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Opening Up the Writing Faucet


fm2176

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As many of you (or at least the few of you that still frequent this site) have witnessed, I tend to be a bit verbose in many of my posts.  Simply put, I like to write and consider every outlet to be an opportunity to refine both writing skills and style.  It is not always the best form on discussion boards such as this, but I firmly believe that well worded and grammatically correct posts add something to a conversation a lot of times.  Well, within reason...often longer posts tend to be skipped over.  I'm guilty of this myself in some replies, opting to focus on a sentence or paragraph instead of the entire post.  

 

Anyway, I write this now as an attempt to crank open my writing faucet.  You see, I made an impulsive decision last week to begin my graduate certificate--not in Construction Management or Business, but in Alcohol and Drug Counseling.  As I get older I realize that higher-paying management or executive jobs lack appeal, and that I want to continue to do some kind of public service into adulthood (I'm only in my early 40s now).  Well, that is if the military is a public service.  If it isn't I guess these past two decades have been spent simply adding to the kill count either directly or indirectly.  I digress; I started class yesterday and am currently stuck trying to reprogram my brain from my Criminal Justice undergraduate degree and my military training to the world of psychology and psychopathology of substance use.  In essence, I'm writing here instead of completing the Blackboard discussion board post I've been struggling with since 0700 simply because I can make some progress here.

 

So, why substance abuse counseling?  To be honest, I've witnessed the effects of alcohol and drugs on too many of those close to me.  I've also allowed alcohol to turn me into someone I no longer recognized, caring little about things and staring at the brink of complete ruin.  Do I plan to become a counselor?  Probably not in the near-term.  My philosophy is that earning this certificate will better enable me to function as a law enforcement officer in a couple of years.  While not in the job description, police officers sometimes have to act as counselors and remediators, and most lack training in how to empathize with criminals or even the victims themselves.  For this same reason, I've been a credentialed military Sexual Assault Victim Advocate for almost eight years, and volunteer to become a Master Resilience Trainer three years ago.  Every little bit helps, and the fm2176 that went full throttle into Baghdad in early April 2003 does not need to be the Officer fm2176 interacting with the American public in the coming years.  

 

Anyway, back to class.  I know this thread is entirely different than most of what is shared in the TIA forums, even here in Pub Talk, but can any of you relate?  Have you ever found yourself writing an academic or professional essay, report, post, or anything else while struggling to get started?  What about diversifying your professional portfolio instead of honing in on a core capability (I suppose that in the trades this would be akin to an electrician gaining a working knowledge of plumbing, or a heavy equipment operator acquiring a CDL in case he needed to haul equipment).  

 

 

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@fm2176 its kinda funny my parents are the ones that use emotes, texting talk/abbreviations, and improper grammar/punctuation and not myself. I'm like you, I prefer to use proper grammar, punctuation, and whatnot as long as I don't make any typos. I try to read the longer posts but as the length of content increases, the amount of content missed can also increase. If someone has a question in a thread, and I can help out, I try to answer to the best of my ability. If there are multiple questions it bothers me if only a portion of the questions are answered and not all. If I can only answer a portion of the questions I will try to let the individual know I do not have an answer for the remainder and if I know how to get to the answer but not the means to do so I try to help them get in the right direction.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I lost that battle.  Got enrolled too late, had computer issues, got busy at work, and decided to drop the class.  Go figure, this work week is slow so far, as evidenced by my thread in the Power Tools forum.

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