"The Great American Bash"

When I tell folks that I completed an internship at Edward Hines VA Hospital in the Mental Health service line, there are many riduculas thoughts that turn into words coming out of their mouth "how can you work with Veterans with Severe Mental illness", "they are a very difficult population to work with", "oh can you find out what is wrong with them". My response to the latter folks is I choose to do an internship at the VA because of one thing, I want to acknowledge the service these young men and women gave to this country and reward them with what they deserve to be placed in  competitive employment. Every time I see a homeless veteran on the side of street looking for a bite to eat, I always stop by the individual, shake his hand and thank him for his service. No matter what the individual's finacial situation is, how many happy hours events he attends a week or if he prefers watching Days of our Lives to Heroes(hey that is how some people roll!), the fact that he served this country makes him a extraordinary human being. Now this brings me to Independence day, the day Americans anticipate, the holiday where "indulging on an ice cold beverage(to the higher powers at AAPD I mean Spirit of course) and gaining weight is not considered "abnormal", but regarded as a tradition. It is a day where millions of Americans come together despite their political affiliation, ethnic orgin or even if they are Lebron james fans. On July 4th we show the world that "united we stand divided we fall and as a nation we are one for all, but who made Independence day possible? India had Gandhi, Africa has Mandela, America has..... THEM

The 501 airborne is featured in this photo

There are many reasons I love being an American, but knowing that these young men and women are out there defending my freedom on a daily basis feels rather comforting. So Thank you people who I do not know for serving this great country!

Week 6 breakdown

As I mentioned in my previous posts "creativity can be like drinking a red bull many days you feel the energy, some days you don't". The week of July 4th did not have any fireworks, happy hours or drama, it was a normal day at the office. The only exciting news from the NDRN side of things is that I finished my second project! Analyzing a 245 page bill something I worked hard on all summer. Actually my game plan was pretty simple, Analyze 1 page of the bill, fall asleep, analyze another page of the bill, fall asleep. Pretty soon I was at 245 pages! Oh the wonderful world of procrastination! Anyway I enjoyed my work on the project(something I cannot name), I will always be grateful for NDRN in letting me be apart of something. I was assigned another project shortly after the first one completed.

Now on to the Capitol Fourth Fireworks show/concert! Each year the AAPD interns are provided with the best seats in the house to watch bands who we never heard of perform in front of the masses. This year the performers were: Kool and the Gang(what?), Matthew Broadwick(Istn he in Grumpy old men pt 2) and some country singer who I have never even heard of, but this individual likes his "toyota corolla".... Hmmm what a nice thing to say on an American holiday. Nevertheless it was fun to hang out with the AAPD clique as we listened and danced to the tunes of the 1900s. Afterwards the Fireworks show was spectator, it was amazing to see the sky light up as we walked on the streets of Capitol South. Oh and the Train ride back was like a boot camp, we should seriously pitch "riding the metro" idea to universal studios. The funny part about the train ride home was there were six empty cargos passing by us, it almost felt like the driver was mocking us "hahaha look at all these fools".

Nevertheless I had a blast spending the fourth of july in the nation's capitol in the midst of 7,0000 of my fellow countrymen and in the greatest country in the world..... Canada(just kidding) USA all the way!

Shoutouts

-Sonny Mehta- My awesome Veteran brother who is an actuary(I mentioned him before)

-All of the men and women serving in Afganistan and Iraq- Know that this country is behind you 110%, you are the reason we are here and your colleagues are why we are celebrating independence day!

-Lebron James- I would like to give a shoutout to Lebron for winning his first.... and last championship! My fellow AAPD interns know that I just had to bring it up!

Until next time

Rak