So I realize that I haven't posted in two months, and frankly I do need to apologize for such a thing. It's just been such a whirlwind of a summer that I haven't had time to think, much less time to write. I suppose this is probably a bad thing what with having two writing courses starting next week, so being unable to write this summer has perhaps inhibited my writing skills, but here's hoping it hasn't.
So this summer has possibly been one of the funnest and most enjoyable summers I've ever had. Going to Florida with my best friend was an adventure, especially since our friends down there got her and I into all four Disney Parks for free. So we got to experience everything, including Animal Kingdom which I had never been to before, and had such an amazing time it was just wonderful. I think the scariest ride I went on while there was Mission: Space at Epcot. The reason being that Lauren and I decided to go on the Advanced track and as it's about going into space, we actually got to experience G-Forces, and when you feel like you have a five hundred pound person on your chest and you can barely lift your arms at all, not exactly enjoyable :P, but it was quite an experience and it let me know I'm never going to want to become an astronaut.
I also finally got a chance to head to the new Harry Potter theme park at Universal, and what trip it was. The castle itself is unbelievably beautiful, butterbeer is so very sweet, and the stores are just wonderful. I'll include a photo if I can.
The rest of my summer was uneventful but still enjoyable due to being able to just relax and enjoy my summer.
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.
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
So it's been a dull couple of days hence the few posts. I had some tutoring to do, working with Chris, and just having a relatively dull weekend. I think the one thing that ticked me off was that I was going to see Prince of Persia with Chris but then last minute just as I picked him up he tells me he doesn't want to see it because it looks "too scary". The thing that's annoying is that he's 21 and I don't see how an action movie like the Prince is scary but I suppose for Chris, his mind is like a 4 year old's not 21..
What else to talk about? My summer's going quite well, I'm enjoying it a great deal. My autism has appeared to be at an all time low for quirks. Though it wasn't that way originally. Since I'm so use to structure, having gotten into summer it took me a while for me to finally get into a sort of structure. Apparently otherwise I act very "off" and very hyper at the same time. I might have talked about this before, but I don't think I did...
Anyway, that's all for today's post. This is counting as Friday to Sunday's posts, I hope you don't mind I just figure I covered basically everything regarding this weekend. So talk to you all Monday! Sean
Hope everyone's week is going well. My day was quite busy actually since I was moving my stuff out of my friend's place as obviously I had moved some stuff in there. I just didn't realize though how much I had accumulated. Go figure :P. So after that was all done it was time to hang out with Lauren which took a while since she had to get ready. But the benefit was I got to drive in London for the first time on my own. It was a bit frightening but at the same time invigorating knowing that I was driving in London on my own.
It's quite funny that I did so well (obviously since I'm back in St. Thomas :P) seeing as how back when I drove in London in Grade 11, I wound up veering off when trying to switch a lane and wound up on the curb, now of course at the time it was frustrating. But when I look back now, to me it's just a laugh riot :P.
When we did get back to St. Thomas we headed to dinner at Boston Pizza, picked up Avatar and the video game Scene It, and then headed home to watch/play both. We also watched Grease (which is what we're actually doing now).
Autism-wise, I think the only thing that happened was....I think I just got frustrated over stuff to do with moving because of my distaste and lack of muscle strength. I didn't have a spaz attack but I did kind of get frustrated and raised my voice at my mom. I know, I know, a lot of people hate moving, but I'm sure not EVERYONE has spaz attacks or raises their voices over nothing. But maybe I'm wrong and it wasn't autism lol. Anyway, Night All!
So today was my first day of summer vacation and it was WONDERFUL. I slept till 3PM to start off with which was wonderful. I then got up and took my writings in for the Creative Writing course. I hung out with Lauren for a little bit in the library as well, though I don't know how she is able to get through these exams. If I still had them I'd probably go insane. I then just headed home, cleaned up around the house, and watched television.
My autism details for today are actually instead going to look into the past in one of the writings I submitted. So here it is:
"My life has been full of twists and turns, one that has never taken me the same way twice. I was born as a healthy child but that changed a short time later when I started becoming ill frequently, putting me in and out of the hospital consistently. By the time I was four, I had been in the hospital at least eight times. It was at this same time that I came down with rheumatic fever, a condition that probably changed my life forever.
Following the rheumatic fever, I changed socially. When I was once a socially active chatterbox, I withdrew into my own world, and while I did in some ways keep that bubbly baby boy that I was, I still was different. It wasn’t until I reached the end Grade 3 that my life changed around and returned to how it once was. I made several friends, and it was as though all those who one might consider “popular” had finally deemed me as someone to become friends with.
It was Grade 4 where I truly started reaching my stride and discovering the person I really was. That year they held a talent show for all of us and at the beginning of the year, my new friends and I were planning on performing a dance and singing number to the Backstreet Boys’ “Backstreet’s Back” for the talent show. As the year went on however, more and more of my friends dropped out of doing the performance, until it wound up only me as the remaining member who wanted to perform. I showed my confidence that year and performed on my own in front of the entire school and got a standing ovation both because of the guts I had to perform on my own but also because apparently I actually had the talent to put on a great show.
Just from reading you can probably tell that performing breaks me out of the shell that developed when I was younger. What developed, to be clear, was Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism that should have inhibited my social skills. While it did in some ways inhibit my skills at knowing what is and isn’t socially appropriate to talk about, at the same time I still do great at socializing. It’s actually through performing that I have been able to learn how to best present myself and also make friends with people of the same interests. This doesn’t mean that I haven’t had difficulties though when it came to socializing. In high school it was harder to be involved in what I was skilled at and that’s where the hardest part of my life happened.
At the beginning of high school, it wasn’t that difficult to make friends, nor was it difficult for me to continue the friendships I had with the friends I already had. But as the years went by, I started finding certain people abandoning me because as I later found out, I said the wrong things to them, talked to them in the wrong tone without realizing it, and also getting into their personal spaces. It wasn’t until later, when someone decided to make a group of people who “hated” me, that I learned who my true friends were who didn’t judge me for how I acted, and those who just pretended to be my friends. I will admit, it was difficult though for me to find this out, and of course it was an eye-opener. But to tell the truth, I’m glad I found out none the less so I knew who to stay with and who to not listen to.
I think the other problem I’ve constantly had in my life is while I have many friends, and make friends easily, I still feel as though I’m an outcast. I try for many things over and over again, Students Council, the Big Purple Couch, and other things and yet I don’t get them no matter how many times I try. I think the main reason for this is simply because I am not the type of person who wants to party all the time like those who are voting for the people who get the positions. I don’t go out to the party events everyone goes to because that is not who I am. I am a people person, but at the same time I’m a people person when it comes to those of my own interests which is in the arts and performance.
So this is my life in a nutshell and I have to say it’s sometimes more than I can handle, but I still do it because I know that there’s something in store for me in the future. I truly believe that my Asperger’s will help me in the future because I see the world in a different light. I better understand what people with disabilities go through, and while they may not be the same as what I have, but I still understand the astigmatism people experience just because they are different."
I'm a 22 year old student at King's College at the University of Western Ontario. I've been a member of students councils for the past 8 years of my life, including Communications Coordinator and Website Commissioner. I'm in Psychology at Western, and have a big passion for acting. I'd love to get into movies if I could, but for now, I'm just living life and loving my friends and the productions I'm in at school :).
