Tired, But Ready To Go...
7.25.2008
It's Thursday night and I have 3 weeks and a day left of my summer internship in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) (hospital chaplaincy). It's amazing to think of where I started out at the beginning of the summer compared to now. Arrive at a brand new hospital and your supervisor tells you that you have 32 rooms to cover and let's you at it. My comfort level, pastoral presence, and understanding of how to interact with a patient have all changed and grown extremely since that first week. However, I am draining more quickly each week. For the first few weeks, I wouldn't get tired until Friday afternoon. Then it was Friday. Now it is Thursday at some point. I don't know what causes it, but I assume that the euphoric feeling and surprise of chaplaincy are wearing off and it is becoming more of a regular job. I am not saying that I don't feel called to go to the hospital everyday because I do, but my energy level isn't lasting as long. I think that I am still working on how to pace myself in a hospital chaplaincy setting. I don't think that I will find a good balance during my internship this summer, but that is something I would develop if I was doing this full time. My feeling at first and still is that I should see as many patients as possible in a day, but then I am not able to see as many by the end of the week. It reminds me of how the same thing would happen at Dwight during the summer time. By the end of the summer everybody was wiped out and tired for the last week or two because they had given everything they had at the beginning of the summer. We had to learn how to pace ourselves.
So now that I am back to the pacing myself drawing board, I need energy... Sleep might help that category. I am excited about going to the hospital tomorrow because we're playing Space Invaders. Word.
RTQ
Fundraising (Updated)
7.23.2008
If you would like to help me pay off my immunizations then please EITHER:
- Click the "Donate" button on the right side column of this blog to give through PayPal
2. Send checks made out to "Robert Quiring" to:
My Vaccinations:
$75 - Office Visit Extended w/ Assessment
$150 + $9 for "Vaccine Administration" - Hep A & B - Shot #1
$150 + $9 for "Vaccine Administration" - Hep A & B - Shot #2
$150 + $9 for "Vaccine Administration" - Hep A & B - Shot #3
$80 - Typhoid
$60 - Polio
$75 - Combination Tetanus/Diptheria/Pertussis
$767 - Total
I used Passport Health of Austin. There phone number is (512)459-0672.
Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions by clicking here! Have a great day!
Sincerely,
RTQ
Funds Report:
1. H - $50
2. R - $50
3. M - $125
4. P - $25
5. F - $20
6. D - $50
7. S - $100
8. D - $50
9. B - $100
Total Raised: $570
Old Post titled Blogging:
Over the past week, I have really gotten into blogging (or the notion of blogging). As one friend said to me today, so you warped back ten years. I really enjoyed the late nineties so that's not too bad.
So far, I am pretty entertaining in retrospect (key word: retrospect). I am very computer savvy so it is really entertaining/frustrating when I cannot figure out how to do simple tasks or what the terminology is. Still working on fully understanding what a feed is. Any who, I am currently spending my free-time during the day thinking of new and innovative ways to fix up my blog which nobody really knows about yet. It took me 2 weeks to finally settle on a domain name and the name I finally settled on came to me the night before I bought it.
The best way I can possibly describe my current blogging feelings is by comparing them to when you first start to date somebody and in the euphoric stage. I spend my days daydreaming about it, I don't really understand it, and I am very overly enthusiastic about things that might happen, but haven't happened yet. Yep, sounds about right. Well, maybe I will calm down in the next few weeks before I start spreading the word to the masses; thus, hopefully having a better understanding of what I am doing and why I am doing it.
So without further adieu, Brian and dad, thanks for reading.
RTQ
State Your Purpose, Blog/ger!
7.21.2008
My name is Robert and through this blog I am excited to share with you my life and experiences as I move to Kenya for 12 months to serve as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) with the Presbyterian Church(USA).
I have just finished my second of three years at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS) in Austin, TX. So you may wonder why/how I am able to leave the country for a year with a year of seminary left. Well, I am taking a Leave of Absence from seminary for my YAV year and will return, complete my last year, and graduate in May of 2010. The main reason why I have chosen to take a year off from seminary and do this now rather than after I graduate is that I will have my final year of seminary to reflect theologically and spiritually on my experience in Kenya rather than attempting to deal with that at my first ordained position. I also believe that my experience in Kenya will help me mature and grow in my faith, rounding out my seminary education. So, there's that.
I have decided in order to get the ball rolling I will start blogging some this summer. Furthermore, this will allow actual content to exist as I attempt to tell people about it. I contend, it is difficult to tell people to go and check out a blog when it is just a blank page.
So, I hope you will join me in my journey by keeping up with me here and commenting when you feel so moved. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Robert
