Hello all,

Another year has gone by and I can’t seem to remember a whole lot. It’s a good thing I started keeping a journal. Unfortunately, I can’t remember to enter stuff in – only 2-4 entries per month. It can only be as useful as the user intends it to be.

Vanessa continues to work six hours a week at a local café with a job coach. Logan is still in school. This year he had ESY (extended school year, or summer school). He is still non-verbal, but has a few additional verbal “words.”

A lot has happened for me. I went back to school; started the beginning of the year. Maybe this time I’ll finish my Bachelor’s. Since my AA degree was geared towards Journalism, I decided to go with Communications as my major. Actually, I thought I’d go a little crazy and do a double major and also get a BA in Arts, Media, and Culture. What do I plan to do with these degrees? Not much. Out here, a BA is basically a credential. I thought I’d focus my mid-life crisis on something productive, with my “crisis” being a double-major. Plus, in WA state as a state employee, we have a tuition waiver that allows us to take classes at reduced tuition, but we can’t register until the fourth day of class.

The faculty at Green River went on a 3-day strike this past April due to the lack of interaction with the President. Decisions to close programs without consulting the faculty was a major factor. They chose to do three days because we’ve closed for snow and weather, and it didn’t affect classes. Our president resigned at the end of June. We now have an interim president for one year. We hope to have a new president by next August.

We had to put Kiki down at the end of June as well. We should have done it sooner, but couldn’t find the time. Kiki was supposed to be Vanesa’s cat – helped wake Vanessa in the morning. We miss her; however, Ashley our other cat is getting very spoiled.

The biggest news of this year happened mid-December. Chris quit working at Seattle Bindery, a place he worked for over 30 years. He was finally hired at Green River College as a Stage Technician for our Conference Services Department. He should still be able to work with the Fine Arts Department for concerts and shows, but that still needs to be worked out.

Happy Holidays everyone!

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