Thursday, June 24, 2010

Ch-Ch-Changes

Hey Everyone!

So sorry about not having posted in quite some time (the previous stereotype post was actually posted on the 22nd on Open Salon, so it's been nearly three days since I last made an actual blog post. Things have been changing I guess and I just find it either a bit more difficult to write or too busy to do so. Now don't worry, I'll continue writing until the "due date" I set in January, but it might just be more spaced out rather than everyday. I hope you all will continue reading however, despite the changes.

The one thing I want to tell you all because I think it is a great thing regarding my autism. But according to my parents, they've noticed that with going to bed early and running, I've apparently matured and aren't all over the place anymore. I guess just getting exercise as well as early to bed has allowed my brain to begin re-wiring itself in some ways. I could be wrong but I think it's a very good thing.

That's all for today though. Talk to you all soon!
Sean




Stereotypes: What Would We Do Without Them?

I've noticed that stereotypes are everywhere these days, and whether you like it or not, most of them are going to stay for a while.



Some of us love stereotypes because it allows us to group people into descriptions to make up the entirety of that population. Generally these people who enjoy grouping are bullies, but sometimes even we do it. How many of you have at one point or another thought Muslims were terrorists? Hopefully not many of you, but perhaps there are many of you, and it's because of what the media has given to us as a portrayal. However, I myself have friends who are muslim and they are some of the nicest people I know. What about gay people? Are they all limp-wristed, flamboyant people? No. They are a variety from actors, to football players, to parents. What about in school, how we categorize people into groups? Just because someone isn't a certain race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender, doesn't mean they aren't stereotyped. In high school and university alone we stereotype people as the "dumb jock" or the "brainy nerd" or the "loners", etc. We even do it in our Facebooks, even if we claim it as "fun".


So why do we do it? Why do we feel the need to stereotype people and automatically assume they're one thing? It's quite simply my friends, it's called the media. Every day we are given a view of a person or group of people who act a certain way and as a result that makes us believe that if these people are acting this way, then anyone who has that label: "Gay", "Black", "Muslim", "Nerd", "Loner", "Jock" is the same way. But let me tell you something, I've met a lot of jocks who are in fact quite smart, "Nerds" who actually have failed more than one test, and gay people who are just like the rest of us.

So before you stereotype someone, here's something to think about, what are you being stereotyped as?

Sean :)





Sunday, June 20, 2010

Toy Story 3, The Princess Diaries, and Other Stuff

Hey Everyone!

So yesterday was a great day. Got to see Toy Story 3, which my review will follow me just expressing that my autism seems to be in low key this weekend as I feel nothing really happened. I was able to keep myself from rambling on about Rogers Video coupons I bought even though I thought I was about to continue, I wound up not continuing on and instead saying to myself I'd just tell what I needed to tell my parents tomorrow (tomorrow being today :P).

Now Toy Story 3, what a movie is all I can really say. I grew up with these films, being 7 when the first film came out, and 11 when Toy Story 2 was released, so as you can probably expect, I was anticipating something that would really make me happy in finishing the series (unless they wind up making more Toy Stories with new toys which I pray to God they don't otherwise there goes the entire Toy Story franchise). The good news is it definitely did not disappoint. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks were in top form as Buzz and Woody, and the other characters were just as hilarious as I remember them. But sadly, and this is a spoiler here, some of the characters we had in the first film who were minor but none the less, still part of the gang had been given away or sold, including Bo Peep who I believe was Woody's love interest.

With the start of the film, we're treated to another one of Andy's fantasies of Buzz, Woody and Jessie against the evil Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and Dr. Porkchop. This is then followed by a cute montage through the lens of a video camera of Andy and his sister Molly growing up. The toys are now unfortunately collecting dust in a toy chest, but Woody and the toys try to get Andy to play with them by using the phone and hiding Andy's cell phone in the chest. Andy unfortunately doesn't take and leaves the room. Sarge and his two army-men abandon the toys knowing that when the next yard sale comes, they'd be the first to go. One thing leads to another however and the toys are eventually put in the car to head to the daycare. What the toys don't seem to realize however is that this was never meant to happen and Andy was originally putting them in storage but they wound up almost thrown in the trash and thus decide to leave Andy. Woody on the other hand tries to tell them what really happened but the toys refuse to listen since Woody was going to be going to college with Andy anyway, so to him it wasn't a big deal.

