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 :)

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

I Wonder...

Hey Everyone,

So I've been thinking these days, why do I write in this blog? I think to me it's a way for me to express how I'm feeling each day and the struggles I go through. Over the past seven months, you've seen me go from having the structure in which I told you all what I did at each hour and for how long and as you all know, it was boring and basically a snooze fest to read. However, upon bringing my blog over to Salon.com, I was challenged by the lovely people at Salon to break free of the constraints of my structured writing and just make the sky the limit. So that's what I did.

Now, because I've broken free, I can express whatever I'm feeling. Disappointment, happiness, boredom, anger (which I rarely express :P), or anything else on the rainbow of emotions. But one thing I've come to realize and understand is that I'm actually quite good at this writing thing. Thanks to a certain writer on Salon, my blog was submitted as an editor's pick, and he even showcased me on his own blog which I am deeply appreciative for. I also have picked up over 2,250 views on Blogspot, and over 1800 views on Salon, so in total, over 4000 views. I truly am thankful for my faithful readers because without you, there would be no reason to continue my blogging. I hope you will see me through the next several months of blogging as I plan to end this blog when I reach a year of posts on Salon, which should fall around January. This means to my readers on Blogspot that you still get me for another 8 months, which is four more than I was originally planning as I had intentionally planned for just a year on Blogspot (which would have finished in September). However, since I couldn't let myself just stop after only 8 months on Salon, I have decided to end this blog on January 3, 2011. I just felt I needed to insert these two paragraphs so you know. And yes, I do realize I repeated myself about continuing the blog twice :P.

My day itself was relatively uneventful. I worked with Chris as always, which we basically just finished up Night at the Museum and moved on to watching Bewitched (the Nicole Kidman film). It's kind of funny that I like this film, especially since the connection between Kidman and Ferrell is absolutely atrocious and it's no wonder they won a Razzie award for worst film couple the year this was released (I think it was 2006 or 07?). But oddly enough, I still enjoy it just because it's that bad, and also because I love both Nicole Kidman and Kristin Chenowith who co-stars in this movie. By the way, if someone ever tells you they're a witch, don't EVER tell them in response you're a "clippers fan". Just saying :P

Anyway, aside from that it was a pretty laid back day. I had some dinner, played some Assassin's Creed and yeah, that's about it. The autism thing was my repeating above, basically me lingering on a topic, and therefore going around in circles.

That's all folks!
Sean

Exam Time

Hey Everyone,

This is for yesterday. Everything went okay, I had my exam in I/O Psychology and I kind of feel bad though because I thought I would've been fine with the exam, but sadly I found out today I got 65% in the exam despite thinking it would've actually wound up higher than 70. But oh well is really all I can say.

As for the rest of the day, I just spent it studying for Clinical Psychology which was so boring it wasn't even funny. I also though had a meeting of KP Executive and I felt it went extremely well, full of laughs and negotiations and just all around goodness.

Lauren and I headed up to Christina's to get some food and then headed back. I then dozed off from around 10:30 till midnight, watched South Park, and then wound up falling back asleep AGAIN until 3:30. I then studied a little more and headed to bed at 5AM till 8.

So that's all for tonight. Autism wise, I just laughed at a comment in the meeting because of an inside joke between Lauren and I. It was....awkward slightly. I don't know HOW it's autistic, but I think it was.

That's all,
Sean

Study Time!

Hey Everyone!

Okay so after today, sooooo not happy about exams but at the same time I might be more ready than I thought I would be if I hadn't done it. Today was completely just studying in the library with Lauren and Matt for tomorrow morning's exam. We just went through all the material in only 7 1/2 hours in the library. I also found studying in the library a heck of a lot easier than at home because stupid television isn't right there in the way (thought technically it's my fault that I watch television sometimes).

Anyway, that really is all that happened today. Another successful day without autism getting in the way!

Thanks Everyone and sorry for such a boring and short post.
Sean

Turnover...the "best" part of Council

Hello Everyone!

