New Study! Autism in Some Boys Linked to Missing DNA

Hey Everyone!

Interesting news story of a recent study done in Toronto on Autism.

Here's the story:

TORONTO - Researchers are a step closer to understanding why autism spectrum disorder affects four times as many boys as girls.

A study led by a team of Toronto scientists has discovered that males who carry specific genetic alterations on their X-chromosome have an elevated risk for developing autism spectrum disorder, or ASD.

“The male gender bias in autism has intrigued us for years and now we have an indicator that starts to explain why this may be,” said co-principal investigator Stephen Scherer, director of the Centre for Applied Genomics at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

The researchers, whose work is published this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine, found that about one per cent of boys with ASD had mutations related to the PTCHD1 gene on the X-chromosome.

"Hearing that it's in one per cent doesn't get a lot of people excited," conceded Scherer. "But it gets geneticists really excited because there's a lot of genes involved (in ASD)."

Boys inherit one X-chromosome from their mother and one Y-chromosome from their father, explained Scherer. "If a boy's X-chromosome is missing the PTCHD1 gene or other nearby DNA sequences, they will be at high risk of developing ASD or intellectual disability.

"Girls are different in that, even if they are missing one PTCHD1 gene, by nature they always carry a second X-chromosome, shielding them from ASD. While these women are protected, autism could appear in future generations of boys in their families."

Autism spectrum disorder affects an estimated one in every 165 children. The neurological disorder ranges in severity, but often includes problems communicating and interacting with others, unusual patterns of behaviour and intellectual disability.

An estimated 190,000 Canadians have ASD, which is on the rise worldwide, says Autism Society Canada.

The isolation of genetic alterations on the X-chromosome within a percentage of individuals with autism follows a number of recent genetic discoveries by Scherer and others that are moving science slowly but surely towards a better understanding of the causes of this baffling disorder.

To conduct this study, researchers analyzed the gene sequences of 2,000 individuals with ASD, along with others with an intellectual disability, and compared the results to DNA sequencing from thousands of healthy control subjects.

While the PTCHD1 mutation occurred in one per cent of males with ASD, it was not present in the DNA of thousands of healthy male controls — and sisters of males carrying the same mutation seemed unaffected by autism symptoms.

"The deletions and other mutations seem to be related only to disease in the boys," said co-principal researcher John Vincent. "They have sisters who have the same mutation but are healthy."

Vincent, head of the molecular neuropsychiatry and development lab at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, isn't surprised to find another gene on the X-chromosome involved in autism.

"It's another one in the list and I think it will be one of the most common ones, so parents will be able to have their children tested," he said. "Particularly if they have a son affected, it will be important for them to know if it's caused by a mutation at or around PTCHD1."

"And if it is, they'll know that future (male) children would be at risk."

"There are lots of women in the population," added Scherer, "who are carrying this (genetic variation) that are predisposed to having boys with autism."

The scientists believe the PTCHD1 gene plays a role in a neurobiological pathway that delivers information to cells during brain development, and this specific mutation could disrupt crucial processes and contribute to the onset of autism, said Vincent.

Having a test for the altered DNA would mean children could be diagnosed at a younger age, allowing behavioural therapies to be started sooner, he said. "So the earlier you can catch it, the more effective the therapies can be."

Calling the discovery "incredibly important," Suzanne Lanthier of Autism Speaks said the research provides solid evidence about what's behind ASD prevalence rates being skewed towards males.

"This is the first time we're seeing some hard science findings to start to explain why boys are more affected than girls," said Lanthier, executive director of the research fundraising organization and mother of an 11-year-old boy with ASD.

Asked if such genetic links to autism put an end to the contentious notion that childhood vaccines — in particular, the measles-mumps-rubella inoculation — may trigger autism, Lanthier responded that ASD is manifested in many ways "and it doesn't lay to rest potential environmental causes."

"And what the research is pointing to more and more is that there are some genetic underpinnings and in some cases environmental triggers that set off what we know genetically."

