Quasilaur’s Blog

A colleague asked me how I got over my apprehension about diving (he was asking me in order to relate some of my current struggles in the workplace to my diving success, though he made that point without saying it.)

What I told him was that when I got anxious underwater, when I was scared or wasn’t sure of myself, I would stop, slow down, and just look at the world around me. Look at that fish - that anemone - that kelp - and breathe. I’d soon forget I was worried in the first place, and would move on.

Note: Diving in the Puget Sound is much more challenging than my recent vacation dives in Hawaii. There’s much more to be provoked by, from poor visibility, to cold water making your exposed cheeks a little numb, to realizing you’re over-weighted (you have to wear weights so you can sink under water) and you’re sinking too much, making it hard to compensate.

Just thought I’d share that.

It’s interesting that I find it easier to stop and breathe underwater…

Wordpress has been updated…life is a little better now. I guess I need to blog more, eh?

Well, not tonight… it’s time for ice cream and entertainment.

Until I can get this issue resolved, I will be continuing my blogging outside of LiveJournal at quasilaur.wordpress.com. I’m considering just pointing my domain to there, but I’m not sure if I really want to do that. Checking quasilaur.net every day and deleting long strings of spam that’s being slipped in is becoming wearing. And for those of you who might be curious, I’m unable to update Wordpress on my end, at least, if there is a way, I don’t know what it is.

And of course, this post will be spammed below, likely until Wordpress is updated, so here it is, SPAM SPAM SPAM:

I’m putting up this post until I can get the situation rectified that allows spammers to exploit this generation of Wordpress I’m using. It seems to be only attaching to the most recent post, and then it only seems visible when viewed from RSS or another manner. I’m not a nerd, and I’m unfortunately not able to update Wordpress on my own, so I’m getting creative.

Hey spammers, attack this post!

I just completed (with Jon) my Advanced Open Water (PADI) scuba certification with GirlDiver! Of course, we weren’t the only ones on the boat today, so thanks to Julie and Jack who were also certified with us - Julie was in my Open Water class and was my dive-buddy! And a big shout-out to Teal Water Charters, the wonderful boat that took us on our three final dives today (including the 100 ft dive!) They were super-hospitable, handy, helpful and made us feel welcome, and made the hard parts of diving easier (in cold water, it’s getting all the gear on and off, and back to the car! You have to have extra weight to sink!)

It was a blast, even if Friday night’s dive was cold and yesterday’s navigation dive was brutal (snowing, sleeting, raining AND breaks of sun ?!?!?!)

Remember, it’s a cool 46 degrees in Puget Sound! But this weekend, it was also under 40 degrees at the surface! Warmer in the water!

And yes, I dive in a semi-dry (aka, very warm wet) suit. No dry suit for me (but maybe in winter!)

I can’t wait til Hawaii!

Now, not just anyone can be a counselor

By Michael J. Berens

Seattle Times staff reporter

One of the most loosely regulated health-care professions will be abolished and more than 18,000 people stripped of their counseling credentials as part of legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Christine Gregoire. Eliminated will be the “registered counselor” profession, which state legislators created 20 years ago in response to reports of patient abuse by unlicensed practitioners. But a hastily crafted law required applicants to do little more than pay a $40 application fee and attend a four-hour AIDS awareness class. The state ended up giving the credential to high-school dropouts and even to convicted sex offenders.

No other state has registered so many counselors under such scant guidelines. As a result, Washington has been a haven for sketchy profiteers of every type — from miracle healers to psychics — who have bolstered their credibility as state-sanctioned counselors, a 2006 Seattle Times investigation found. The new legislation creates eight mental-health titles, each carrying progressively higher standards for education, supervision and training. Current registered counselors have until July 1, 2010, to qualify for one of the new regulatory titles through the state Department of Health. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been busy losing 51 lbs (since September) — and then learning how to scuba dive.

I got my Open Water certification today! Thanks GirlDiver!

I promise to write more soon!

Today I got a mass email from a case manager w/ my agency whose program was cut, and he declined the offer of a FT position. He welcomed people to keep in touch w/ his private practice website.

So I went to the website. Clicked on “credentials” and find that he claims to have a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from 2006 (shit, I graduated in 2004!) from “Mars Hill Graduate School,” which is no accredited school I’ve ever heard of. I go to the Mars Hill Graduate School website and find they are still in application for accreditation of their MA in Counseling program. He’s got a registered counselor number.

Do you know what it takes to be a registered counselor?

Go ahead, guess.
Read the rest of this entry »

…to ask strangers on the Internet for free shit.

Last week was a doozy. We were counting down til our departure to Ireland, Jon was required to go to NYC for business during the week, things were intense at work for me, and serendipitously on Monday morning, I was emailed about interest in a job interview.

By the end of the week, I had a job offer for a job less than 2 mi from home with great benefits. I gave 1 mo notice to my current job (my boss seemed happy for me, but not so happy at the same time.) The house was cleaned and we were packed. We spent Friday evening with friends, having a wonderful time, and then Saturday we started our journey. I’m still discombobulated because my life took a turn last week, and hopefully for the better.

We’ve been wandering around Dublin so far, and today we are going to wander more. There seems to be a marathon today, which may account for all the American athletic types I’ve seen around. What a coincidence we just happen to come here during a tourist time.

The weather is not unlike Seattle, which is a relief. Jon has now approached me at this little computer station, so it’s time for breakfast.

Here’s to all life’s adventures!