Okay, this is just going to be a quick little post.

First of all, I just finished my first week of work at the new job. It's been a lot of reading policy manuals. My eyes burn. My brain is fried. I'm overwhelmed and anxious about all the things I need to figure out and accomplish, but I can already tell I made the right decision in coming here. Everyone has been kind and helpful, including my supervisor, which makes all the difference when you work in a field that is stressful no matter where you work or what job you have.

I also shadowed a couple of the other counselors, which has helped me a lot. I really enjoyed the school I was at today. Then again, it was a good school, and I will be in a not-so-good area, to put it nicely, so we'll see how it goes. But you're going to deal with some of the same kinds of issues with any kids in middle school. Which are: the fact that they are dramatic middle schoolers and EVERYTHING is terrible and the end of the world and OMG Johnny said blah blah about me to blah blah and I can't go into the cafeteria to eat lunch with them it's soooo embarrassing I can never go there again! And also my mom took my iPad away and I HATE HER so I'm going to DIE!!!!

... All I have to say is I do not miss being in middle school. At. All.

And I want to laugh at them and their drama, but then I remember how terrible it all seemed to me when I was 12-14 years old, and I feel a million times more empathetic. Because really, think back to when you were in middle school. I don't wish middle school on anybody. And we all looked awkward as hell, which is just the icing on the terrible dramatic cake.

TL;DR I am looking forward to working with dramatic middle schoolers, because it will be funny to me but I can make a real difference to them.

The end.