The economy has not been my friend in the last eleven months that I have been job hunting, but then a former classmate offered to get me an interview where he worked, an at-risk children shelter. My dream job since I plan to go into Social Work, and psychology. I have wanted to help at-risk children, and someday adopt, since I went on mission week as a kid, helping at soup kitchens and children shelters. It was there that my group leader commented on how good I was with the kids, and told me that the social worker had spoken to him about how the girl I had been paired with had not talked to anyone, or even smiled, until I came.
Later, I worked at Boy Scout/Girl Scout camp for several summers, mainly as counselor to children of all ages. The camp also served as an outreach to at-risk and poverty stricken children. We washed their clothes, shod them, fed them, etc. One in my charge had never had a birthday cake and was the sole provider for his family at just nine years old. He mowed lawns for money to feed his family. From that time on I dreamed of working at, or starting, a shelter someday. I have plenty of dreams and aspirations, but this has been paramount.
I got the job, and on Monday will go in for manual reading and shift shadowing, already having completed First Aid and CPR training. I cannot wait, and hope that it will be as fulfilling as I have always dreamed it would be...
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About Me
- Kai
- I'm just a girl looking for her place in the world. I know, that's about as cliche' as "Happily Ever After."
21 comments:
Congratulations on your new job, I've always held high admiration for those who do any sort of social work. As difficult as it will be sometimes I have no doubt that you'll find it even more rewarding to know you're making a difference in someone's life.
I think just making that girl smile was an indication you're doing what you're meant to do.
Barry
Thank you so much!
You're more than welcome Kai.
I left a rather long comment in your 'Deathiversary' post, because it really hit home with me in a good way. Not sure if you saw what I wrote.
So. Why do watches stop after a while when you wear them, are you speaking literally or metaphorically?
And what will your novels be about? (Yes, I realize this sentence is gramatically incorrect, rather ironic since I'm on the topic of literature) :)
Barry
I did read it, and wrote a fairly lengthy comment myself =]
Apparently, I got the whole watches-stop thing from my grandmother. Something about our natural electrical currents...Haha, who knew? Until I buckled and got a cell phone (well into the 2000s, mind you!) I scarcely knew what time it was! Ironically I was rarely late.
My first novel is more historically based regarding status and gender roles (non-feminist, I promise haha) and the second is more modern regarding death, life, and time. Death, while not a creepy obsession with me, does have a special place with me as you know.
You have just touched on Murphy's Law! Whenever I write about English or literature, I end up being the most grammatically incorrect. It seems most people have that same issue =]
It's funny, before my accident I never really gave death much thought. As I'm now into my forties I'm starting to face that reality with those around me passing away with more frequency. (Sorry I've worded that a bit awkwardly but it's getting late). I'm referring to my wife's parents, one of our older friends etc.
Perhaps for those who haven't faced it, death is a morbid subject. But I think it can be said too that only in accepting the reality of death can we truly appreciate our own lives.
Okay, on to less introspective subjects:
-Do you ever go by Kaitlyn? I presume 'Kai' is pronounced ('Kay', although my first impression was to pronounce it 'Ky'). Just asking so I know how it should sound when I type it. Hahah, I'm such a smart-ass sometimes.
-"I can never stay angry, and always forgive."
That's amazing, if you were the friend I lost last year I wouldn't have lost you with that attitude. Truly rare and very commendable Kai.
-"I’m me because everyone else was taken."
I SO love that, can I use it? :)
B
I agree. Death is only as morbid a subject as we make it, and you cannot truly appreciate life without accepting death.
When you're a child, death seems to be such a distant thing, and then when you're older it's something you fear because it seems so close, yet when you face it, it becomes something you respect.
Online I mainly go by Kai (yes, it is pronounced like 'Kay'), and many of my friends call me that. Family, my fiance, and fiance's family all me Kaitlin =] Haha, I answer to just about anything.