The toys eventually try to get to know the new toys at Sunnyside Daycare and having seen many of the kids caring and playing with the toys gently, they were excited to finally be played with again. Unfortunately due to some trickery, the old toys at the daycare put Andy's toys into the "Caterpillar Room" which is full of toddlers ages 1-2 and this of course means that the toys are thrashed and beaten up by the kids, leaving them bruised when the kids finally leave. Only through Buzz investigating does he find out the truth of Sunnyside but before he can reveal the secret to his friends, he's captured and reprogrammed. Then Sunnyside just goes from bad to worse for Andy's toys as Buzz cages them all and has them follow a strict timeline.

Woody on the other hand was taken home accidentally by the daycare owner's daughter Bonnie. It's here where Woody winds up finally being played with and while he enjoys it, he still wants to get back to Andy. It is only through him saying his friends are at Sunnyside does he find out the dangers of the place and goes back to rescue them.

Thanks to Woody, the toys are able to escape through a garbage shoot but are stopped by Lotso the bear who winds up taking them with him into the garbage dump. While they're betrayed by Lotso and they fall into the incinerator, before they're incinerated, the three aliens from Pizza Planet whom Mr. Potato Head saved, winds up saving them using "the claw" to take them out before being fried.

The toys are eventually able to make it back to Andy just before he leaves, and they are then taken to Bonnie once more. Andy introduces each of them, and winds up playing with them and Bonnie one last time. It's at this point where I wound up crying because after growing up with the series, I couldn't help but feel sad after all of what has happened over the past fifteen years. The movie ends with Andy finally driving away, but not without first looking back at Woody and Buzz and saying to himself "Thanks guys.". This probably got me the most of all, but it was such a heartwarming film. And the dance scene at the end was also quite fun to watch just to lift your spirits after such a sad and touching ending.

So that's my review about Toy Story 3. I apologize if I spoiled it for people, but that's just how I review movies I suppose. :) Hope you enjoyed that.

As for the Princess Diaries topic, I love this series, and I just really wanted to quote something from the final book of the series that really put life in perspective.

"As you get older, you lose things, things you don't necessarily want to lose. Some things as simple as . . . well, your baby teeth when you're a little kid, as they make way for your adult teeth.

But as you age, you lose other, even more important things, like friends - hopefully only bad friends who maybe weren't as good for you as you once thought. With luck, you'll be able to hang on to your true friends, the ones who were always there for you . . . even when you thought they weren't.

Because friends like that are more precious than all the tiaras in the world.

I've also learned that there are things you want to lose . . . like that hat you throw into the air on graduation day. I mean, why would you want to hold on to it? High school sucks. People who say those were the best four years of your life - these people are liars. . . . Who wants the best years of their lives to be in high school? High school is something everybody should be ready to lose."

Just to interject here with my own thoughts, I have to say I agree. High school was probably the most horrible part of my life seeing as how I was still unaware of my autism and while I seemed fine amongst the popular kids, namely because I didn't hang around with them too much, it was my "friends" in my group that I hung around with who all but abandoned me because they thought I was too weird or I had pissed them off with my ramblings or interceding on their personal space or conversations. But as Mia says above, hopefully you'll only lose bad friends, and frankly in this case it's all to true because the ones I've kept are still great people, whereas the ones I lost turned out to be nice on the outside but completely rotten on the inside :).

Continuing on:

"And then there are the things you thought you wanted to lose, but didn't . . . and now you're glad you didn't."

So to me that's pretty good words from Meg Cabot, the writer of this book. And frankly it really gives an interesting outlook to life. So hopefully you all take it into consideration yourselves, as I know I have.

