« February 2009 | Main | April 2009 »
March 30, 2009
Facebook, Day 2
Ok, here's how little I know about what I'm doing. Someone says the link to my Facebook page from this blog doesn't work. Try this: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1685583508&ref=profile I believe you have to login first to see my profile. Also, I added "S." as my middle name so that it's easier to find me if you do a search (I'm told there are about 360 people with my same first and last name.)
Posted by Amy at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2009
I'm on Facebook
So, a few of my family members have been pressuring me to join Facebook, so as a little experiment, I have. Only my friends can see stuff. Please understand that for security reasons, I'll only become Facebook friends with people I know personally. Otherwise, sorry.
I'm not entirely sure it's a good idea, nor am I sure what I'm doing or how it works, so please bear with me. Partly, I see it as a way to post all my website addresses in one place.
Amy Prior's Profile
Create Your Badge
Posted by Amy at 10:16 PM | Comments (1)
March 28, 2009
Kung Fu Dork: The Revenge
The Kung Fu Dork is at it again! This time with a Chinese chain weapon and a bitchin' new mohawk! Unfortunately, all he manages to do is get it tangled around himself, the tree and nearly smacks himself in the face with it.
Posted by Amy at 03:37 PM | Comments (1)
March 20, 2009
The Latest
Well, the good news is I got my massage table yesterday. I ordered it weeks ago & it finally came in. It was tricky getting it in the car but I'm hoping I won't have to transport it too often. I have a cart for it though. It's a nice table. Firm yet cushy. I could use it as a spare cot if I had to. :-p
I also found a nice rug (only $20 bucks!) to go under it. I plan on setting it up in the spare bedroom. I cleaned all the junk out of that room...that's where we were throwing all our crap. All's I need to do now is move the mattresses down to the storage room.
Bad news is I have to replace the entire set of brakes (front & rear) including the rear rotors. DAMN! Way more expensive than I'd hoped. why does this kind of stuff always have to happen when I don't have a job? Last time it was a new set of tires. Wah! I'm blogging right now as I wait for my car to be ready.
I've been waiting to hear about 2 possible jobs, but the companies hiring are dragging their friggin' feet! Come ON folks! I need a paycheck to pay for my brakes and massage school!
Hmm, maybe it's nap time. :-P
Oh yeah, Don wanted me to post the url of my latest YouTube video...Maximus' Greatest Hits.
Posted by Amy at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2009
Changing Careers
I know I haven't been posting anything lately, and I apologize.
I have what is probably the biggest news for me in a long time--no, I'm not pregnant. I started school recently to become a certified massage therapist (not like the exotic, "happy ending" kind). Wow, right? It's a huge change for me and it scares me, but I'm also very excited about it and am very committed. It's something I feel as passionately about, maybe more so than when I decided to become a professional writer. The scariest part is changing careers from a totally unrelated field.
I've been asked several times why I decided to do this. Well, there are answers to that question.
Firstly, I've always had an interest in it since I was very young. When Dad was a practicing physician, he had to walk rounds at several hospitals for hours a day, every day. He'd come home with aches and pains and ask me to walk on his back and massage his muscles. I'd also be the one my friends would ask to massage their backs and everyone always told me I was very good at it. From that, I gained a sort of instinct for massage therapy. In fact, I once gave Don a massage and he said I told him to do many of the things his rolfing guy told him to do.
Also, being from a family with three doctors, I've actually thought about perhaps becoming a nurse, but I didn’t think I could hack the schooling or stress of being a nurse.
I've also received massage therapy and chiropractic treatments for years myself to alleviate the problems that stem from my scoliosis surgery as well as aches and pains from doing martial arts. I find massage therapy to be a great form of healing on top of chiropractic and medical treatments, much like physical therapy.
On top of all that, I've become somewhat unsatisfied with being in the advertising industry. The culture is sometimes unsavory in that you end up kowtowing to clients who don't know what's best for them, but you have to give them what they want because they're paying your salary.
Also, a lot of managers want you to be pliable enough that they can instill you with their own philosophies and ideas. That's ok, but not at the point where they want to brainwash you with their ideals and take away your resolve to actually think for yourself or contribute truly worthwhile ideas.
The way managers run things in the company can be moronic--such as pooling every department's creative talents to the point where a print designer is assigned to work on an online banner when the guy doesn't even have an idea what a flash banner is, let alone understand the intricacies of how to design for one.
Along with that is the fact that sometimes, I feel like I'm lying about the products I'm writing about. I'd have to spin negative things in a positive way that bordered on outright falsehoods.
I still love writing and am still proud of being a good writer. But the advertising culture being what it is and the fact that I feel like I'm not really contributing to the world in a tangible and truly productive way, I feel like my professional writing career is coming to a natural close.
When I found Sandy, my current massage therapist (and the best one I've ever had!), I started asking her questions about how and why she got into massage therapy, about what she does, etc. What really stuck in my mind is one day I realized how great it must be to have a job where everyone is so happy to see you and when they leave, they're even happier! She kept telling me how happy she is that she became a massage therapist and that she never regretted her decision, since she changed careers too. Sandy is actually the one who started me thinking about this (about 6 months to a year ago).
Sandy also graduated from the school I'm attending (AAIMT), which is known as one of the top massage therapy schools in the state. It's one of only two schools in the state to have a COMPTA certification and gives you more than you need to pass the national certification exam. That's good because Michigan will soon require massage therapists to be certified. I plan on taking the national cert exam right after graduation. Also, the fact that it's barely a 5 minute drive from my house was a huge benefit. Had it been outside the Ann Arbor area, I probably wouldn't have gone through with it.
The academics will be challenging, but I've already aced my first test and it's only a year-long program. I can handle the work load. Right now, I'm interested in neuromuscular therapy (deep tissue massage) which is what Sandy does. The biggest hurtle I think will be growing a client base to start my own practice. We're required to do a clinic internship in the school that hopefully will earn me some clients to start out with. Plus, I have a lot of friends that will hopefully become clients as well as help with the word-of-mouth. It might not be a walk in the park, but I think it’ll turn out to be a very good move for me.
Posted by Amy at 03:23 PM | Comments (3)