"It certainly doesn't mean that we should stop doing research on environmental causes. By no means."

Interesting? I think so. Whether or not it's the reason behind me having autism? Who knows. But none the less, I think it's an interesting story for anyone who knows an autistic boy or man, and even moreso if that boy or man is your son, nephew, uncle, etc.

I hope you guys like the story and I'll talk to you soon!

Sean

Oh and PS, my first Semester of fourth year is going quite well minus Math which I don't really understand why I need it as I really don't see any of my possible future careers will need me to know math...unless it's just the logical aspect of math that it teaches you that I'm suppose to be learning. :P

Welcome Back

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.

That's all folks! Talk to you all soon!
Sean

Love Yourself, Then Someone Else

Hey everyone. So to start off this is not a post meant to offend anyone. Please do not take it directed at you because it isn't. This is just me ranting about how I feel.

Basically I am first off, finally happy being single. The best thing I am able to tell myself is the fact that by being single, it will let ME pursue whatever I want out of life, in my case, to be an actor in the industry (movie/tv industry, not theatre not that anything's wrong with it as even it gives me experience with acting) but basically like I was saying...the best part about being single is the fact that it means I get to be my own person and no one is there necessarily grounding me to one place. Well aside from my mother, but she's just looking out for me like any mother would their child.

The thing I'm annoyed about however is my friend base where I live...not the city I go to school in 30 minutes away, but in my actual city/hometown. Everywhere I look people are getting engaged, or married. Not a day goes by that I don't get ANOTHER event invite on Facebook to the stag N do or BBQ or w/e for another one of my friends who is engaged. This just pisses me off because seriously most of these people are my age, or younger than me, or no older than 25. And while love is great and all, I'm happy for them in some ways, but to me I just can't help but think "YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED WHEN YOU'RE ONLY 22, ARE YOU CRAZY?" Like I said, while I believe love is great and all, there's a time for it, and that time is AFTER you've developed a stable job or profession for yourself, after you've done what I like to call "settled" your life. Where you're truly at the point where it doesn't matter if you get a partner or not, because you're at that point where you're ready to enter the next step of your life.

To me getting married under 25 is just TOO young. I mean look at the past, and I mean the far past, before the 70s, when people were getting married at 18. It was all fine and dandy for them because the boy would work and the girl would be able to stay at home with kids. But now, now it's just gotten to the point where we're returning to that stage, but unlike back then, the world has changed and so has the economy. In most cases (unless you're a doctor or high paying job), both people need to be able to have jobs to support their home. And how does one do that? To me it's quite simple, go to school, or trade school or some form of post-secondary education, get a degree, maybe do a Master's or something, and get into a Profession. THEN you can get married. But here in my city, it's like people are hopping on the marriage train just a short time after they have graduated from high school. I mean sure, maybe there are some people who are able to get their postgrad quite a short time after graduating and are making a good living for themselves, and that's great, but that's still a minority of people. The majority are still generally in school around this time, and frankly starting a family at this time is just too soon. What if you end up having a kid? Then what happens? Your post grad could be flushed down the tube, or you barely ever see the kid. In this city specifically, my worry is that the people getting married young are going to wind up where? Flipping burgers at McDonald's for the rest of their days just to scrape by. Where will I be? I'll be in Hollywood, making a name for myself and then having a family when I meet the right person. (Laugh if you want, I have all the confidence I need in myself to get here.)

Anyway, that was my rant. So to those of you who are single, especially if you're around my age, be happy you're single. You don't need someone to make you happy, and what's more, being single will allow you to be you, to make your life what you want it, and to not have to worry so much about supporting a family or anything like that. Yes, if someone presents themself to me, yeah I might wind up dating them, but don't think you'll see me going into a marriage anytime soon. Love may "make the world go round" but the fact is, the first thing you need to do is love yourself, then be able to support yourself, before you can EVER think about being able to love someone else. And also remember these wise words from RuPaul: "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love someone else?"

