Thaw

One spoiled puppy being all snuggly!  He’s being very affectionate, more so because my support worker was here, and he was super excited to see her.  She’s the only worker / nurse / caregiver that I’ll allow Jerry to play with, as generally I’m supposed to have him “contained away from the worker” when they’re on site.  He was wriggling and barking and playing with her until she picked him up, then he washed her face… when I went to take him back, he gave me a dirty look and snuggled up to her.  Silly puppy!  Don’s doing well, and a bit more energetic than usual, so I’m good.  I’m almost back to eating regularly; I had a cup of tea this morning (not a good idea, but I really wanted one) and I had a scrambled egg and a small scone tonight, with some soup this afternoon and a bottle of Ensure.  Lots of intake, 😀!  The small dictator is leaping around with his heavy chew toy at the moment, and I’m trying to protect my toes from it… he likes to drop it and it’s really heavy!!  I tried hiding it, but he is good at searching and finding… Outwitted by a 10-lb dog; pathetic!

Isn’t it interesting when things pop up in groups?  I think we’d discussed serendipity before… well, last night I got a message from one of the boys putting forward some half-formed ideas that “school is a waste of time” (he was specifically referring to art, as he said that school can’t teach you anything you’re not learning yourself.)  Then my niece and I had a conversation, in which she expressed some nerves about university and (in her words) “becoming trapped in a single field.”  So I had very similar exchanges with them.  I’m looking for your opinions on what I said… this being a mentor and advisor thing is some serious work and I’m always nervous that I’m leading them the wrong way.  It’s a big deal for me that they trust me enough to raise these points and challenge my comments, but I worry that I may lead them astray.

What I explained to him was that school — or even working with a tutor — provided almost shortcuts to development.  The challenges posed by working in a group help a dedicated student/artist to hone their skills better than working alone.  Similarly, the role of criticism is (hopefully) to help address weaknesses and bolster strengths.  When you’re your only critic, you don’t see the flaws as clearly, and therefore don’t correct them effectively.  I added that consistent practice is vital, and in conjunction with a tutor, it fosters strong development.  He’s gone away to ponder — and if I know him well, craft counter-arguments— so I wait for part 2 of our chat.  

I explained to her that as she narrows focus on a particular field, she’ll find that there are opportunities that she doesn’t know now.  That, in my case, what I did for a large part of my career didn’t exist when I entered university, and there are more fields now that are brand new.  She wondered what happens if she starts a program and finds that it’s not what she wanted, so I told her about changing streams and the importance of developing a good relationship with her counsellor / tutor, who would provide support for refining choices.  She’s got some concerns about the transition from school to university and I said that she’s already mastered several of the skills she’ll need, like managing her studies, balancing studies and hobbies and scheduling work.  So it’s just the greater freedom from supervision that she’ll need to handle (it can be intoxicating!)  I said that she should join a couple of societies / groups so she can meet other people with similar interests, and enjoy her student life.  I made a brief mention that studying is important, but life at university is about more than just academics.  She laughed when I said that, because she said that I am usually teasing her and asking why she’s not in class during vacations 😆 But I reminded her that keeping an open mind and stretching her capabilities is what university is for.  She’s actually wondering if she’s made the right choice in dropping certain subjects at this point, so we talked about that, and have a basic plan in place for filling in any gaps she identifies.  

I’m envious, a little, about heading off to university, or even studying in general.  I considered signing up for some short courses, but I’m not willing to take on too many deadlines right now.  I do, from time to time, audit some courses in fields of interest, so I don’t have assignments due, but still learn stuff.  The last one was an interesting program on cancer research, including some basic cell biology and an overview of the methods by which cancer propagates.  I’d recommend that to pretty much anyone who’s interested in learning about cancer treatments, doubly so to all the “this is better than chemo” irritants so they’ll stop sending me rubbish that gets me angry.  Tonight, though, I’m hoping that I gave good guidance to the youngsters, and I’ll go play with the little toy thrower and tease Don a little 😈  Good night!