Sholly & Meena's Defence Day

Meen's has been going through a really rough time with her family (her parents'are having health issues), so Christine, Linda and I wanted to go down with Meena to Lacombe to give her moral support on her thesis defense day. Unforunately, one of the members on Linda's panel, (actually it was my supervisor, Mike), could not make it due to a death in the family so Linda wasn't able to make it because she had to scramble the whole day to look for someone to fill in Mike's spot, since she defends the following day.

Here are pictures of my day doing a whole bunch of absolutely nothing with my girlfriends, and loving it!!!!



Charlie's Angels, version 2006: Miss Meena looking all beautiful in her comfy Indian clothing, Miss Sholly, and Miss Christine

Do you think Sholly bought enough food for her defense panel!?!? She defended earlier that morning. CONGRATS ON PASSING, SHOLLS! WHOOOT!

Christine, me and Sholly giving Meens moral support minutes before she defends!

Me, Sholly (butt grabber!) and Christine posing in front of the main Canadian University College building on campus

While waiting for Meena while she defends her thesis, Chris and I decided to do something we haven't done in a loooooong time- absolutely NOTHING!!!!! We lied in the shade on this hot summer day...and took random photos. I loves it!

What's Chris starring at?

Ahhh...lovely clear blue sky...

My lovely "bellacheenas" (I lreally love this photo taken by yours truly). hehe.

I love Christine's eyes...one is blue, and the other one is brown! So beautiful!

Oooh...look who decided to join our party...

He's (she???) inspecting Christine before getting closer...

Isn't this a great shot!? Thanks Chris!

Mmm...since there were no dogs around...y'know...being Chinese and all...so I ate the cat instead.

YAY!!!! MISS MEENA PASSED HER DEFENCE!!! WHOOOT!!!!!!! CONGRATS MEENA!!!!!

"Mmmmmmmmmmmm! I LOVE my nan bread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUM CARBS!" - that's exactly what I said as this picture was being taken. This photo was taken at India Garden Restaurant, where Linda was able to join us!

UPDATE: CONGRATS LINDA FOR PASSING YOUR THESIS DEFENCE TODAY!!!!!!

YAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!! We're ALL DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next step is to open a private practice together- can you imagine how much fun this is going to be!? I can't wait!!! I love these gals to bits 'n pieces!!!!!!!!!

CELEBRATING GRADUATION... ...for real this time! Christine & her spouse, Shawn hosted a bon fire get together at their place. It was good times! Thanks Chris and Shawn! It was nice to see some friends (classmates) I hadn't seen in awhile, and catch up. Also was great to hear about other classmate's defence process. We each had quite different experiences.



Check out this awesome chair made purely from hockey sticks. Shawn (Christine's significant other) created this master piece.

I feel like a queen on a hockey high chair! Hehe

Linda, Sian & moi taking turns on the hockey throne!

Robbie, Gabriel, Chris, Simone, Linda, Kathy, Chris & Sian sitting around the bon fire- eating, drinking and being merry!

Kathy, Christine, Sian, Joe, Charlene, Inez, Shawn engaged in deep conversations

Katelyn (Christine's and Shawn's cute dog), Joanne (short hair), and Todd (bald dude), and their significant others, Rhonda (brown sweater), and Ted (stripped shirt), and Shawn's uncle, Marty: hanging out

Simone and Robbie making bannock

Look what Sian and I found in Christine's & Shawn's backyard...a hammock! SO COMFY!

Look what else I found in Christine & Shawn's backyard!!!

Wee! I haven't been on a tired swing in ages...and this pic brought up an uncanny similarity...

...Ok...not that I am comparing myself to Britney...but the pic of me on the tire reminded me of this wax figure model of Britney Spears - same pose! (But she has WAY less clothes!)

This was a snug ride (ok, I really couldn't even slide down, my hips wouldn't allow that!)

Weee! Kathy and me on the tire swing together (we weren't able to stay on it for that long- it really wasn't comfortable with the 2 of us on there!)

All in all, it was a really fun night. The bon fire really liked to attack me. Not only did the sparks try to get me multiple times (and along came multiple shrieks), but at one point, the metal band around the fire pit expanded and popped right out...missing me by 2 inches!!! EEEKS!

