RiKD Blog Thread - Page 3

On June 04 2020 17:28 RiKD wrote: Show nested quote + On June 04 2020 09:23 PoorUser wrote: dunno if you mind the questions but what type of program are you applying to? MA in Counseling   do you have to take the gres/write a personal statement? Yes   i can tell you that unless you have the GOAT application, acceptance to a gradschool can be a bit of a crapshoot.

I know you're still in the feel it out phase but that'd be awesome if you applied. You should look into clinical psych and social work MA programs too. If you plan to stop at the masters level, there is a high level of overlap between what the degrees will do for you. I'm more familiar with doctoral level programs re: admissions standards, but I know a lot of those programs wanted to see some level of clinical or research work. That is probably less the case with masters programs, but anything you can add that is clinical work (work with autism, suicide hotline, maybe big brother etc.) or a job (maybe even just an activity) that has an overlap with clinical skills (e.g. teacher) will likely help a lot.

I think it's probably realistic to get into MA programs on your first try if you put together a generally solid application (and apply to a decent amount of programs). If you don't though, I wouldn't get discouraged. Just improve your application over the next year and apply again.

Re: GRE's and personal statement - I'm sure you'll do well on the GREs. All psych programs heavily prioritize the verbal score. The quant and writing parts are generally more of a do no harm type thing. Also, I'm happy to look at your personal statement whenever you write it. I got a lot of input on mine, so I should be able to give some useful feedback. And of course, don't mention poker (lol).

Happy to help answer with any other questions. My program is in NJ, so I know a small amount about programs in NJ as well.

On June 05 2020 02:24 PoorUser wrote: Show nested quote + On June 04 2020 17:28 RiKD wrote:   On June 04 2020 09:23 PoorUser wrote: dunno if you mind the questions but what type of program are you applying to? MA in Counseling   do you have to take the gres/write a personal statement? Yes   i can tell you that unless you have the GOAT application, acceptance to a gradschool can be a bit of a crapshoot. I know you're still in the feel it out phase but that'd be awesome if you applied. You should look into clinical psych and social work MA programs too. If you plan to stop at the masters level, there is a high level of overlap between what the degrees will do for you. I'm more familiar with doctoral level programs re: admissions standards, but I know a lot of those programs wanted to see some level of clinical or research work. That is probably less the case with masters programs, but anything you can add that is clinical work (work with autism, suicide hotline, maybe big brother etc.) or a job (maybe even just an activity) that has an overlap with clinical skills (e.g. teacher) will likely help a lot. I think it's probably realistic to get into MA programs on your first try if you put together a generally solid application (and apply to a decent amount of programs). If you don't though, I wouldn't get discouraged. Just improve your application over the next year and apply again. Re: GRE's and personal statement - I'm sure you'll do well on the GREs. All psych programs heavily prioritize the verbal score. The quant and writing parts are generally more of a do no harm type thing. Also, I'm happy to look at your personal statement whenever you write it. I got a lot of input on mine, so I should be able to give some useful feedback. And of course, don't mention poker (lol). Happy to help answer with any other questions. My program is in NJ, so I know a small amount about programs in NJ as well.

Lately, I've kind of dove in. I am in the depths of 2 applications and once I find my bearings a bit 3 and hopefully I can find another suitable school but I am doing all online right now. I have my first admission interview on Tuesday. I am biased towards online because that is what my sister did and loved the experience. It's probably a leak not to look into brick and mortar. What is available in NJ? I am also biased to existential psychotherapy due to influences from Irvin Yalom as well as my love and the impact that the great Existentialists have had on my life. As well as people like Ernest Becker, Otto Rank, Carl Jung (and of course Freud). I would love to be a Psychiatrist or I could even see myself in research. Projects at NYU with therapy and psilocybin aiding with alcoholism and depression, MDMA and therapies helping PTSD, and the like fascinate me. So, I really don't know where I will end up but it just feels like an MA in Counseling is the first step. Ideally I want to be in the trenches helping people. And that goes for now too. I like your suggesting of getting involved asap. With my experience in being sober I might be able to get a job in some sort of rehab reasonably soon even though that is not the end goal. I feel like for alcoholism to the degree I had it is kind of out of reach of a psychiatrist or a therapist to treat especially when I am only seeing them once a month or a therapist (not trained in recovery) every other week. I think I actually needed the daily support of other alcoholics on my journey to a "spiritual experience" as hokey as that may sound. But, anyways, I like your suggestions to get involved asap. Whether it be with autistic people, suicide hotline, big brother, teaching. I should be doing these things anyways. I have spoken to the enrollment people about AA and helping people and it seems to be a positive but it would be nice to have some things on paper professionally.