Love to all of you
Sean

PS. Autism-wise, nothing really big has been happening. I'm going to Florida again soon so my usual slight worry about flying is creeping up on me but otherwise nothing :) This summer really has been one of the best of my life so far :D

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Day You Slipped Away

Hey so how was my day you might ask? It's quite simple, lame as anything. Whether waking up from a phone call at 12PM to dealing with my friend's landlord, it was anything but not exciting.

Class happened at 5:30 and was quite boring because all we learned about was measurements for Psychology Research. Following this class I went home and chatted with my mother a bit and now watching television.

Autism-wise, I was also just worried I was stressing my friend Lauren out with some matters that I can't discuss on here, which was pretty silly.

However, there was one thing that happened tonight after I posted this. I found out that a friend both Lauren and I had...had passed away. We found out from his best friend and he was only 25...I only knew him for a short while. Sure lots of talking on MSN but Lauren and I only met him in person once, but he was one of those people who you can't help but call your friends even if you hang with them for one day. If any of my friends reading this are wondering why they haven't heard of him before it was because while he was a really good person, I have a lot of friends and acquaintances so it's sometimes difficult to talk about all of them and since he didn't go to Kings or Western like most of my friends, he went to Fanshawe, so I never really had to bring him up. However, I'm still pretty sad about this as this has been the first friend I've ever really lost permanently. Not someone who just drifted away because of going to different schools or just different interests, but one I'm never actually going to see again.

Sean

I Am Changing

So I'm going to try and change it up today. I am actually kinda tired of using the same thing over and over again. Yes I got up at 1PM like usual however I'm not going to give you a chronological detailed post about my whole day.

Learning about Clinical Psychology (my first class of the day) is definitely interesting, especially when our guest speaker arrived. We got to hear about what she does for a living, which included helping teens who are going through psychological issues including both suicide and even hearing voices in one's head. I found her an extremely interesting guest speaker and definitely wouldn't have passed that class up.

For Vocal Music class I got a chance to sing my solo, just 8 measures, and then listened to other people. Many people, including myself, need work, though some more than others but not trying to be rude. I've had ten years of professional singing training so hopefully that entitles me to critiquing without sounding like a jerk. I then found my partner, Jessica, for the ensemble piece we have to do from class. I suggested True Colours though we may do something from musical theatre which could just be as good. We even joked about doing a duet of Popular from the Broadway smash hit, Wicked. :P

As for autism today, it was a matter that I swear I thought I was bothering the girl I sat next to in music class as it seemed like I was annoying her. Hopefully not, but yeah that was the only thing :P

Have a great night everyone, and I hope you liked the format of this post.

Sean

Gimme a Break

Hey Everyone!

So I woke up today around 1PM and did my usual prepping for the day. At 4:10PM I headed up to main campus for a music lesson, and while I was early, I got the chance to practice with my accompanist.

Following this I headed back to Kings for my Speech class, starting with my classic rhetoric test. It was quite a short lasting test and I finished in twenty minutes because it was basically based on the sheet we had been given so it was mainly a memorizing sort of test.

During speech class, we finished the monologues with me finding out I got 90% on my monologue last week! We also then talked about our next speeches which were going to be persuasive speeches. We then told some speeches to get people emotionally invested, but they were so depressing that it just drained my energy from me...

I then went over to Lauren's for a bit and just chatted about some things. And then headed home where I am now.

Autism-wise I think the only thing that happened was I let the influence of television and internet keep my brain over-stimulated. Hence I got to bed at 5AM which is why I'm so tired right now.

But anyway,
Night all!
Sean

Hold Your Dreams, Don't Ever Let It Go

Hey Everyone!

So I got up at 9AM and had my usual shower. Following said shower, I got ready to head to London as I had a LOT to do today.

At 10:30 my parents took me to London and at 12PM I had my Acting workshop. We learned a lot about facial and body expressions. We also learned about pretending to have an emotion we didn't have, such as insincerity which I tend to overplay it a little...

After the workshop, I had practice for Purple Shorts. This one went till five o' clock because we got locked out of the room for around an hour or so. I think I'm getting there but I need to still work on being off-book and not over expressive.