So today was Council Turnover where we switch from the old Students Council to the new one. It was a relatively normal meeting. We discussed the ending of the council, passed some motions, and had brunch at the Mandarin buffet which is probably what about Turnover I look forward to the most. It was a very long meeting though, going from 10AM until past 6:30PM and was still going on when I left at 6:30. I have to admit, there is one aspect that I just disliked about council. If you recall, I went for VP Operations whose duties include managing the policy committee, and I think one reason I didn't get it was because of not having experience with Policy Committee. The problem I'm talking about is because I once again did not get elected to Policy Committee. So I'm talking about this because it is a bit of hypocrisy. They tell me inadvertently that I need the experience on Policy Committee since this is basically the only experience I DON'T have...since I've been with council going on four years now, and 9 years altogether, and yet they don't vote for me to be on it. It seems that this happens every time though so I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it.

I'm not saying the three who got on it won't do a good job, I know they will, but it's just annoying that I have the most experience on council and working WITH the VP Operations, and yet, still nothing. But if I ever run for that again (I doubt I will, I'm just mentioning) then I will make note to them that they did not elect me into the committee so if I don't have that experience, it is because they made that happen, not me. The good thing though is apparently I got a relatively good amount of votes though so at least I still got votes. I apologize if any council members read this and it offends you. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, just stating my personal opinion that's all.

After council, and I must apologize for the rant, I just needed to say that. Anyway, after council was the final improv show of King's Players. It was a lot of fun and now we're here. I would have gone more into the improv show longer but that's basically all I'm saying.

Autism-wise, I suppose the thing that happened was my rant about council. I've been on about it most of the night and just can't leave it. Maybe I will at some point, but for now just can't get off it.

That's all tonight.
Sean

I See Trees of Green...no wait...SNOW?!

Hey Everyone!

So interesting news, it's spring now and yet it's snowing out annoyingly. It was a normal day, and I headed back home with my parents around 12 noon. I was so tired though that when I did get home, I wound up sleeping for five hours.. Though I did get woken up twice, once at three and another at four because my nephew Mason had come over. Funny thing is, whenever my mom brings him in to say "hi" (since he can't really talk yet, that's why I use the quotations) he began getting frightened. I think he just doesn't like how I look when sleeping or half-awake, so bedhead and such. It's quite funny in my opinion.

Work was fine, I took Chris to a dance that was held by Community Living Elgin. He didn't dance or anything but he just wanted to go for some reason. I think this was where the autism sort of...came up, because I always got worried if like he was communicating with a girl because he kind of acts a little odd around girls, because he almost acts inappropriately around them. It's not his fault of course, just how his mind works and same with my being wary, it's how my mind works.

Anyway, that's all tonight!
Sean

SCAVENGER HUNT!

Hey Everyone!

Today was so much fun it wasn't even funny...wait that's maybe a bit of an oxymoron but whatever. Anyway to begin with, unfortunately my whole interview with Miss World Canada contestant Andrea Sarevec didn't happen because she never showed up...how unprofessional, especially when the competition is also for charity and she was suppose to be here promoting said charity. Anyway, I did however get to interview people from the Western Spur club which basically was a combo of philanthropy, sports, etc.

Once that was done I got some time back at home to study for my exam and then lost a $1.80 from the library because their damn printers were out of change! And what's more I lost $5.00 later in the day for what I'll explain in the next paragraph.

Around 5PM it was time for the (loosely affiliated) King's Players Scavenger Hunt. This consisted of things we had to do from proposing to someone in public, to doing the Macarena, to telling truths about ourselves, to rolling down UC Hill. Plain and simply, it was a blast. And for the first time in a long time, I won something, my team won the "competition". So I was thrilled. Following this lovely experience, we watched the videos of our journeys, and then the Making of Looking Glass Land (the play we put on in February). It was a great time and though we didn't finish till about 2:30, it was just a thrill. So I have to say I can't wait for the production next year!

Hope everyone had a great day! And no autism today, because I really just want to explain how much fun and not say what brought the day down possibly because nothing did. It was just an amazing time!

Night everyone!
Sean

Falling Asleep

Hey Everyone!