I might have to take you up on looking at my personal statement. I don't really see how I avoid talking about AA since I've already spoken to all the enrollment people about it and that's really what inspired me to want to help people. I was going to talk about how I lost a lot of money playing poker and quit and self-medicated with Dostoevsky, Sartre, Nietzsche but it couldn't overcome my alcoholism and bipolar I. Like, before I hit my bottom and had what Carl Jung called a "spiritual experience" or "psychic change" I was selfish and didn't really care about helping people. But now that's all I find valid. That is what inspired me. But I probably don't have to talk about losing a bunch of money playing poker lol. I'll have to figure it out. I think some of my experiences set me apart from some applicants but I don't want to kill my chances with some raucous stream of consciousness blog post.

I appreciate the help. I think I was going about this a little too blahzey and you have kind of inspired me that I need to fucking bring my A game or else I could be spending all this time on applications to get denied across the board. And the insight that there is always next year as well. It has opened my eyes that I need clinical experience regardless of what happens.

Yeah, man. The flexibility and cost of online programs are great. They are probably more in demand now than ever given the pandemic. However, research opportunity (definitely) and clinical work (maybe) [both covered below] might be more difficult to secure. Existential psychotherapy is dope, and there is definitely a lack of competent clinicians in that field (though there are probably similarly a lack of clients seeking out that modality). It sounds like you like a lot of psychodynamically oriented people. While that orientation has lost some steam nationally (to more cognitive behavioral themes), there are still a good amount of people who practice it (and clients who favor it). The biggest locus of dynamic practitioners is in NYC actually, so getting good training locally is realistic if you are in PA. I actually applied to NYU for my yearly externship this coming year where they are doing a lot of that cool research you mentioned, but I got bounced pretty hard.

Rutgers, William Paterson and Kean all have strong psychology masters programs. Rutgers is outrageously good and have a psychology-based masters specifically related to alcoholism/addiction. I don't know much about the online route but one thing I would be sure to investigate is if it requires/sets up an opportunity for an internship at the end of your program (I know that some online programs definitely do this). Almost all clinical psych MA programs require either a half year or year internship at the end of the program (I'm less knowledgeable about counseling psych programs). I've heard good things about the level of rigor for some online schools generally when speaking about the academic side, but you want to make sure that you are getting clinical experience somehow as well. It's just a qualitatively different experience from book learning and will supplement your learning massively in the field. I am not entirely sure, but I feel like getting an MA from a program that didn't require some type of clinical work would probably make it much more difficult to put your MA to use.

It's also worth noting that a lot of times if you go to a terminal MA program, those credits won't completely transfer over to a doctoral program. I think all doctoral programs allow for a max of one year worth of credits to be transferred from a MA program. So basically, if you get a MA (2yr) and later decide to pursue a doctorate (5yr), the whole process would take 6 years (at least, if all of your credits transferred) of study (whereas some people can be admitted to a doctoral degree with just a BA and then just get their MA through the school as a formality en route to the doctoral degree). This came as a bit of a shock to me, as I had planned to get my MA @ 30'ish and then go back late 30'ish and finish out the doctoral degree. I'm not saying to start firing up phd/psyd apps or anything like that, but this is something that is poorly explained most places and tripped me up. In that sense, MAs have two main purposes: 1) Getting a job that requires an MA or 2) Using it to strengthen your application to a doctoral program. Again, I'm talking more about clinical than counseling psych but I suspect they are similar (I think counseling psych doctoral programs generally want people with masters applying actually, whereas with clinical there is a bit more room). That all said, I'm not trying to be a negative nancy. If you go down this route, the field needs way more smart, introspective people (and bias obviously, but I think it's a great career choice). Just pointing out some of the stuff I had to figure out when I was asking the same questions a few years back.

Re: personal statement - I'm sure you'll google some examples as you start that will help with tone, but there is a bit of a first date type thing going on. You generally want to avoid things that are too heavy, and if you can't, you wan't to talk about them in as positive as a way as possible. Avoid talking about heavily stigmatized activities (poker). It's mostly a tone dance. You want to come off as being motivated and unique, but not scary, boundary-less or impulsive. Reach out whenever about it.