Once practice was done I headed to Students council at 6:30PM. While there was ONE specific motion I wanted revoked I won't really know how that went since I left early.

After council, I headed home and waited for Desperate Housewives, however turns out it was a repeat because of football tonight.

Autism-wise, I got worked up because it was such a long day. It took quite a bit of time for me to calm down because I had so much stimulation during the day.

That's all for tonight!
Sean

This is What Dreams Are Made Of

Hey Everyone!

Okay so what happened today...hmm. I woke up at 11AM and headed to the shower as usual and then headed out at 12PM to pick up Chris. I took him to Wendy's again, and then we headed to the mall. While there I got our movie tickets to The Tooth Fairy while he went to the bookstore to look around. When I went to get him, as usual I found him in the baby/toddler/children books section. (We're talking Dora the Explorer, and the ten page cartoon books of different movies). So then I took him with me when he was finished back to the theatre and we went in to see The Tooth Fairy.

The movie was actually really good, and while the critics hated it, if you have kids I'd definitely take them to see it, and you might even like it too. Myself, I love movies like that so I didn't mind one bit seeing it.

After the movie I took Chris to Rogers to drop off the movies I rented, and then took him home. I then headed up to Scotiabank to do some financial business and yeah, turns out they're closed on Saturdays unlike TD Canada Trust. (And no, it wasn't after hours, they're actually closed Saturdays -_-).

ANYWAY, I headed home and watched television, played Kingdom Hearts 2, and now I'm watching Ice Princess :P. I also found out I got the position of Website Commissioner on Students Council!

That's all for tonight!
Sean

Scotty Doesn't Know, so Don't Tell Scotty!

Hey Everyone!

Short day today for the blog so everyone knows. I woke up at 1PM though I wound up sleeping actually till 2PM. I had my usual shower and then headed downstairs to watch television until close to 4PM.

I picked up Chris at 4PM and headed to Wendy's with Chris. We then went to Pinafore Park, then followed it by going to my house to watch FAME.

After work, I headed home to have dinner (Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes), and played Avatar The Game. I have to say, for such a fantastic movie, they created quite a horrible game. You wind up dying in a battle with a soldier just because of the guns, its pretty pathetic you can die so easily in around five seconds. Now here I am, watching Eurotrip.

Autism-wise, the only thing that really happened was my disruption of sleep today. My brain stayed active till around 5am and as a result couldn't relax so that I could get to sleep. Obviously it was unfortunate because it just sucks not being able to get to sleep. The only good thing, was that I didn't have to get up until around 2. It sucks though because tomorrow I need to be up for 12PM (meaning 10AM wake up) as I'm taking Chris to see The Tooth Fairy.

Night all!
Sean

PS: Oh and unfortunately I still don't know yet if I got Students Council yet so I'm still waiting....

Striving for Greatness

Hey All!

So I woke up at about 11:30AM as I had an interview for the King's Students Council to be their Speaker (the one who runs the meetings). I headed to King's at 1PM for my interview and I really think I did a great job. I made my points, I was conservative in my explanations, but I made a few jokes when needed. I don't know if I definitely will get it as I've tried before and didn't get in, for good reasons I'm sure, but I just can't stop. I never stop because of how much council means to me and how much each position I try out for means to me. Some people may question why I keep trying again, or say that I randomly choose positions to run for, but the fact is I only choose positions I want to be in. If I didn't care as much I would of run for something like Environmental Coordinator (not that I don't care for the environment, I just wouldn't really be in the position for the position itself). So here's hoping it works out.

After the interview I grabbed some lunch and headed home for a bit until my class at 3:30PM. It was a relatively boring class that even Lauren found dull and she generally pays attention but even she found it difficult so that's saying something....

After class my parents picked me up and we went to Red Lobster for dinner, but wound up only getting a small amount of food because they have upped their costs way too high. It's freaking ridiculous that the prices are THAT high.

