Out of the Imaginary

It feels great finally working full-time. For the past year, I wasn’t given that many hours. Now that I work in LA, all has changed. I work Mondays through Fridays from 8 AM to 3:30 PM. I work other times too, but that’s where the bulk of my hours comes from. Thank you, school case!

Last week, I had my first classes for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling Certificate Program at UCLA Extension. It sparked my interest in counseling again (as it should). I haven’t felt this excited to start my career to be a licensed MFT since I was in the C.O.A.C.H. program at the UCI Counseling Center about two years ago. I need to brush up here and there with the material since it has been so long, but I’m looking forward to learn more. Bring it on.

It’s only been three days since I started working this school case for my company. So far, I’m loving it. I’ve quickly adjusted to it. I’m sort of surprised myself. I hear bad words here and there, but nothing to the magnitude of what I experienced on my first day. I just see it as any other middle school now.

The client is starting to like me. I hope. I’ve seen progress with this one. Hopefully, this continues.

Today, the teacher wasn’t feeling well so we had a sub. Basically, the whole day was just laying around, doing some work, bathroom breaks, and watching Spiderman. Relaxing.

Well, the client was still testing me today. But I think I’ve made a breakthrough where this client is starting to listen to what I say. Again, hopefully this continues.

A kid who wasn’t even my client spit water in my face today. This kid is part of the same class as my client. Other than that, it was a pretty good day today.

I can see myself doing this every day 5 days a week. But man, oh man, kids are foulmouthed nowadays. Well… maybe they always were—- I probably was. I am not even talking about the kids in my special education class. It’s those mainstream kids. When I first stepped foot on school grounds, I heard a girl say the f-word. Not the four letter word, but the other one. I don’t even want to type it out. I hate that word. Then some kid saw me in the hallway waiting for class to start and he straight up said, “Someone got ditched!” and ran away like the kids he is. Oh these young kids thinking they’re cool. Just wait until they hit high school.

I think it’s funny how all this is from all the mainstream kids. The kid I’m assigned to is chill. Just have to build rapport. The kid is testing me, but the kid won’t get to me. This is my first case at a school. For the past year, I’ve done all 1:1 sessions so this is a different feel, and I like it. Let’s go again tomorrow!

Hopefully that kid who spit in my face is better behaved. Hopefully. lol. I’m going to take another shower now.

My last day working for OC PCFA is this Friday.

I will officially transfer to LA PCFA the following Monday.

I enrolled in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling Certificate Program at UCLA Extension today.

This past weekend, I started playing Final Fantasy XIII after a year hiatus. Thanks to Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy.

I am on a break as well as the rest of forWord from performance requests until August.

I bought groceries today.

That is all. =).

Yesterday was unbelievable!

Steph and I went to UCLA’s Royce Hall to enjoy Distant Worlds’ first visit to LA. I bought tickets a long time ago. You could call it an impulse buy, but well worth the money. The orchestra was amazing. My ears have never felt so relaxed. They also had visuals on a screen, such as scenes from the games, which made the experience all that more enjoyable because I would recall the times I first played a Final Fantasy game.

We were sitting in the SAME ROW as Nobuo Uematsu, the original composer of the music from Final Fantasy!!! Literally, he was like 6 seats down from us. I have a video!

In the next row to the left of us, one more seat after Nobuo Uematsu, there was a surprise guest: Hironobu Sakaguchi!!! He is the creator of Final Fantasy. That says it all right there. I have video!

Anyways, I just wanted to record this for my own sake. I don’t want to spoil anything. Or never mind, there may be some spoilers coming up so I’m warning you whoever is reading this.

• Fisherman’s Wharf
• The Man with the Machine Gun
• Susan Calloway’s angelic singing
• The conductor’s enthusiasm and charisma
• Nobuo’s live performance on the keyboards playing Dark World with the conductor playing the violin
• Dancing Mad with the music hall’s organs
• Conductor: So you want to sing? Nobuo: Why not?
• Nobuo in the choir singing One-Winged Angel

Yes, so much more happened. So many songs, so many memories. You just got to have been there to experience it.

So it is official. I live in the city of Los Angeles. I like it. I like it a lot. For the past six years, I have been living in Southern California. For the first four years, I lived in Irvine: It is one of the safest cities in the United States. Now don’t get me wrong. It’s great to live in an area where it’s okay to walk at 3 AM and you don’t even have to look over your shoulder. But, something was missing. It didn’t feel like a city. It didn’t feel like I was living. It felt like a bubble. It felt like I was over-protected.

A baby bird will never learn how to fly if it stays in its nest.

For my fifth year, I moved to Anaheim. This city was a lot better in terms of feeling like I was living in a real city, not some cookie-cutter area. It’s huge. It has Disneyland, the Honda Center, the Angels Stadium, the Convention Center, and more. With a city of its size, it has a low crime rate which is a plus. Now my problem with Irvine wasn’t about it being safe. My problem with it was Irvine being too safe. In Anaheim, it didn’t feel like I was in a bubble everywhere I go. I also loved Anaheim so much because it is where Steph and I had our first apartment together. Sure, we have stayed at each other’s places throughout our college years. But in Anaheim, we actually lived together. Yeah, I do miss it. So many good times there at our apartment, The Gateway.

Going into my sixth year (I believe), I live in Los Angeles, specifically Hollywood. I love the new scene here. It is not surburbia. I love the urban feel and how I am enmeshed with the city life. It feels good. It feels new. In a way, it also reminds me of my hometown Union City (at least our apartment and the surrounding neighborhood). So far, Steph and I are almost done organizing our apartment here. We had so many scattered around. Now I can watch TV and relax on the futon if I wanted to. Before, the only place we could go and rest was the bedroom. So it’s feeling more like home. We already have explored the city, although obviously not all of it. There’s way too much to cover in just less than a week. But from what I’ve seen, I love it here in the city. It’s crazy thinking that I used to visit this side of the city on weekends, for example, and then have to drive all the way back to Orange County. Now, home is a couple minutes away. It’s a good change. Also a major plus is that rent is so much cheaper, so more can go to savings and personal buys! This year will be a good year.

Anyways, I just wanted to update with how life is going so far with regard to my living situation. Who knows where I will move to next. I feel like I have a little bit of a wandering spirit. So we’ll see. Until then, what’s up Hollywood!