The Journey's the Thing…

There’s no way I can say it any better. Today is the last day I will be seeing my therapist on a regular and formal basis. This is not a sudden decision, but rather one that has been going on for about a year now.

I have been seeing him since September, 2001. It has been over 6 1/2 years of weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) sessions and we have covered a lot of ground. We have dealt with PTSD, Jungian archetypes, Inner Family Dynamics, and Neurocybernetics. I feel that the point of therapy is not to cure me (can one ever be psychologically cured?) but rather to show that I have the tools with which to handle any situation. It’s time to go.

Plus, it will be nice to have Tuesdays back, uninterrupted. I could use the time in a more studious fashion. The time to get to and from therapy plus the hour or so in between adds up to almost 3 1/2 hours when all is said and done. Granted, a lot of that is travel…Now that’s crazy.

I’ll be leaving the house at 11AM to pick up the mail first. At 12PM I go to my last wing-ding with him, then scoot off to the gym for an hour or so at 2PM, and then get my hair cut at 3:30PM. I’ll be home by 4:30PM. There’s a lot of unnecessary miles in between those appointments.

Here’s a picture from a series I took with my Agfa Silette. It’s called ‘Mom at Different Distances’.

This one is “15 Feet”.

Johnnyboy

Today is like any other day. There are pressures and obstacles to surmount, which, thanks to sobriety and the program I am working on (AA), I can. I have luxury problems…Too much reading and writing to do in one day mostly, but there are other things too.

My mother banged her shoulder against something in the night two days ago. We don’t know where or when, and of course she doesn’t remember, but thankfully there is nothing really wrong with her except for a little bruising and stiffness today. Yesterday there was pain, so we went to the ER for some pictures. Clean. That’s a relief. I don’t have the focus to be nursemaid this week.

I have a stack of books I need to read before January 29th and then February 7th. On the 29th my Modern Asian History class meets and I have a private tutorial with my Creative Non-Fiction prof just before…Loads of reading–9 books total., plus some writing. My US Civil War Residency begins in February, so I have to read another three books before then and write a short book review. On the upside, I have been granted a 4.0 on my Digital Photography CBE as well as my Historiography class. I have also finalized my Degree Plan and have about 8 classes to take before I graduate. I’m shooting for Christmas 2009…That’s about right, since I started school in the fall of 2005…4 years.

I also have a self-evaluation and a short photographer’s bio due for my Photo class at the end of the week. I think I’ll tackle those first today and get them done. This constitutes the very last smidgen of work leftover from the middle semester. When I have done that I’ll go to the gym and burn off 300-400 calories.

It’s a busy day, and all I’ve done so far is to post a new blog entry. I’ll add a picture for effect. I didn’t take this picture. I lent my camera to a guy who showed up for the first DocPho meeting and never came back. I have looked at his shots, and they are all pretty odd, if not boring, but I liked this one enough to fiddle around with b/w, contrasts, etc…It’s called ‘Charles’.

Johnnyboy