So I'm going to make this quick since I've been slowly falling asleep during the day. It was a relatively easy day, since I had no classes or anything like that. I headed up to Main however as I had to pick up a DVD of my Purple Shorts production and then do my self-evaluation of my final solo which wasn't SO bad. I then headed back to King's and got back home.

I didn't really do TOO much aside from study for my classes, finish my Ethics Proposal and that was basically it. Oh and I get to interview a girl who is in the top 10 of Miss World Canada tomorrow around noon which I think is great. It's my first interview with TV Western and I'm quite happy since TV Western is shutting down so I get one of the last interviews!

Autism-wise, I stayed up way too late. I just can't really think of anything else as my brains practically dead :P.

Night everyone!
Sean

How Can I Live Without You?

Hey Everyone!

So how was my Tuesday you might ask? Well it wasn't that bad. I had my usual classes and headed up to Talbot College close to music class. Since Emily, the class accompanist, had to cancel my practice on Monday, I had my practice just before class. Unfortunately when I got to class I found out that I unfortunate was going to go third last which of course sucked since it meant I had to wait forever to go. I sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables, and I thought it went quite well minus me missing a line simply because the verse and the one after it were so similar.

Following music class, I just headed home since I still had to study for my exams next week. That really is everything to say :)

Autism-wise, I think all that happened really was maybe lingering on some topics more than needed? I think that was it.

That's all folks!
Sean

We're Closed!

Hey Everyone!

So wonderful day today in my opinion. I woke up and was able to finish the slideshow to go with my final speech :). I got to London around 3:30 and headed over to the music building as I was to have rehearsal with Emily (my accompanist) for my final solo. However, when I got there I found out that the rehearsal was canceled as she had an engagement to play for, which means my practice with her will be tomorrow, thirty minutes before class. You can probably guess, I'm a little frustrated by this.

I walked back to the variety store to get milk and some food for dinners this week, and then headed back home. I transferred the files onto my zip drive for class and headed to said class.

Speech went amazingly. My speech on how media interprets love and how we rely on it, was according to my friends my best speech in the entire year which I am SO thrilled to hear. Here's hoping I do really well on it!

Finally myself, John, Marlene and our Professor all headed to Christina's for dinner to celebrate (and mourn :P) the last class of the year. Unfortunately it was closed for Easter, so then we headed to the Wave, the partially classy restaurant in the University Community Center, but IT was closed too! So finally we just headed to the Spoke pub downstairs (the Wave is on the second floor) and had dinner there. We had a great time talking about where we see our futures, King's Players direction, and just a multitude of topics. It was great just sitting down and chatting with our Professor for a long time.

Then John just took me home and here I am.

Autistic-wise I think only time it "sprung up" was me just doing my whole aggravation when I couldn't finish my sentence because I was being interrupted.

That's all folks!
Sean

Can I Have This Dance?

Happy Easter Everyone!

So for today, I have to say it wasn't the most eventful Easter but it wasn't bad or anything. I woke up to find my aunt and grandfather at my house so obviously had to quickly take my shower. I played GOW III again but for only about 20 minutes, definitely the shortest amount of time I've ever played a game :P.

I took Chris to Wendy's again, but the only thing I can say is it's kind of unfortunate that despite both his parents and my trying to teach him proper manners, he still eats with his mouth wide open. No one at the restaurants we visit ever complains, but I'm sure some wonder why he's opening his mouth...

After this I wrote my speech for class. It's my final speech and I'm doing it about love and it's image through media, including literature and television/film.

Oh and autistic-wise, the only thing that happened was when I unfortunately found out I didn't get the co-host position, but they did ask me to come to an info meeting to stay involved, I told my Mom interrupting her conversation with my aunt and grandfather which really wasn't the best idea...but it's just wired into me. I stupidly always don't think, hey my parents are on the phone or talking to someone, don't interrupt. Instead I just go in and talk, yet I don't know why.

So that's all for tonight!

