Orals, Jobs, Sushi

This blog-writing business hasn't taken off exactly how I might have hoped, but then again - here's to a new start. This week I had 3 different trips to and from Spokane/Cheney. One of these trips was yesterday morning. I convinced Greg to drive me as I chitter-chattered away trying to ease the anxiety of my oral examination that would shortly occur. We arrived on campus, ran into my friend Sean, Diane (my chair), and Cop. Sean had just finished his orals, and he was the very first to go of our entire to do his orals. Diane said, "Meet Mr. MSW." He assured me that I'd do great and not to worry.

Diane and Cop took a break between Sean's and my oral exams, and they came back five minutes before the exam. My third, randomly assigned Eastern Washington University faculty member who ensures fairness and represents the university, was nowhere to be found. After 2 phone calls and 10 minutes after the allotted orals start-time, he showed up, phone ringing, and apologizing for forgetting. The constant reminder of his forgetfulness was repeated each time his cell phone went off during the presentation, three or four times. Despite this minor annoyance, overall the experience was one that brought closure to my educational and internship experiences at both BYU and now EWU. It became a conversation about who I am and the services I have provided and will provide to clients in the future. I heard it described before, "a celebration of knowledge," and ultimately that is what it was for me. And... I passed! (phew), One of the most touching of comments for me was "You really emanate this light as you talk about your clients, and that's really touching."

Putting on my serious face for orals.

After orals, Greg and I drove back to Pullman and shared a cookies and cream milkshake from the WSU creamery. Then we went our separate ways, him to a lecture and me to a job interview (my very first and if the stars align, my last for some time). My interview was with an agency in Moscow (Idaho, not Russia - sorry, guys). I thought it went considerably well; we were laughing, chatting, and genuinely enjoying ourselves. I felt at ease almost the entire interview. It seems like a great fit. The only problems I see are that 1) I don't graduate for a month and a half, and 2) I have to take the Masters level social work exam to get licensed in the state of Idaho and practice tests are showing me this exam may very well be a beast 3) Someone is more qualified and available sooner. I left the interview feeling content and like it would be a great fit for both of us. Only downside was the slip of paper I found on my car. Apparently, in my haste I neglected to see that I'd pulled into a non-parking space, marked with yellow paint along the curb. Well, $25 buckaroos. Boo. I didn't want to let that rain on my parade, so I didn't. Anywho, if I get the job, I have pipe dreams of biking the Pullman/Moscow trail, a 9 mile paved bicycle and walking trail that's mostly flat (until you get to our street) to get to work. It would save on gas and given me an awesome exercise.

After the interview, I picked up Greg, and we went for sushi at Red Bento. Mmmm. The whole time we were gushing about how delicious the food was. The food couldn't have been better. To top it off, we had the Japanese mango ice cream (or mochi). It came out as a teeny golf ball sized scoop, but the  flavor and texture was described by our waiter as similar to a marshmallo. But it was much better. Apparently, rice is flattened and mashed together and then put around the exterior of ice cream. It gives it a starchy, hardened taste for a gummy shell, but the combination of the shell and melting ice cream is to die for. (here's how ours looked like, just a little bit).

Overall, it was a pretty great day. Probably too stimulating of a day because I wrote the majority of this post at 4:3022bv  am because my brain won't stop thinking.

A whale cloud

Hills of the Palouse: what I see on my commute