Thank you for that mass of information

So far, I think every program I'm applying to has at least 1 year of practicum and internships. I will have to double check that though because I can see that being vastly valuable for a number of reasons. It will be a question I will be asking my enrollment advisors for sure.

It's good to know about the terminal MA program credits and transferability to PhD programs. I am not that concerned about it as my sole focus is "Getting a job that requires an MA" and not "Using it to strengthen my application to a doctoral program" so I am in a space that if I do change my mind and want to go into research or something like that I will just have to suck it up and do what I have to do. My sister is thinking about getting a PhD in Counseling from Oregon or Oregon State in the "Philosophy of Counseling" which sounds really interesting and I think all of her credits would work towards it (She has a MA in Counseling). Learning about all the different strats and ideas is really interesting to me. As a client I am not so keen on CBT and the like but currently am doing a more dynamic practice. I think honestly I would like to lie down on some abstract couch and smoke cigarettes and talk about my dreams. My Doctor/Therapist is practiced in that area as well but I don't think she is allowed to do it while in her current residency. This is a little weird maybe but I had a friend who had a perfect antique couch and I was a bit manic and didn't give a fuck and just lied down on the couch and it was super comfortable and started talking and she just sat there and listened and asked questions and we smoked cigarettes and I told her things I hadn't told anybody and she didn't bat an eye and it was one of the most cathartic pieces of time in my life (I won't use that in my personal statement). What I am saying is all the different types of therapies fascinate me. I must learn. I must help people.

And a continuation of that last post maybe MORE important than psychotherapy is TOTAL LIBERATION by Anonymous. I grabbed it for free from the Anarchist Library.

If my goal is to aid in the reduction of existential suffering on the planet earth this book is pretty important. That is human liberation, non-human liberation, and earth liberation to be exact.

"Businesses will be successful, in the eyes of capitalist logic, to the extent they're profitable. Which mean that the success of the capitalist economy equates, roughly speaking, to the extent to which it uses up natural resources."

The more natural resources a business uses up the more profitable they will be. Clearly that is a problem. As well as it can be said that the more a business exploits its labor the more profitable they will be.

"Capitalism offers no hope of a way out. Its need for growth is absolutely insatiable."

"At such an unforgiving moment in history, there can be no pretensions of neutrality: working for the economy can only mean complicity in our own annihilation."

Are you complicit in our own annihilation? I don't ever want to be guilty of that ever again in my life. Although I sometimes eat dairy products. I ate some greek yogurt tonight because I added too much habanero pepper sauce to my tacos and I needed relief from the capsaicin. And there was shrimp in the tacos because I rationalize that they don't feel as much pain or have a clue what's going on and my mom made dinner and I can't afford my own food at this point. So, I am still guilty but I don't ever want to be guilty of it in regards to employment or anything really but I'm working on it.

"to assume control of the very system that's destroying us – merely implies self-managing not only our own exploitation, but also that of the planet."

"Marxism has had its day. If we wanted to be a little diplomatic, we could say this isn't so much a criticism of the theory itself, more a recognition of the fact that the world it was designed to engage with no longer exists. If we wanted to be a little less diplomatic, moreover, it should be added that what's left of Marxism is utterly boring, reformist, and kept "alive" almost exclusively by academics"

"Total liberation means embracing the fullest multiformity, wild and ungovernable."

Let's bring social hierarchy to ruin!

If it's all networks of 6 close people + 6 + 6 + 6 ... it makes sense that that is the way to do it. AA likes to claim itself as an anarchist organization but it is hella stale and bureaucratic. If there is one sector of 6 that is wildin' out and throwing stuff through windows is that the worst thing in the world?

I like the idea that we can never win in a frontal assault. Because clearly we cannot.

We gotta finda' get active now. Ni dieu ni maître!

I feel like it was pretty amazing that within every 50 states of the U.S.A. there were protests. We can all only get better at protests and learn from each other. And I mean that globally.

But in my exuberance I forgot this is a poker website not an anarchist website. I would love to sneak off to Food Not Bombs tomorrow but that would be a rather selfish thing to do. I guess I'll just continue reading the book.

life is not merely something to get through

(as much as it may feel like that at times for me)

"In order to reinvent itself as a true historical force, however, anarchism must increase its ambitions massively, reclaiming every condition of existence – food, shelter, education, medicine, transport, entertainment, social care – in the names of autonomy."

"In short, anarchy expands by making it liveable."