Thank you. It takes practice, and there are some who try my patience, but no good can come of holding grudges or retaining hurt. I remember a sign at a church some years back that said "Those who anger you, control you," so i try to avoid that as much as possible, because I certainly don't want to be controlled by anyone, let alone those I don't much care for.
Yes, you can! I adapted that once from a comic I saw once about a kid trying to decide who he was.
Kai
Congratulations!!!!!!! (btw this is iLiveinmyLab from the boards) That's so exciting, and yes I do stop by here to ready your blog. LOL!
Thanks, I'll use it on my Quotations blog tomorrow. Shall I credit you as 'Kai', 'Kai P.', or 'Kai someotherletter'?
B
PS: Do you mind if I ask where your fiance got the name Fox? Pretty cool name. :)
Sara!
Thanks =] I am so glad to hear from you. I start work tomorrow, so I am a bundle of nerves and excitement, haha.
Kai
"H" is my surname initial, and thank you very much =]
I don't mind at all! Fox is his nickname that he prefers. I usually call him by his given name, and I'm among the few who can get away with it, haha. You see, his given name is a lengthy and biblical, which means that people butcher it constantly. He's a redhead, so Fox suits him well enough =]
Kai
M'kay, lemme try..."Gurr-shum"?
Random stuff ('cause I love random stuff):
-I'd wish you good luck on the job, but I don't think you'll need it because I see it more as a calling than a job. In some cases I guess that would sound a little melodramatic, but I don't think so in this case.
See, to me providing a service to some corporation is one thing. But anything where you're giving of yourself to others and lifting them higher than maybe they can lift themselves is one of the most selfless things a person can do.
You said in Kaiology 101 that you're extremely empathetic. What better example than this? Hope you don't mind Kai but I'm gonna stick around to see how you progress. A field like this is sure to build you as you build others.
-a 1900 year old Roman leaf pendant? Where the heck would you get THAT? I'm fascinated by ancient artifacts so this really caught my eye.
-I forget where but you had a quotation about (paraphrasing here) two people seeing the weirdness in each other and celebrating it together. Made me laugh because my wife and I are always copmmenting to each other how weird we are sometimes. :)
-oh yeah, almost forgot. Very smart of you not to post too much info about yourself; I can't believe how much personal info people reveal to complete strangers sometimes!
B
You got it! And in one try =] His name has not been spelled right on anything (not even high school year books), and some Nazi types thought he was a Jew *roles eyes,* so they tried to mock him for it. People love displaying their stupidity.
Thanks you! That is what I loved most about getting the job, that is is something that would be far more fulfilling then clerk work or customer service. I love people, so I haven't mind working in those fields, but it doesn't give you a deep sense of meaning, and that is one thing I hope I find in this job. The other is the ability to help people. I have had my fair share of difficult times, many of which family related, so I'll definitely be able to relate to them empathy or no.
I definitely don't mind =] It's good to know someone is reading my blogs!
As for the pendant, I laugh and say I have a "dealer." I find them that auctions and estate sells and turn them into jewelry to be sold. One necklace I wear often I made with freshwater pearls and a piece of winged Celtic proto money from 200-300 BC, the oldest piece I own. I just noticed, I'm wearing it in my display picture. Antique-wise, I get the junk, but I could never call it that!
Oh! This one?
“We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”It's one of my favorites. Some say it's a Woody Allen, other say its Anonymous. Fox and I are definitely weird, haha.
I know! My sister has a Myspace, and her friends are always posting addresses, and phone numbers, etc. It's ridiculous, and they wonder why they get weird calls sometimes! My sister doesn't even post her age, so I don't have to worry about her being so silly =]
Kai
Well, I don't know how you do it Kai but you DEFINITELY win the award for the quickest responses of any blogger I've come across in my (admittedly limited) time in the blogosphere. "Blogosphere". Sounds kind of ethereal, doesn't it?
How can anyone mispronounce Gershom? Baby, that's messed up!
