It's been an exceedingly busy week. I find myself once again looking back to catch up on missed reviews. My frequency has fallen to an all time low. Sometime last week I reminded myself that it is the ends that is important not the means.

This Thursday morning I attended to an assignment from my psych of personal adjustment class that had me look at the influences on my views on sexuality. Upon reviewing them I came to the realization that the process of personal inventory and character building were the biggest influence. That after the typical influences of parents, religion, media, society, etc. that in the end it was the self examination that exerted the greatest insight.

After my class I had a scheduled meeting with the professor. She didn't have a specific agenda, it was a meeting to have a one on one conversation. It was an enjoyable talk and one particular question stayed with me after the meeting. She asked "have you always been this thoughtful?" My first reaction was to resist a prideful interpretation. I don't think she was asking "have you always been this wise?" but my ego wanted to go there. I decided that she must have meant "have you always been this aware of the thought life." I also thought that she might be asking "are you certain that you have the temperament to be a counselor?" I should have sought clarification at this point. I answered with some points from my "why I want to help people" essay, about how I have always been interested in inter and intra personal dynamics since my youth. I think the right answer should have been "I had to become conscious of the thought life for the sake of sanity and sobriety, when all else failed."

Friday night we went to the Halloween festival at my middle children's school. The kids were very cute. They were Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, and the Transformer leader, Optimus Prime and the Star Wars character, Jengo Fett. We had a great feeling as being a part of the community as a family. Our local congressman was there, there was a costume contest in which my boys entered, and there was a musical act for the kids, where they sang songs about the kids in costume. I got to see a friend who recognized me from the twelve step fellowship, an old friend from high school, a parent from baseball, a parent and child in religious costume, and the teachers of my children. The kids also made attracted and exchanged friendship based on shared interest evident in their costume choices.