"This isn't a matter of counting down the days until the shit hits the fan, quite the opposite: the crisis is already here. Social hierarchy, in its very essence, is crisis."

Now, I am done with the book and it's time to read another book. Hopefully, I comprehended this last book and will remember it sufficiently moving forward.

Poll: Are you against hierarchy?
(Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
(Vote): Maybe

"The way I found that works for me is I theme my days. On Monday, at both companies, I focus on management and running the company…Tuesday is focused on product. Wednesday is focused on marketing and communications and growth. Thursday is focused on developers and partnerships. Friday is focused on the company and the culture and recruiting. Saturday I take off, I hike. Sunday is reflection, feedback, strategy, and getting ready for the week." - Jack Dorsey (2011)

I used this theming my days to great success back in the day as a contractor. I am back to doing some form of it today. So, today is reflection, feedback, strategy, and getting ready for the week.

I have ran into a wall in for the form of some big ask behemoth resume for one of the applications:

"Please attach a detailed resume or curriculum vitae accounting for all time periods from the start of your undergraduate studies to the present, beginning with your most recent activities.
Describe those academic and clinical experiences that you listed in the Curriculum Selection chart above. Include schooling, part-time, summer and full-time work experience, travel, job search, etc.
Specify dates, employer/school, job title, average number of hours per week, and primary responsibilities.
Pay particular attention to describing activities in the field of mental health. List honors received or other evidence of high scholarship (Phi Beta Kappa, Beta Gamma Sigma, etc.)"

I have a 2 page professional resume that I modified a bit before I read the fine print and it is a bit of a punch to the stomach. The self-doubt is creeping in. I guess I just have to talk to my enrollment advisor about it. That's what she is there for. After this I have the letters of recommendations which I don't know how to secure or am afraid are going to be weak sauce. Then it's the essays which could be strong. They better be strong. I think my only hope is to have strong essays and strong interviews. Oh well, I guess I just do the best I can and that is all I can do.

I have been wondering if it would be better just to go to work at a rehab or a detox or something like what PoorUser brought up. Get some experience in mentoring, counseling, case manager, resident assistant, peer-mentoring, activities in youth groups. I can find out if I even like it and don't have to go $100,000+ in debt (yet). I have 0 experience in any of this besides AA. It's always tricky. I would volunteer to be on a suicide hotline but I also have to eat and pay bills. I would volunteer to work on the floor of a dual diagnosis (or single diagnosis) psych ward but I also have to eat and pay bills. I would volunteer to go in to rehabs and detoxes but I also have to eat and pay bills. I think that is why a lot of these jobs are filled up and/or low pay is because people would do them for free. And I am so sick of these shit jobs. I can't get back into that cycle. The shit jobs that paint my resume. I need to find something useful that doesn't suck. Counselor seems to fit the bill. $100,000+ in debt sucks and to be honest academia grinds my gears a bit. The idea of these super expensive, prestigious private universities piss me off. I am more of a Food Not Bombs guy. "Offices held?" fuck you mother fucker we're a rag tag bunch of leftists supplying food for communities in need. There are no offices held. No we are not tied into the government in any way.

That's why I want to work in something outside of alcoholism/addiction in the mental health field. Because I would happily help someone in need for free. I would do this in any aspect of mental health but I also need to eat and pay bills. A "real alcoholic" will probably receive better treatment from free daily support from other "real alcoholics." Whereas someone with Bipolar I desperately needs a good psychiatrist and therapist. There is no free support group I can go to help with my Bipolar I. Actually there is but it was a small group that met once a week. The community isn't really there to support it. But an outpatient program and psychiatrist and therapist was more than adequate. But I do have 6 years experience of helping alcoholics and drug addicts even though I would do it for free and should do it for free. I am in conflict.

Fuck the system. But I need that system if I want to get an adequate education and certification. Fuck money. But I need it to eat and pay bills. I want to help people TODAY but I don't want to starve or live in my parents' house. How do I do this? Is there a way to do this?

And I fucking HATE the fact that I am using some tech CEOs productivity strategies. March of the undead here I come. I have no idea how to live my life and I never will. I am malfunctioning under the stress.

But here I am reflecting, strategizing and getting ready for the week.

Monday - I have an appointment with the enrollment advisor at x, I need to figure out my applications, resume, essays
Tuesday - Applications, resume, essays, admission interview for y
Wednesday - Contact z my crown jewel and start to apply there as well, essays
Thursday - Letters of recommendations, meeting with sponsor
Friday - Smoke a big bag of weed and burn it all to the ground..... It's Friday and I'm going to get you High today. See I can follow philosophy from movies as well as tech CEOs.