My God (can I say that?), your wedding attire is absolutely stunning! I'm sure you'll have lots of pics posted when the dust settles. Honeymoon wear is deliciously naughty. Sorry but I had to say it. Okay, I wanted to say it. :)
Yeah, that's the quotation I was referring to. =) Me and my wife (that IS gramatically correct, isn't it?) are so atypical of couples around us. So often we find ourselves in role reversals; I'll be vacuuming and she'll be hauling stuff around outside or she'll be watching football and I'll feel like a romantic comedy. Weird. But then again, how DO you define weird these days when just about anything goes?
Maybe I should do a Barryology so you have a better idea of who you're chatting with? Hmm.
Sorry to hear about the challenges you and Fox are having, but it's certainly not uncommon. I won't offer unsolicited advice because it's not my place to do so, but suffice it to say I've been married for 15 years and it's not always smooth sailing. You'll get through anything if you want to. I will say keep talking. Always.
Your thoughts on 'the one' are intriguing. I guess I always tried to sort out this paradox about myself because although I truly am a hopeless idealist romantic, I never believed in love at first sight (still don't) or that there's only ONE person meant for us in a world of billions. Isn't it interesting that when people meet their 'one true soulmate', that person is almost always placed so geographically close to them?
I wonder if you and Gershom see eye-to-eye on things like this; is it possible your views are being misinterpreted? If he feels you're the ONLY one for him perhaps he's thinking that in the back of your mind you feel there could someday be someone else for you. That may feed those feelings of doubt he's having. Hope I'm not butting in, but I'm thinking maybe you want to hear different views since you did post it.
Anyway. I write in my spare time as well, always about people and relationships, usually poetry (I love Byron's works). Will you be posting any of your writing here Kai?
Barry
Haha, *takes a bow.* I suppose it was I had so much time on my hands pre-employment that enabled me to be so quick. Wow, today was tiring...Eight hours of manual reading and paperwork, and instead of only having training on Friday, I'll be having training tomorrow through Friday...Nice pay check, but I'll be dead at the end of it, haha.
I know! It seems relatively self-explanatory to me, but most people pronounce it eight different ways, all wrong, and then get this confused look on their faces.
Thank you! I thought wedding planning was going to kill me as it seemed like such a feral beast, but its really quite docile. I suppose it helps that I haven't ever been one of those girls who had everything down to the sitting chart before the age of five, and that Fox and I aren't overly traditional (a fact our wedding will most definitely reflect). It's been fun, and everything seems to be falling into place.
We were originally aiming for September 19, but multiple factors may result in a postponement, one of which was finances. Now that I have a job that may help things stay on track. The US economy, excuse my French, sucks.
I used to be the super romantic, but I think life and psychology classes have jaded me, lol. The older I get, the more I realize that things aren't always black and white. I used to think that would be a bad thing, but it's strangely comforting, and quite frankly I find it more romantic to feel that you have chosen someone rather than been given no choice in the matter at all.
Fox is even ore jaded then I am, haha, and I think it's the fact that he isn't so much a uber romantic (not to say that he can't be quite romantic) that has contributed to his thinking that there is someone, somewhere who could possible make me happier.
I don't think he realizes that my happiness, while it should be a concern of his, isn't his responsibility, and the times where I am not the most hyperactive girl you could meet is not a failure on his part or mine.
I think it's rather endearing that he is so concerned, and puts me first, but at the same time it's a little frustrating because he practically stares blankly whenever I try to do the same for him, because he's not used to receiving anything let alone as much as he gives.
Don't worry! Advice is always welcome with me. The way I see it, I'm a student, and I might as well take my lessons where I can =]
That's great! Have you posted any of it? I very well might post some of my work sometime. I soon hope to Blurb book my personal quotes (I have a notebook full of them). I love poetry, but have never been especially skilled at it. Stories and quotes are more my thing, but I admire those who can turn a phrase =]
Kai
Alright Kai, lots more random stuff (hope it's not too abstract for you, it's just the mood I'm in lately!) This is, like, SO not in order.....