Regardless of the abuse I was getting from the fire pit, I stayed until 1AM, loaded up on carbs (yea but not the good kind!) - and got up this morning at 7pm, to meet the Running Room group that's training for the ING Marathon as part of my own training for the Canadian Death Race. Sundays are my long run days, and today, we ran 29km (yes, that's right, I am CRAZY), which took us about 3 hours to complete. I ran the same distance and time with the group last Sunday as well, but unlike last time, I sorta struggled today probably because I ate junk food last night, it was hot & sunny today (last time it was cloudy), and I only had 5 hours of sleep. Geez...I AM NUTS. There were some hardcore hills today too. Talk about kickin my own ass. I sure enjoyed eating lots of food today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JUDGEMENT DAY



Here on my panel, are my 3 supervisors: Will (from the jail I counselled at), Mike (from The Family Center), and Doris (my school case class supervisor/professor). All three supervisors have taught me an amazing amount of knowledge and helped me become the therapist I am today! Thank you Will, Mike & Doris. I will forever be grateful!

The defend consists of 3 main parts:

PART I: Orally defending my thesis, which is on what I believe the nature of: humans; personality; problems (I call them attempted solutions); change; therapy (I call it the "therapeutic experience"); and my role/journey as a therapist. This was basically a question and answer period.

PART II: I present a case report and 2 video tapes of myself counseling a couple/family I worked with. The first tape is from an early session with the couple, showing the problem and dynamics. The second tape is from a later session, showing change...in the couple, but more importantly, in myself as a therapist. It must show progress, and everything I do/say must reflect & be congruent with what I wrote in my thesis.

PART III: I am given 7 minutes to assess a Case Vignette (example) and orally defend how I would approach the case. Must hit certain key issues regarding the case. This was the part I was most nervous about!!!!

Moments before I orally defend my thesis...I have the help of my best friend, coffee!!!! I was actually on a buzz, which was great!!! I talked about the process of writing my paper, and specifically focused on the "Nature of Personality" chapter. I was able to be creative by bringing out my own personality and self in the presentation...by using props. I wanted to make it fun and visual. It certainly would be less boring for the panel, as well as myself!

A huge sigh of relief after receiving the news that I have passed my defend! Whoot! Now I can officially put those fancy letters after my name, "MSc, MFT" (Masters of Science, Marital and Family Therapy). Wow...unbelievable!

WHEW!!!! I PASSED!!!! That's why I was able to take this picture! Hehehe. What a feeling...I felt relieved and happy, but a part of me was sad because this *was* the end of school! I loved going to school! I'm really going to miss it!!! Well...what's next? The Real World awaits...and this is just the first step into it.

GO OILERS GO!!!!!


Cheering for Edmonton at The Druid downtown tonight

awww I love this pic of Dan and Stanley the bear!

John and Greg...in an intimate moment!

me, Miche and Andrea

This house was not far from The Druid - it's the jerseys of (some) Edmonton Oilers, including their name and #'s...pretty awesome!

It's otay Oiwers...we still wuv oo!!!! Here's D and me, with our bear, Stanley! One big happy Oilers family cheering for the team at The Druid downtown tonight! tee hee.

On the bright side, at least it made it easier for me to go home early, as I am defending my thesis tomorrow morning at 10AM!!!!! WHOOOT!!!!! Wish me luck!!!!

Linda's Surprise 50th Birthday Party

On May 21, Linda's (classmate and good friend) hubby, Mark organized a surprise bday party for her 50th birthday at their place. It was a really awesome day: great weather, great food, great time in the hot tub and hanging out by the bon fire- and it was so nice to meet Linda's in-laws and friends.

Here's Linda coming home from studying at the library (what a dedicated gal!) and being greeted by us! She didn't expect me to be there b/c I had told her I was going away on a camping trip that weekend!

Here's us greeting Linda for her surprise bday party...yeah, I know...I totally dressed up for the event! I honestly didn't know her in-laws and other family friends were going to be there too!

Big birthday hugs for Miss Linda!!!!

Here's Linda greeting all her in-laws (I love that her family is so ethnically diverse!)

The fab 5 future marital and family therapists! I also want to say a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Miss Christine (beautiful blondie) who shares her her special day with Linda! What a coincidence!

Linda's inlaws making her a suprise bday ceasar!

Uh oh...that ceasar sure looks dangerous! And...*gasp* is that balloon what I think it's suppose to be!?

...Yes it is!!! Tee hee!!!!!

Linda blowing out the candles on her bday cake. There's a funny story that comes with that cake. Apparently, when Nicole and Chris (Linda's kids) bought the cake, it DID NOT look like that - it had flowers decorated all around. However, the cake slightly got dropped and the flowers sorta got messed up, so Chris and Nicole "recreated" the icing by picking up all the icing and mixing it together in a zip lock bag, and respread it on the cake. I must say...they did a pretty darn good job!

Linda and her family: Her kids Kurt, Nicole, and Chris, and her husband Mark

For part of Linda's special present, Meena performed a special East Indian dance - I really liked this photo because the smoke surrounds Meena, like the Indian goddess that she is!

All eyes on Meens' beautiful dance