Saturday - OFF (Thank God (is dead)) Am I thanking God that God is dead or am I simply stating after the fact that God is dead? Regardless a hike sounds real fucking good about now. Cheers to you Jack Dorsey. Fucking maniac.

It is a conflict that I would happily serve up my mental health counseling/mentoring for free but would also like to survive with some semblance of well-being. I do serve up help, sponsorship, mutual aid amongst AA for free but it all in fact ends up helping me as well in the end. I would really prefer to keep it that way. Is the education worth $100,000+ to help my mentally ill brothers and sisters at a clinical level? Is there another way? All non-profits are tainted. I want to teach the unadulterated "truth" and not be some blue-pilled administrator. Shit jobs are shit. The only thing worthwhile is reading, art, direct action but that doesn't feed me or pay my medical debt, or car insurance.

"Hell is a collection of individuals who are spending the bulk of their time working on a task they don't like and are not especially good at." (David Graeber, "Bullshit Jobs," pp. 10)

That describes the last 5 years of my life. Probably more. Now it doesn't compare to the time that I was psychotic and thought I was literally in the 8th level of Hell, or that the showers were gas chambers, or that the Food Network was auctioning off my body parts for a future BBQ event, or that I was trapped in a spaceship by myself in the middle of space galaxies away. I think the point is that I have to guard my mental health and sobriety above everything. I don't actually want a job. But currently I need a job. I have to figure out how to find a useful job that doesn't suck that I would be good at and like. I would wager that that could be mental health counseling. The question is is there something with out this degree that I could do that I could survive with some semblance of well-being?

The question is is there something with out this degree that I could do that I could survive with some semblance of well-being?

if you aren't going the organizational psych route (which i suspect you would hate), making bank as a psychologist is difficult. it's not really a field one gets in for the money. it sounds like having all the money isn't a huge issue for you, but the roi on the graduate clinical psych degrees on average isn't great if you have to take a large amount of debt on. if you are taking in 6 figures of debt for an MA, that will be difficult to payoff down the line. its certainly doable, but it would be a financial strain. jobs definitely exist that pay well for an MA, but they dont fall out of trees like they do for other graduate degrees. starting your own practice is another option, but if you are in debt (and then have to pay for your own private practice insurance on top) it can be difficult.

academia grinds my gears a bit. The idea of these super expensive, prestigious private universities piss me off

academia can indeed be annoying, its certainly been my experience at least a bit. some things seem to be shaped for ingroup pedantry for no discernible reason and the priorities of some programs focus on publications etc. over student mental health (less common in psych programs, go figure). for the most part though (and i can only speak to my program) i've been happy with the quality of my training and the breadth of sources ive been exposed to (and the group of people i have to discuss that with). academia is a good fit for me though, i tend to prefer a fair amount of structure [though it needs to be shared with very open-minded people]

are the programs you are looking at particularly expensive? 100k for a masters in counseling psych is steep. most MA programs dont exceed 50k. for reference, my 5 year program is ~110k (pre assisstantships for teaching/research). it's on the cheaper side as far as programs go, but unless the program is one you love or they do something insanely cool that other programs dont, you can probably find a comparable education for half the price.

also re work experience in general/and applications - hipaa is sort of a pain in the ass. it will stop you from getting a lot of entry level experience. a lot of places wont take people who aren't in grad school for anything remotely useful, and grad school prioritizes people who already have clinical experience. it is a frustrating system. the jobs i listed probably comprise 90% of what people going into grad school have done (and yeah they mostly pay shit), but there are certainly some other ways to creatively find clinical hipaa-compliant work. that said, yes finding some way in before committing to grad school is clearly a good idea but probably not necessary. i think if counseling sounds like a good idea to you and youve done a good amount of research on what it is, you'll probably find it enjoyable. it's not the type of job where expectations =/= reality. the only general source of complaints among basically everyone is having to interact with insurance companies.