Finally the last thing I need to talk about is the teacher of the student I've been tutoring. He got his essay back that I helped him in the grammar and sentence structure, and now the teacher is refusing to give him a good mark which she said it's at about a 90% or higher level essay, because she thinks it's not his work >_>. Apparently she doesn't realize that at times editing grammar can make a paper look slightly different, or that perhaps some students are better at different things. They might be better at essays when their answers to study questions might not be as well written. It just ticks me off that she's doubting his work and not giving him a mark for it. Hopefully it all gets sorted out, but I just had to post a bit about that because of how frustrating it is.

Anyway...talk to you all soon!

Sean




Friday, June 18, 2010

HELLO WEEKEND!

Hey Everyone!

So it's finally the weekend, which makes me quite happy. Especially since tomorrow (Saturday) I get to see Toy Story 3 :D I'm definitely looking forward to it and I definitely will be giving you all a review of the movie once I see it. Autism-wise not much has happened in the last two days. I think I kind of came off a bit abrasive to my Mom when talking about my courses and how one of my courses I might be unable to take due to the teacher being out of the office.

On a lighter note, I was actually just accepted into the Creative Writing course at King's for the upcoming year which is AWESOME! Though hopefully the writing samples I gave on this blog helped possibly prove that I'm suppose to be in that course. But anyway, I think that's all for today and yesterday.

I'll talk to you all later!
Sean




Wednesday, June 16, 2010

School Blues -_-

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the absence the past two days, been busy with things and since I kept falling asleep so early, I've kind of been forgetting to post. Just to recap; Monday I had to meet with an academic counselor in London after hanging out with Lauren, but unbelievably I waited an hour and a half just to meet with a counselor for about 10 minutes. It was so unbelievably ridiculous that despite me getting to the Academic Dean's office on time to sign up for a meeting, it still took an hour and a half! When I finally got that done I had to e-mail this Professor to try and get permission to register for her course but I get an e-mail from her telling me she's out of the office. So now not only will I possibly be unable to get into the course because she doesn't return till July 1 and the course selections start June 24, and there's only 20 seats available in the course, BUT I also don't know if there's a course I can take as a replacement should I be unable to get into the course! It's just stressing me out more than it probably should but I can't help but be stressed...this is my final full year of my Undergrad in Psychology...so I want to get as many credits as I possibly can before next April so that I only have a few left to take come September 2011.

As for Tuesday, that was a relatively dull day as it was my day off from work. Hell's Kitchen was about the only good thing about it that wasn't boring :P.

And today, Wednesday, I was worried I wouldn't be able to meet my friend to get a key to his place as I have to stay in London come the 26th and 27th because of Budget Weekend for the KUCSC. So obviously I needed to have a place to stay for that night but luckily my friend came through.

Autism-wise, I was rambling again too much about the course selection things and couldn't think to just stop and let it go, but you can hopefully understand my reasoning behind it.

Anyway, that's all for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday :P
Sean




Saturday, June 12, 2010

Working Out, and a Thank-You to Everyone!

Well, that didn't work out the way I planned it :P. I hope you all had a good day today though. I have to say mine was sadly, quite dull. Apart from the normal working with Chris, and playing with my nephew, the only eventful thing that happened (if you can call it eventful) was me starting the next part of my work out.

I've actually been running three times a week and have been following this plan about how to go from a couch potato, to running 5K. Basically you start off by having a five minute brisk walk, and then start alternating between 60 seconds of jogging, followed by 90 seconds of walking and you basically repeat this for twenty minutes. Now of course, that's only the first week. The second week you up the time so you're doing 90 seconds of jogging and the same of walking. Third week you do 90 seconds again but cut the walking back to only 60 seconds. And basically the plan is to try and get you running for a total of 30 minutes with no walking breaks in between. I do hope I actually can stick to it because one of my big things is that I generally drop a work out after a certain point simply because I lose any enjoyment from it, and it's just a case of pain and annoyance. But 'm hoping I'll stick to it for the summer and hopefully will be able to tone some muscle that I desperately need :P.

Autism-wise, I think the only thing that really happened was I started rambling to my mom about something or other today. She had to tell me I was rambling before I even realized it, which I'll admit I feel a bit silly for but what can you do?