Oh gosh, where to start, where to start? *strumming fingers on his keyboard* M'kay!
Well, you survived your first day. Congrats! Sounds pretty intensive but it's all part of the process right? I think you might appreciate this quotation, it was one of my earlier posts on my blog:
"All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don't discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others."
-Danny Thomas
Hey, I posted your quotation on my blog this morning.
I found it interesting that you said you love the rain, because I really do too (see post on my blog dated March 29). For me it has an effect that I find rather exhilarating. It's not something I'll try to explain fully now for fear that I may not come across the right way. Let's just say I find the sound of rain and any kind of thunderstorm rather sensual and it has a tremendously positive effect on me emotionally (rather than physically) if that makes any sense. If not I'll just chalk it up to being close to my nappy time. :)
In your case perhaps it's something more? When it rains the air becomes charged with negative ions; I wonder if there's any connection between that and the natural 'electricity' you give off (that stops watches)? I s'pose you never know.
Notice our comments are getting longer? I don't mind if you don't.
Hey do you have an aversion to smilies? I know they annoy some people. :) =) ;) Okay, I guess that's a little excessive.
Guess what? I'm half Irish. AND, I have a little teensy bit of Cherokee in me on my mother's side. To the point where you'd need a microscope to find it. But it is there. See, we're practically related!
Jaded at 20? Tsk tsk. I believe it's completely possible to be a realist when necessary but a romantic when possible. I'd rather dream of what isn't than curse what is. Hmm, I should write that down.
I think that's when part of someone dies as they get older, realism takes over and they become bitter. I see it SO often in "adults", it really annoys me. Don't get me wrong Kai, I'm not saying you're like that. You obviously love life (even moreso since your NDE) which is what drew me to your blog).
I agree, not everything is black and white. But rather than shades of gray I prefer to see the colour in things.
I like to nibble on my cats' ears. Is that wrong?
The economy "sucks"? Excuse your French is right, I can't believe you used that word! OMG my ears are burning, someone throw a pail of water on my head! "It burns, it burns!" lol :)
Where my writing is concerned, over time I've put up a few of my quotations (if it's possible to quote yourself) on my blog, but I don't plan to post any of my poems as I don't want it to be about me. "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
However, what I WILL do is comment with something I've written each time you post something on your blog (doesn't matter what it is, long or short). I'm not a prolific writer but what I do write stems from something deep within. I'll keep sending you what I have until I run out. Won't take too long. There are more personal works which I don't want to make public, but if you develop an affinity for my writing we'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
First one follows.........
"Everyone’s life is a song that needs to be heard."
-Barry O'Shea
I really like that! I might have to borrow it sometime, granted you don't mind =]
Mind? Are you kidding? I'd be flattered Kai, I don't think I've ever been quoted before. Big smile. :)
Do you speak Spanish? If not, but you speak it fluently in your sleep, how do you know if it's actually proper Spanish? Hmm.
Barry
I just took a look through your musical interests Kai. Wow, pretty eclectic stuff! The ones I like as well are:
Bryan Adams
Air Supply
The Bangles
The Beatles
Pat Benatar
Blondie
Bon Jovi
David Bowie
Bread- I can't believe you mentioned this group, you really don't hear anything about them anymore. I always loved Bread. David Gates had a great voice, some nice solo stuff too (especially "Goodbye Girl").
Cher
Chicago- classic rock at its best, I really like Peter Cetera's solo stuff too.
Patsy Cline- I'm not really a fan, although I melt into a puddle of goo whenever I hear "Crazy".
Coldplay- "The Scientist" grabs my heart and won't let go. It always brings me to tears because it takes me back to my accident, the friend I made afterwards and subsequently lost. I'm listening to it now, it's a very emotional song for me but very beautiful at the same time. The video ties in well too.