I have a 2 page professional resume that I modified a bit before I read the fine print and it is a bit of a punch to the stomach. The self-doubt is creeping in. I guess I just have to talk to my enrollment advisor about it. That's what she is there for. After this I have the letters of recommendations which I don't know how to secure or am afraid are going to be weak sauce. Then it's the essays which could be strong. They better be strong. I think my only hope is to have strong essays and strong interviews. Oh well, I guess I just do the best I can and that is all I can do.

i had similar issues. i came from 10 years of playing poker and as such, had a 10 year hole on my original cv. i also had a bad gpa from my undergrad from juggling that and poker. given all that, i was basically forced to include poker in my application. without a mitigating explanation for that stuff, my application was sorta shit (though i went back to school later to fix stuff etc.). as much as ive been saying not to include poker if you dont have to, it is an option. i would still exhaust a bunch of other ways to cover that in the mean time creatively explaining things however possible. for most people, the personal statement is a do no harm thing. for people with atypical paths to gradschool, its a necessary part of the application to tie together weaker parts of your app with a larger compelling narrative that will show you are serious and capable about undertaking graduate work. i assume your grad counselor will have better advice, but i did want to chime in and say it is definitely doable even if it (justfiably) seems daunting.

also - the gres are generally weighed heavily, so that should be a strong part of your application as well.

Well, thanks to PoorUser's post, a long talk with my sister, and a talk with my enrollment advisor I'm back on track. Resume is finished and is as good as it's going to get. Now, it's about firming up the letters of recommendation while getting these essays cracked open.

Well, it's 2am and I can't sleep and can't think of anything else to do. I had a good chat with one of my references today. I hadn't talked to her in 2 years and was a bit nervous about it. She said I was one of her favorite people in x city and of course she would write the letters which was a relief. I have to call my next reference tomorrow. It will be good to catch up with him too. Then my 3rd reference I am like ... I could get a strong poker reference, perhaps my 1st sponsor which would be a really strong reference. I don't know if those fall under professional or academic references. Ughhh, It's probably why I can't sleep. I at least wrote my personal statement for x today. I want to sleep on it and read it tomorrow to see how I feel about it.

I had a dream that we overcame capitalism and a lot of the mental health issues in the world dissipated and there were too many therapists.

I feel like today there aren't enough. I'm going to be sad if I don't get accepted anywhere. It will probably be ok either way but damn.

strongly recommend that you choose sponsor over poker reference. its ok to let your reference know what type of stuff you'd want included. so in case they are unsure, i would be sure to ask them to include things like dedication and interpersonal skills that translate to graduate and clinical work and to omit anything negative, even if that is used to help frame a positive...unless its very well done. (prob obvious but there you go).

Well, here we go...

I just sent out all my essays to my mom, sisters, and PoorUser. Now, all I can do is wait. The vulnerability is strong. It's all for the greater good. I'm kind of wound up and it's midnight. Sheesh.

Overheard conversation today:

[BANK EMPLOYEE]: You know it is strange times. [BANK] I work for is really struggling. You would think everyone would have their credit cards maxed out due to Covid but spending is way way down.

Reasonable person: I don't see how that's a bad thing.

[B]: It's bad for [BANK]

It ties in to a fantastic sub-chapter I read from David Graeber's "Bullshit Jobs" entitled "concerning the inverse relationship between the social value of work and the amount of money one is likely to be paid for it."

There is a lot in the chapter but one thing that stuck out is they wagered that medical researchers were the most useful people on the planet. Like sky high. Teachers are definitely useful. Most engineers are pretty useful albeit marginally so. IT professionals are neutral. Lawyers suck. Especially corporate lawyers. Advertisers and marketing professionals are obviously shit but not as bad as managers. Most managers are a waste of space. Or maybe AMAB (All Managers Are Bastards). But beating them all out? Fucks in the financial sector.

The fucks in the financial sector may get paid so much precisely because there is ZERO social value incorporated into their job. We don't pay researchers and teachers nearly enough precisely because there is social value inherent in those jobs. It's fucked. From my estimations most researchers and teachers are sane people that want to help and simply want a wage that they can make it work. "It" being a reasonably good life. The fucks in the financial sector are not sane people. I don't think it's right to ruthlessly negotiate with people ie researchers and teachers that are potentially having an impact on a generation of students in the teacher's case and perhaps GENERATIONS of humans in the researcher's case. What the fuck are the fucks in the financial sector doing? THEY are the fucking looters. THEY are the criminals.

Also, I wonder where poker playing would be on that list?

It's clearly not useful in anyway whatsoever although I don't think it is nearly as harmful as financial sector, advertiser/marketer, or lawyer. I guess it gets complicated though. What if someone is an IT guy for JP Morgan and Chase? That's definitely negative. What if a poker player takes his profits and gives a decent amount to a local community in need or experimental research?