having recently entered the world of thanatology, i have decided that my life is now interesting enough to share with the rest of the blogging world. i have therefore created this lovely little log to document the events of this entirely fascinating new chapter in my life.
for those of you too lazy to look up what thanatology is, it is the study of death. now i should point out that i am not, in actuality studying death, but more appropriately, i am studying to be a funeral director/embalmer. "WHAA!?" is the general consensus when i tell people what i plan to be. and i am sure that the thought has now crossed your mind to never return to this page.
the truth is, i can honestly think of no better way to show love, compassion and respect to people than to care for those that have just passed on. having recently lost my dad, i know how important it is to honour and value the memories of those we loose.
as this is my first entry, i should actually go back to aug. 28th, 2009 at 1:30pm:
i got home from work and got a message saying that a spot had just opened up and i was next on the list for the funeral services program. classes started sept. 1st, so that meant that i had 2 business days to scrounge up $11,000! what fun! miraculously i managed to get a loan and the next order of business was getting the day off so that i could spend 8 hours in orientation!
the first 4 hours i pretty much could have slept through. lunch came and went and then it was time to move some bodies! i'll clarify... we moved LIVE bodies! then the best part: setting up the grave! now that doesn't sound that interesting, but trust me, the looks on peoples faces as they came out into the parking lot to see a full coach, church truck, casket and lowering device on the lawn was PRICELESS! needless to say, you have to have a bit of a sense of humour to do this job, and i think i can definitely check that off of the list.
well, that has been the most hands-on experience i've had so far. the past 25 days has been a mix of psychology, orientation to funeral services, interpersonal communication, medical terminology and basic computer skills (personally i think that the creation of this blog should automatically give me an 'A' in that last course, but i actually have to know how to send emails, so this doesn't qualify). i've written 4 out of 5 midterms so far and can, with a certain degree of confidence, self-profess my average to be roughly 80%. this is, of course, just a guesstimation, but, i am pretty confident. i will however give or take a few percent... prolly mostly take!
although many people don't quite get why i am doing this, and although many question my sanity, all i can do is shrug my shoulders and wave their negativity to the wayside. i hope you enjoy my ventures, breakdowns, and rewards. and trust me, you will be in for more than a few breakdowns... that is a given!
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