To update: Amy's visit went okay. The o2 sensor is fixed (now it is the tires on MY car that are an issue). I survived my time alone at home, mostly doing a bunch of nothing. I did the paper route in a personal best time. Loved doing it without the snow and cold.

Seems to be a lot of endings this month. It sounds like there will be a divorce between my brother-in-law and his wife. We have had a couple of staff at the prison retire (rather than be cut as part of the budget shortfall). I have one friend who got his degree in education decide that he is done looking for a job in the field and has decided to go back to school for accounting. Another friend found out she won't be offered a contract for the next school year. Given that, at least in SD, every district is scrambling d/t the state deciding to say "we don't need no education" by dropping funding levels. Some schools are looking at opt outs, others are cutting staff and programs. Some of those staff cuts come from staff retiring and the district not hiring the position back. Imagine getting your degree in education this spring with the hopes of teaching in SD. Yeah, pretty damned bleak prospects.

Had a guard killed at the prison in SF last week. Shook all of us working in the walls a bit. You realize really quickly that it easily could have been anyone. But, every job has risks. I will contend that my first job in the profession as a home-based therapist was more dangerous than working in the prison - I'd go into people's homes with no idea re: weapons, drugs, attack dogs, etc. The farmhouses in the middle of the country were my least favorite. Lots of land and few eye witnesses. Would be hours before anyone would know I was missing.

Allergies have not been too bad - seem to have kicked up this evening, though. We have had a very wet second half of April so far, including six inches of snow last Friday and a couple inches of snow on Tuesday.

Interviewed a candidate for an intern position in the MH dept. at DSP. She was very nervous. Made me a bit nervous seeing that, but she did settle in and did a decent job. One of the questions in the interview is if you have ever been fired. Got me thinking back to when I was working at the Training School and got the letter that my contract would be terminated in six weeks. Even though it was nothing I had done that lead to the termination (STS was being shut down, in part so Janklow could run for Congress without that blight on his record being an issue), it still felt like a punch in the gut. I was lucky in that my dept. had a position open for me, but it was not close and would require some changes. Looking back, I realize I did go through the grieving process with the termination. Hated that it happened, but in a way am glad that it did. You can't shut down the bad things that happen or stuff how they make you feel. You need to experience it in order to move past it. Not to say that if I get fired again, I'm not going to go through the grieving process all over again, but because I let myself go through it, I'll know I can get through it again.

Speaking of the intern - I am excited at idea of having an intern and helping someone getting into the counseling field. I am a bit nervous, questioning if there is going to be enough to keep an intern busy. Do have some ideas for groups that I'd like to see started. Also will likely have the intern answer some kites and possibly do a support group for the inmates with severe mental illness. Hoping it will be a good experience. I know my internship wasn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be.