Anyway that's all for tonight/yesterday night, also just a little interesting tidbit. I calculated up all the views I've had of this blog on OS, and I've reached over 13,000 views! And combined with the 2,675 views on this Blogspot version of the blog, my blog has reached over 15,000 views! It's kind of a wow moment for me, and I really want to say thank-you to everyone who's been reading my blog. Those of you who have been faithful readers, reading many of my blogs I thank you! And to those of you who have just started, I thank you as well!

Have a great night/day/whenever you read this post :P

Sean




Friday, June 11, 2010

Gran's Birthday

Hey Everyone!

Pretty uneventful day for the most part except that I had a great time celebrating my grandmother's 92nd birthday. Hard to believe she's already 92, and me, I'm just 22 :P. Anyway autism-wise, nothing really happened at all except that I became apparently un-coachable because of my driving which I still don't understand. I see people driving with cell phones still, I see them texting, I see them driving with headphones or eating. Me? Two hands on the wheel, watching out, and just because I came up to an intersection even a LITTLE bit fast, and I emphasize because I was still in the process of slowing down and it would of all been fine none the less unless the brakes were cut :P, my Mom calls me uncoachable. No one likes backseat drivers, let's face it...and while I appreciate my Mom's help, it just frustrated me a bit that my driving was being criticized again despite her saying I drove quite well on my way back from Elgin Manor yesterday. And that's also my autism, not being able to let it go....

Sorry for the rant, and I'll talk to you all tomorrow.
Sean





Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Time for a Little Rant

Hey Everyone!

No news in autism, except rambling to my mom after my first workout of the year :D. Oh and there was also a news report on the television stating that people with autism have their own unique genetic footprint, completely different from the unique footprints non-autistic people have which is quite interesting. I didn't catch the whole story sadly, but it's an interesting thing to hear about.

As for my rant, well it's quite simple...it's about us, the people and our government. Or should I say, what's happening in the United States, which while it doesn't really effect me, it still unnerves me. So basically, from the start either each year or every 2 or 4 years, etc, we go to the polls and vote on the people we want to represent us in our governments right? However, as things progress in said governments, sometimes our representatives, senators, governors, Presidents/Prime Ministers, etc vote for things we don't want and as a result, we get all upset and start putting petitions together to allow us to get an amendment to vote on these things ourselves. What I don't really understand though is this: If we voted for these people to represent us in our government so that we don't have to go to these proceedings weekly, then why are we complaining? We voted for these people to make decisions for ALL of us, and now just because some people are all pissed off with how OUR representatives voted, we decide "Oh let's now go and vote ourselves". So from this I have to ask you a question, if we want to vote on things ourselves....then WHY IN THE HELL DID WE EVEN VOTE FOR OUR REPS, OUR SENATORS, OUR GOVERNORS, OR OUR PRESIDENTS/PRIME MINISTERS?! It just makes no sense to me why we elected them and then when one little issue comes up that we don't like; gay marriage, abortion, marijuana legalization, etc, let's just go "we vote!" Well I'm sorry, YOU voted for these people to represent us in every decision, just because you don't like how that person voted, don't start getting in a pissed off mood. He or she's representing more than just you alone, he or she is representing EVERYONE in their county, district, their state/province, their country. So before you complain about one thing out of a thousand things they voted on, think about it, if you didn't have them voting for you, you'd all be the ones making all these decisions. (And I'm talking the frivolous decisions too like what road changes to make, you know, the really really boring stuff).

Just thought you should think about it.
Sean :)




Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Journey: Glee Season 1 Finale (SPOILERS!)

The Glee Season 1 Finale, all I can really say is just WOW. It was one of those blissful moments in life where you can't help but be glued to something, and feel so much emotion. And yes, I do realize I'm talking about a tv show. But I suppose it's because I've put my heart into Glee, that it's almost become my own Bible, that caused the emotion I felt in this episode. Prior to the finale, I couldn't help but feel both happy and sad; happy that it was the finale because I knew it would be amazing (that and I've been listening to the songs from the finale over and over since Friday), and sad because I realized it was ending and I wouldn't be able to see it again until September. 'But Sean, that's only three months away', you might say, but 3 months may go fast but it will still be sad that I won't be able to turn on the television on Tuesdays and see all the characters I've come to love.

