I thought of what my peds professor said about letting go and allowing yourself to play during therapy. So I guess this is what she meant.

the east end

so this is where my sis is currently at. this morning I heard about the earthquake that emotionally shook residents of indonesia and some parts of sri lanka. I hope she is okay. you hear about the population there, and it doesn't get personal until you know someone who is amongst them.
***Edit***
Just received word that sis is doing okay. She has arrived and in a bad need for an AC. The weather is soo hot she said that she gets so sleepy and fatigued easily. The residents are friendly, but are super curious of sis since she physically looks different than the other visitors who usually are british. She is often chased by the young and curious.

kids are kids

So everyone is leaving for work or volunteerism this week. My sis went to Sri Lanka 2 days ago. Today my cousin will venture off to Japan to teach english. Makes me want to travel too.
Yesterday, work was just so tiring. At one point in the gym, all the therapists were having trouble controlling their misbehaving kids that we just had to laugh. Kids are kids and they will test you to the limit of patience. I had kids who pushed my buttons harder on each coming sessions.
1) saying no to bursting into fake tears. I learned to ignore them.
2) I'm going to tell mommy: This is a hard one. I respond "go ahead, and tell your mommy... I'm going to tell your teacher".
Kids will do anything to get what they want.

more escapes

just thinking about traveling gives me a tingling feeling of excitement and adventure.
(top to bottom: Jerusalem, yellowstone park, paris, hawaii, alberta canada rocky mountain)

Great Escape

I love to travel and see the wonders of each country.
(top to bottom: thailand, alaska, easter island peru, china, vietnam)

accept the things you cannot change, learn to make a differernce

I keep having to remind myself to breathe deeply , and read the quote " accept your strengths, weakness, accept the past but do not discard it but learn from it, and that you can always make the changes through your effort and work.
Had a rough day today. I didn't get my 8 hour of sleep that I need for work, which got me real tired, cranky, and impatient with some of my kids I've seen today. I had to pull them out for timeout session, and have them face the wall. It was hard to keep your cool and be firm in your tone of voice without showing your insecurities. These kids have been testing me for a almost a week, and it is worrying me because I feel that I need to become stronger and CONSISTENT!
Some of my kids have been showing signs of bad behavior under my "radar". One of my kid (during tabletop taks) turned his back on me to fart. At first I thought he had some bad lunch, or a loose stool and couldn't control it. Until he did it again today! I stared at him with a face of disapproval. You should have seen his face..he was grinning. It was back to facing the wall again and an explanation of his mal-behavior.
Some of the work staff are not the nicest, but I guess that is reality. Not all worksite are perfectly nice.

Create your own model

H & M online website has a feature where you can create your virtual model of your body shape and dress them up in a swin suit. After typing in my weight, height, shape figure, and clicked"mature age", with addition of extra pounds I came up with something like this:


My gosh, do I really look like that? I look like a beach whale! Holy guacamole!

guilt

I didn't do something that I should have done, and now it's killing me with guilt and paranoia. One of my kids insisted on running in the hallway, and fell. There were no cuts, but I should have told the teacher after returning the kid back. Damn it. The kid was okay throughout the session, and so I thought everything was okay, until we arrived to class. I feel like a lousy therapist. I should tell next time. Gotta learn from your mistakes, do not fear and trust your instinct.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everybody. Such a nice morning as I walked my dog in the adjacent park. I love to take a brief stroll in the early cool mornings before the hustle of cars and pedestrians.
Tomorrow is back to work. (sigh). And I didn't do my homework of readings. I guess today is the day to catch up. Next time i have to force myself not to procrastinate. I believe this whole week I was thinking about my errands for work, but tried to avoid it with endless tv and internet hours. :( This is what I get for procrastinating.
So I forgot that I need to get more stickers for work until today. Checked out some sites and came across this. Kids these days love stickers , and it's a shame that I have to use it for reinforcements. It's almost like bribery. So this is what I may buy. I like the encouraging statements on the star stickers. It provides social reinforcement, not just physical.

My kids haven't been the best in behavior (since I'm fairly new). So i'm starting at the very bottom in gaining their trust and attention by giving them something tangible. With careful planning i hope they will only need social reinforcements. But for now i'm reduced to this. At times I feel like I'm giving them this
. Can you believe these are money stickers!

pre 4th of July

Fireworks has already begun. As I look out of my window, I can see the colorful lights and hear the booming and crackling sound. I caught up with my cousin (yes, again) today for a brief coffee and cake. She is undergoing the same issue I had on adusting the huge transition from college to home. Sometimes, parents have a hard time accomodating the freedom practiced by their children. Although some ppl feel my reasons are softhearted, it does ring some truth to this whole arugment between children and parents. This brought back old memories of my post college days.
Anways, the fact that my cousin decided to just drive out to my apartment to go out made me feel the sudden urge to drive. There is such a freedom to just drive anywhere you want to go. Damn, i'm such a procrastinator when it comes to driving. I'm probably the very few or the only one in NYC without a license. Kinda embarrassing.
Ran into an old college roommate today. Great seeing a familar face at a social place when you are a homebody.
Learn something about men after manyconversations:
Lesson #1: Don't take their comments seriously and personally. Some women are so emotional (like me) to anything becuase they are desperate.
Lesson #2: Men like all girls or anyone attractive. But to form a relationship, they just have to really really like you and are "into you".

online quizzes ii

what's your inner flower?

G-r-e-a-t timing to be a hopelss romantic. A couple of days ago, I watched korean videos (one movie is called the Classic) with my cousin. If you guys know anything about korean vidoes, you would know to bring a box of kleenex tissue. Mostly likely, you end up with red and dry eyes from crying so much. The movie was so sappy but sweet. I didn't want to watch any videos that day in order to avoid any rehatch of romantic idealism, but gave in b.c my little cousin was in the mood. Sigh. I had a hard time readjusting my thoughts after. I kept watching it afterwards. I'm so weak.

online quizzes

Shakespeare: Sonnets. Everyone has heard of you,
and almost everybody can find something
touching in you. You are calm and control
yourself, even though your wisdom and your
messages are no lesser than those of others.

Which literature classic are you?
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