You know the longer it has been since you've updated your blog, the less motivation you feel toward doing it. I've been putting it off since the end of October/beginning of November just because it seemed too daunting to bother with. Well a lot has happened since the last update, as I'm sure you can imagine. My practicum agency has undergone some major changes, which often leave staff wondering if they will have a job next week. We merged our two residential facilities, gained a new clinical director, then lost that clinical director, then our executive director resumed both positions. Everyone keeps telling me that I'm probably one of the only safe people at the agency because I'm free help. If they "fire" the student intern then everyone else knows they are doomed as well. I do my best to stay out of the drama that has come up since all the transitions, but I share an office with the two social workers. Our office always has been and will always be the information hub of the facility, so it becomes difficult to avoid the gossip. Aside from that I've just been busy with school and my practicum. I was supposed to have 360 hours for the semester and I ended up with 402.5 hours for the semester. I used 2 of my allotted "sick days" during the semester, one for a final exam and the other to attend a court hearing for my cousin's murder trial...that we hope will begin soon. I gave up one of my two Christmas break weeks (social work students come back roughly 2-3 weeks earlier than normal students because of our practicum obligations) to work, which ended up being really good because I got a lot of stuff done that the other social workers had absolutely no time to finish.
I mentioned that I had to take a day off in November for a court hearing for my cousin's murder trial. I can't really say anything about it due to it being held in a federal court and the severity of everything going on. I will say that they have two suspects in custody, one of which was who we all knew was involved, the other one caught us all by surprise...especially since we used to know his family. The say it could be up to a year before the actual trial begins, but the suspects are in custody and will remain in custody. I try not to think about it near as much because I trust the judicial system and know that the length of time means the prosecution has more time to solidify their case. Granted it also means the defense has time to solidify their case as well, but I trust the states attorney when he says he is confident about the case. I will say though, when we went to the hearing, we were late because we didn't know where to park. The security officer made me take off my boots so they could run them through the visual scanner because he thought I had a weapon in there. Then he refused to give them back to me at first. Imagine the look on my face as I was one second away from causing a scene in a federal courthouse. One thing that I didn't know was that they confiscate cell phones while you are in the federal courthouse. I suppose its so people can't communicate what is happening, but it was really odd to me. I did get my boots back back and had to run to the elevator as I was trying to put them back on and zip them all at the same time. The officers radioed someone as we were on the elevator to let them know we were coming up, and apparently they cleared everyone out of the hallway for us. I didn't know this until afterwards, but apparently as "the victims" of the case they wanted to protect us from everyone and/or protect everyone else from us. My aunt held up amazing for the hearing, but my mom was another story. She was so angry sitting in the same room with the two suspects, so we probably won't be taking her with us to future hearings. I think I did a great job of holding myself together as well. Being in a courtroom is a familiar, safe, place for me due to my line of work...so I looked at this as the same thing. It probably helped that I had recently taken a trip to the women's state prison a few weeks prior and met a woman who was in prison for voluntary manslaughter. Plus I work with extremely violent youth and sex offenders everyday, so I've learned how to keep a tough face. Okay back to my original story. I noticed immediately there were two US Marshalls in the courtroom due to it being a federal case...and I must admit that they were everything I thought a US Marshall would look like. They were incognito, nice suits, badge on their waist, and pretty good looking. We all need some good eye candy in times of stress! :)
Okay so I'm going to post the rest in another update so anyone who actually still reads this doesn't get bored with my novel!
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