Sean

TGIF & Saturday

Hey Everyone,

I thought I had posted yesterday but I guess I forgot too...oops. My Friday was fine, starting with me sleeping in and my Dad had to wake me up as a result having come to pick me up from my friend's place. That was embarrassing in my opinion, because my roommate was there.

I thankfully headed back to St. Thomas and played God of War 3 up until I had to head off to work where I went to Wendy's followed by home to watch the rest of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 that we had started two weeks ago. It was a dead zone in St. Thomas because of Good Friday and there really wasn't many cars around at all so it was quite easy and safe driving as a result.

The night just concluded with more God of War 3.

Today I got to see How to Train Your Dragon and it was SUCH an awesome movie! I really suggest everyone go see it because it really is a movie for anyone. Rotten Tomatoes.com even gave it a 98% which beat out even Avatar! So there you go, it's great. I also have been working on my ethics proposal for Research Methods as it's my final assignment due Thursday.

I'll talk to you all tomorrow!
Sean

Believe in Yourself

Hey Everyone!
So Thursday was a good day for sure. I definitely had a lot of fun because of two main reasons.

The first is because I had my audition to be on the Big Purple Couch (the official talk show of the University Students Council at my school) as a co-host and I thought it went so much better than last year. Last year I stumbled a bit, wasn't sure what to say, and was nervous quite a bit. THIS year however I had so much fun with it. I went up there and just chatted with the host Ali as though I'd known her for a while and actually got to know her more through the conversation. I don't know yet if I'll actually get the position as there were 17 people trying out including me and that's going to be difficult to decide from but I do hope mine was one of the top choices :P.

The other reason that I had fun but also experienced a bit of sadness was because I had my first executive council meeting of King's Players (myself having been made Vice-President of Membership Affairs and Attendance) which went quite well. We went over the agenda which I thought was very well laid out and I'm now just absolutely thrilled about King's Players next year. We also had our final King's Players meeting of this year which is the sad part because it means I have to wait five months before I get to return to improv :(. It was still a lot of fun, and the visit to Christina's Pub once more was fun as always. I'm going to miss it a lot but at least we still have the scavenger hunt next week which will go okay I think unfortunately for us our weather drops down to 9 degrees Celsius, whereas today it was 20 degrees Celsius so it's going to be unfortunate that the temperature chooses that night to drop. But at least it's not in the negative numbers or even low single digits.

Autistic-wise I think the only thing that might have happened was me doing my whole getting aggravated when I'm trying to say something and the person who is talking keeps talking and to me I'm sitting there thinking "LET ME TALK!". But I suppose that's how it goes.

Night Everyone! Also the post for Friday I won't be able to write until later because well I'm going to bed (it's actually Saturday early morning right now as I write this :P)
Sean

It's Almost Over!!!

Hey Everyone!

So I am proud to say that my music test has been completed and I think I did fairly well at it! What's more, I only have two more assignments left. First I have to get my manuscript speech finished, and then have my Ethics Proposal, the final assignment for my Research Methods class due on the Wednesday.

My day was pretty uneventful because all I did was see Valentine's Day again which I must say was just as funny the second time around as it was the first time. I have to say though, I really wish there was a way for me to get into acting though. I love movies so much, but what's more, I love acting a hundred or thousand times more. Obviously I'm in University to get a degree so I have a fall back, but really I couldn't see myself doing anything but acting if I had the chance, it just means that much to me. It brings a joy to my life I didn't even think possible, and I just wish it were easier to get into the business so I could have that joy every day.

Anyway, autism-wise I don't think much happened except stressing more than I should have about my music test. But I suppose that's life and you just have to live with it.

Thank-you once again people for reading my blog. I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it so much and coming back. Especially my readers from Massachusetts and other areas of the States and Canada and anywhere else people are reading from!

Night Everyone!
Sean

And So It Goes

Hey Everyone!

So good news, my ensemble piece is FINALLY over! I can finally put that behind me and only worry about my music test at 9AM tomorrow morning...which should be fun. Thankfully that will be over soon and I can return to being a normal, non-stressed student....at least until exams start.

Anyway aside from the ensemble, the day went pretty easy. I didn't really have many, if any problems whatsoever aside from thinking my harmony was absolutely horrid in the ensemble but at least like I said, it's over.