My parents and I then headed home and I went out and rented Post Grad, which was just okay, The Invention of Lying (which if you look back a few months you'll know it's a funny movie), and Avatar: The Game. Now here I am, getting ready for bed.

Autism-wise, because my day was such a running around sort of day, my brain was over-stimulated and as a result I kind of wound up a bit more hyper than I should of. I just was talking what seemed like a mile a minute, but I guess what else can I say?

That's basically everything for today.
Night Everyone!
Sean

Save the Last Dance For Me

Hey Everyone!

So I woke up at 1PM and just basically stayed in my bed for a bit and my Mom and I talked briefly just about when we're having dinner tomorrow. And also about how I had succumbed and cleaned my friend's dishes even though I didn't really want to.

I then headed over to Kings because I needed to talk to my Disability Counselor to rebook another exam because I had had problems with the website once again. I've figured it out now, but I definitely had no clue about why it didn't work yesterday.

After this I headed to Main to talk with a counselor about some personal business that I'd rather not talk about on here if that's okay.

I then headed to the mall to do some grocery shopping and then came home. I headed to class at 5:30PM and just listened to the lecture and afterwords headed home. I watched American Idol. And I'm watching Toddlers and Tiaras right now and I just don't understand what the heck this show is. I mean the mothers put WAY too much pressure on their kids...it's ridiculous...

Autism-wise, I think really only thing that happened was that I was a bit wired after watching Idol so when I talked to Mom, I was a little more excited than I should of been.

That's all for today!
Sean

I'm Going In For the Kill, I'm Going In For the Thrill

Hey Everyone!

So I woke up at 1PM and talked to my Mom about a certain friend of mine who was not exactly being the cleanest of people. It was the same friend who's place I stayed at, and my friend expected me to clean up her dishes which was ridiculous. I did eventually clean her dishes, just because I could not bother with it anymore.

After this talk I headed to class at 3:30PM for Clinical Psychology. We learned about Clinical Diagnosis, and then I headed to the music library because I needed to figure out my second and third solos for my Foundations in Singing course. I knew I was doing House of the Rising Sun for my first course. My second solo I put down was Danny Boy but I can of course change it. As for the final solo, it can be a song from a film or musical theatre or anything similar to that. So I got music from Wicked, one that has many contemporary songs, and one with many Broadway pieces. Now I just need to pick one that's in my range.

At 7PM I headed to my vocal class and we just learned about how to prevent performance anxiety, effective practice methods, and breathing techniques. I found it really excellent because it would just really help me in my singing even more than where it is now.

After class I headed back to my friend's place and cleaned the dishes as I said, though it sure took forever but almost was a bit therapeutic in a way.

Once I finished that, now I'm going to bed.

Night all!
Sean

The Holiday

Hey Everyone!

So I woke up around 1PM and watched MadTV. I then headed to my shower and did the usual stuff. I then headed over to Student Services at Kings College to meet with my SSD counselor to book my quiz next Monday. Once that was done I then headed downstairs and got some food and then headed home.

Around 6PM I headed over to Lauren's so that we could head to Speech class. When at speech I sang Don't Stop Believing as my monologue and people loved it. They told me I had guts, my professor said I had perfect pitch and great intonation which I was glad to hear, and just was happy to hear a lot of people liked it. I think some of the cocky guys in the class who thought they were too good for school and for the class, seemed to have this look in their eyes like they were thinking "what a dork" but it's not like it matters. I love singing, and interestingly enough Lauren and a few people said that the whole social awkwardness of my Aspergers just disappears when I sing, and it's like it allows me to become someone else just like in acting.

Lauren and my other good friend in the class John also did really well with their speeches. Lauren, despite being nervous, was amazing in her speech from The Holiday, and she sounded exactly like Kate Winslett which was who's character she was speaking as. While John did a speech that was the opposite of his past speeches, it was a more serious monologue, but it still was fantastic.

After this I headed to Lauren's for a bit till I started feeling sick because my headache and sinus infection just started getting worse. I headed home and took a Tylenol, and now I'm home.

That's all for tonight!
Sean