The finale truly was amazing, with happiness, tears, and a bit of anticipated shock. The Glee Club, feeling unsure of themselves upon finding out Sue (Jane Lynch) is one of the judges at Regionals, have come to Will's (Matt Morrison) house to reminisce about the good times they've had in Glee Club. While the meeting was originally to choose the Regionals songs, they instead wind up in the depression and both Tina and Rachel are on the verge of crying. It isn't until as Will drives along the road that he hears Don't Stop Believing by Journey and remembers the beginning of Glee Club.

Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith) meet on the stairwell and Finn tries to convince her that they need to still go to Regionals no matter if they lose or not, resulting in Rachel kissing Finn. They return to the choir room and are about to tell this to Will when he reminds them first of the journey they've gone through over the past year. He then tells them that they're going to Regionals and it doesn't matter if they win or lose, because winning doesn't matter, it's the journey they've been on that matters, and that they'll go to Regionals with a Journey medley.

Upon arriving at Regionals, the judges, which include Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban, are introduced and another Glee club known as Aural Intensity perform a medley of Groban and Newton-John songs, causing New Directions to become worried once more. Thanks to a pep talk from Will and Rachel however, the club goes to the stage and performs a medley of Faithfully, Any Way You Want It/Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin', and Don't Stop Believing.

Following the amazing performance which gave me goosebumps, they return backstage where Quinn (Dianna Agron) runs into her mother, who tells her she kicked Quinn's father out of the house for having an affair. Her mother tells her how proud she is of Quinn and asks her to come home, when Quinn tells her that her water just broke.

When we return to the show, Vocal Adrenaline are performing Bohemian Rhapsody. It's quite a chilling performance though because they blend it with Quinn in labour at the hospital, even going so far as to have Quinn yelling "Mama" "Let me go", and "No, no, no, no" in time with the song. It was quite an amusing way of doing the scene.

Rachel and Shelby (Idina Menzel), the Vocal Adrenaline coach and Rachel's mother, meet once more in VA's dressing room. Rachel tells Shelby that Vocal Adrenaline in no way will have won and asks her to come to McKinley to co-direct with Will. Shelby declines however, stating she wants to start a life because she never got to and lost her chance to have a family with Rachel now that she's grown up. Shelby asks Rachel where the rest of the Glee club is, and Rachel responds that they're at the hospital and Quinn had a baby girl.

The show returns to see the Glee Clubs waiting for the announcement, while backstage Sue and the judges talk about who should win. While Sue originally comes in wanting New Directions to lose, she winds up changing her mind when the other judges (Newton-John and Rod Remington, the local newscaster) start bashing the kids and also her. However, when on stage she announces that Vocal Adrenaline won, with Aural Intensity as runners-up, meaning that New Directions didn't even place much to my shock yet at the same time I somewhat anticipated it what with there being two more seasons already in the works.

Following the loss, Will comes upon Emma (Jayma Mays) yelling at Principal Figgins over having given the Glee club space already to another group, as the deal was if Glee club lost Regionals, the club would be shut down. Emma then yells at Will saying how unfair it is, and Will asks if she's doing it for the kids which she responds she is, but Will rebuffs saying it's also for them, and then kisses her, telling her their relationship isn't over. Rachel appears and asks Will to come to the auditorium where the entire club tells him that even if the practices are over, Glee club will never be over because Will is Glee Club and tells him how much he meant to each of them. While it is a bit of a sappy moment, it still is touching however as they sing Lulu's "To Sir, With Love". It ends with Sue being seen watching at the doorway, tearing up.

Will is then seen packing up the Glee choir room when Sue arrives to what can only be predicted as gloating over Glee club's end. It is a surprise however when Sue tells Will that she couldn't live without taunting Will and so Glee club got one more year thanks to Sue blackmailing Figgins once again. Will thanks Sue, telling her she really does have a heart, to which she retorts that if Will doesn't let go she's going to vomit all over Will.

Will then gathers the Glee Club and tells them they got another year which causes the club to erupt in cheers. Will then sings "Over the Rainbow" with Puck (Mark Salling) accompanying. We watch as the Glee club members start holding hands, and having fun as usual. We also are given a treat to see Shelby with Quinn's new baby, Beth, having adopted her. The song then ends, as does the episode.

