The Long Weekend

The second day of the New Mexico OT conference was pretty much just as awesome as the first one. Instead of going to the talk regarding hippo-therapy (horse therapy), I went to one more suited to my needs. Managing stress. Fitting yes? The lecture was all about using breathing and other techniques to relax and manage stress through a short course known as KORU. We did breathing exercises that were so relaxing and just as I was going to ask where I sign up I found out that we don't have KORU here. In fact, the OT heading the speech is from Las Vegas. But one of my instructors was in there so maybe she can help get some training on board to have a course at UNM.

During the lunch we were treated to our first NMOTA meeting. It was very official, with making motions and all in favor stuff. It was pretty cool. We elected a new president (who wasn't even there...) and a new secretary and just as the meeting was going to be adjourned the now-former president (and one of the faculty at UNM) started chucking shirts into the crowd which got on the over salty chicken we were having. Then she pulled out the water bottles and luckily she didn't throw those because they were metal. I was able to snag one and well, give it to J because I have one that love and won't give up. Unfortunately the shirts she threw out were the last of the ones I was going to buy, so I ended up getting a pretty cool shirt being sold by the second-years to raise money for their graduation.

That afternoon I sat in on a talk about using Virtual Reality and technology for Occupational Therapy. It was just as fascinating as the other ones I had been to, plus we got to play with cool toys! It gave me even more ideas of what kinds of things I want to do as an OT, and what I want to see developed for OT. And just like that, the conference was over. I turned in a survey, picked up my NMOTA membership pin, and headed home.

Today I did some of my group paper and for the most part relaxed. I know that starting Tuesday it'll be back to the hectic life that is grad school. But I'm really glad that I was able to experience the conference in full. The only thing I didn't like was that hardly any of my classmates went, while the students from Western New Mexico University were all there in matching shirts. Maybe I can advocate for a better turn our next year. I feel like budding OTs would benefit so much from going.

And that's it really. I'm super tired so I'm going to go to bed. Until next time...