Phil Collins
The Cranberries
Creedence Clear Water Revival
Jim Croce
Dido
Electric Light Orchestra-hey, I grew up on these guys!
Evanescence
Five for Fighting-especially "100 Years" and "Jericho"
Aretha Franklin
The Fray- love "Cable Car" and "How to Save a Life"
Marvin Gaye
The Go-Gos
Heart
The Hollies
Imogen Heap- I just started listening to her music recently. "Hide and Seek" is amazing, I love these lines:
'Oily marks appear on walls
Where pleasure moments hung
before.'
Very visual and to my mind eloquent.
Joan Jett
Kansas
Cyndi Lauper
Lifehouse- how can you not like "Hanging on a Moment"?
Maroon Five- I also like "If I Never See Your Face Again" with Rihanna
Richard Marx- I was playing one of his CDs on the weekend
Matchbox 20
Edwin McCain- I've put him separately because "I'll Be" is to me the absolute BEST ballad EVER written. It's the definitive love song, and the standard that drives my songwriting and piano studies.
Meatloaf
John Cougar Mellencamp
Men At Work
Nickelback
OMD- "She's Leaving", 'Joan of Arc" and all the others
One Republic-also very emotional for me, but great songs nonetheless
The Police
Queen
REO Speedwagon- classic 80's!!
Lionel Richie
Rolling Stones
Neil Sedaka-"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" (later version)
Simon and Garfunkel
Rod Stewart
Tears for Fears
Three Days Grace
Toto
Stevie Wonder
ZZ Top
Kai, I have to say I'm impressed at how much your musical tastes lean towards the 80's, since most of it came out before you were born!
Damn, I just realized how much I wrote. Oops!
B
Haha, we have very similar tastes; you mentioned a lot of my favorite songs. You should see my 20s to 50s list! I was into that music before I moved on to the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I like some music today, especially "Running Up the Hill" by Placebo, "After Tonight" by Justin Nozuka, and "The Scientist" by Coldplay. Oh, and anything by Nightwish, Apocalyptica, Vitamin String Quartet, or Machinae Supremacy. I hardly own any CDs, but love my record player and collection of 45s and LPs.
Hi Kai how's your new job going, it's been a while since you've posted. :) Hope it's everything you're looking for, they need people with a heart like yours.
I find it curious how I can take an interest in someone's life so quickly sometimes. Why do you suppose that is, what draws us to others? Perhaps sharing similar views lends a certain feeling of familiarity?
I'm writing this at 2:00am Sunday morning. Sandy and I were out tonight at the Elton John/Billy Joel concert (we were given tickets worth $600/pair so we could hardly turn it down). I didn't see either listed in your musical tastes so I'm not sure if you have much interest in them, but it was one of the BEST concerts we've been to, really great!! I've been studying piano since last fall so seeing them paired together was a treat for me. Sandy had a good time too.
"I hardly own any CDs, but love my record player and collection of 45s and LPs."
That reminds me, I have to get my cartridge replaced (one channel is blown). I have a lot of LPs too, rare stuff not available on CD. One of my faves is a Stax Volt recording (I think from 1967) of Otis Redding live in Paris singing 'Try a Little Tenderness'. Gives me shivers when I hear it, he puts so much soul and energy into it.
I was thinking about this earlier this week, and I thought it would be interesting to see what you think. Do you differentiate between loving someone and 'being in love with' them? Some people do, but for me I've never been able to answer that definitively. It's not a question pertinent to my relationship or anything that weighs on my mind, but every once in a while it pops into my head and the answer seems ever elusive.
Anyway.
I truly hope everything is well with you and Fox. I'm not saying that because I expect a reply, but I know how doubts can sometimes manifest themselves leading up to marriage. I haven't stated it much but I'm cheering for you guys every day.
I'm off to bed. Hope you're having a good weekend Kai. =)
Barry
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