That's basically the episode for you, I don't know if it was a Hollywood type review but I still had to write about it. Autism-wise nothing happened today, so I hope you enjoyed this change from the norm :)

Night everyone!
Sean





Monday, June 7, 2010

School of Rock

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for missing Sunday, just didn't have a lot to tell, so I figured I'd just forget about it. Today was relatively normal, worked with Chris and watched Lemony Snicket's, and tutored Matt in English once again. The thing I was very happy to hear from my mom is that they talked with Matt's mother who said that his teacher said he's improving a lot, so I'm really glad I'm helping.

Autism-wise, I guess the only thing that happened was while talking to friends on Facebook, one of them stopped responding after I said something and I thought for a short time maybe I had annoyed them. Turns out I hadn't, but often when I think that, I start saying a lot of things, apologizing if I offended them which in most cases I haven't. It might not be autism, this, but even if it's not, it's one of my quirks that I don't really like because it could make me look crazy to them....go figure.

Anyway, that's all tonight!
Sean




Saturday, June 5, 2010

Why is it, People Are Such Money-Mongers?

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone's been doing well, I apologize for not saying anything yesterday but Lauren came for the night and I just didn't really have much time to post. I had a lovely time with her though, dinner, Sex and the City 2, and a relaxing time at home. I believe the only time an autism-related thing happened was when I was apologizing frequently to Lauren because I thought I might offend her with something I Was saying, luckily as usual I had nothing to worry about.

As for the title of my post, it has to do with something interesting I discovered about the fair world, and by fair I mean carnivals; they're money-gougers. Now yes, we can get into talking about the games that you spend tons of money on to win stuffed animals, I'm talking just getting tickets to go on the rides. When we went to the fair yesterday, one ticket, ONE, cost $1.75. I'm sorry but with that price, and with the rides at this fair being 3-5 tickets for one 2-minute ride, it's just ridiculous. I'm not shoveling out $5.25-$8.75 to go on ONE ride especially when the rides aren't like Canada's Wonderland or Disney World or anything like that...we're talking silly rides like a kiddy roller-coaster and such.

That's frankly all I can say about that, what do you guys think?
Sean




Friday, June 4, 2010

Glee: Journey to Regionals Soundtrack!

Click this link to be able to listen to the soundtrack before it's released!

Glee: Journey to Regionals




Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Am I Too Fixed?

Hey Everyone!

So the thing I've been wondering today is about why I don't necessarily get the things I'd like in school. VP Operations, a big role in the school play, etc. I can't help but wonder, is it possible I'm too fixed in my ways that cause in how I present myself? Is it possible that because sometimes, I don't want to change my mind, or adapt to new situations, as a result I don't get the things I should get. VP Operations, a bigger part in the play, they weren't cases of me not getting them because I wasn't good enough, it was simply because people saw the way I was approaching things and doing things and as a result, felt I wasn't the right fit for the job. If I was different, then maybe I would have had a bigger role or been elected Vice-President Operations, both of which I would of done a great job at I'm sure, but because I can be fixed on things too much, I didn't get them.

I'd like people's thoughts on what you think, but that's my two cents for tonight.

Sean




Tuesday, June 1, 2010

My Apologies

Hey Everyone,

I have to say sorry to my readers for slacking off so much within the last week. I really don't mean to get slack with my writing but it's just been time consuming at times. But here I am once more and I hope everyone's been doing quite well.

Today was rather normal, my grandfather came over for the first time in a month since we just weren't able to have him over because it's been quite busy here. I also had tutoring time with my neighbour again and he's doing much better at his sentence structure. We continued on by playing Super Mario Galaxy 2, which was fun but I think the autism thing that came up was the fact that I got a little antsy about him playing my game because I can't help but worry about someone messing up my games. I realize this is silly or could just be me being selfish, but I just have this feeling it really is autism because it gets in the way of sociability...

Anyway that was about it today. Glee was hilarious, especially with Matt Morrison singing a "love song" to Jane Lynch. I just cracked up the entire song because of how hilariously corny, especially her line after the song, "I was bored". :P

That's it for tonight!
Sean