Autism-wise, only thing that happened was I kept apologizing consistently to my ensemble partner. I know this may seem not to be an autism type thing, but it was because I kept doing it over and over even when my partner said it was fine.

Anyway,
Night Everyone!
Sean

We Break the Dawn

Hey Everyone!

Busy, busy day compared to yesterday. Had to head over to King's for my interview for Website Commissioner for the KUCSC, then had to head to main for music ensemble practice, and then back to King's for class. The ensemble practice went find in my opinion, I'm getting better and better at harmony as time goes by, and I think I should be ready for the performance in class tomorrow. I just hope it works out find.

As for Speech class, it was basically just more of the class doing their manuscripts. This consisted of course of speeches ranging from Humanitarian Intervention, to Feminism, to Star Trek. It definitely was an interesting group of speeches and we're going to have so many to do in our final class next week since there are at least 12 more speeches to go, mine being one of them which I plan to do on love. Sex and the City has definitely given me an interesting look into love so I figure why not give it a shot?

Lauren, John and I headed to Christina's after, where we just chatted about King's Players some more and HOPEFULLY I'll be getting a position on the VP Council for KP because I'd love to be "on the front lines" :P. During this, once again I felt like I had to interrupt in certain parts of the conversation or got very frustrated when I couldn't finish my sentence. I think this is part of my autism, because something in my brain basically tells me to get quite frustrated when I can't finish what I'm in the middle of saying.

That's all for tonight!
Sean

Looooooooong Night

Hey Everyone!

So what a long long night. The day went forever too but that was basically just watching television. But the night was Students Council and I SWEAR it went on forever, from 6:30 until I left at midnight even though it was STILL going on when I left. There was just so many debates happening from the OC Don policies, Regis Staff policies, and fifty other million motions (really it was only ten but I'm just saying). It was absolutely ridiculous frankly, because frankly everyone just kept arguing about this and that, and I realize it's great we have freedom of speech, but it can get over the top, and I felt it did tonight.

Aside from that factor, the day was pretty much dull. Autism-wise it was just a case of the extremely late night I had from the stimulation I had from the TV. I realize this seems to be happening a lot but that's just the case this weekend. Not much has happened socially hence why I was unable to tell you any certain type of autistic quirk.

That's all for tonight!
Sean

Stop Right Now, Thank-You Very Much

Hey Everyone!

So yesterday was a relatively dull day. I slept until 3PM and basically just got up and headed out around 5:45 to head out to Grad Ball as I had to be event staff for it. That too was relatively dull but at least I got to dance to some of the songs. There was a slight mishap where a grad got forcibly removed from the dance but I won't go into that simply for privacy and legal reasons. (I don't know if personally expressing my opinions of how it happened would get me in trouble, but I still feel like in this case I shouldn't go on about it.)

I got home around midnight and have just been getting ready for my Music Test on Wednesday which is going to be soooooo much fun.

Autism-wise I think it was over-stimulation from the television last night that made me take so long to get to bed, especially after the movie night with Lauren, so I was basically wired for another two hours.

But I suppose that's everything for today. Sorry for the relatively boring post!
Night all!
Sean

You've Got a Friend in Me

Hey Everyone!

Okay so it was a fun day today I have to say. To begin with I had practice again for my ensemble and it is getting closer and closer to being good. I just wish my voice didn't sound so HORRIBLE in the morning, it would be a lot better. But I digress, luckily my ensemble is happening in the evening rather than the morning :P.

I quickly had to run to the mall too to deposit a cheque and then headed back to my house before heading out to dinner with Lauren. I actually really got past one of my autistic things today, being the texture and problem with food. I wound up actually having haddock pan-seared in butter, which I would normally never have and it was good. I am just really happy I ate healthy and also got through one of my ticks. But I suppose that's just the case.

Lauren and I then headed home and watched The Blind Side, and followed it by Grease, which I ACTUALLY had never seen the full movie all the way through no interruptions and man it was good :).

That's all for tonight though!
Sean