rewinding

Okay, school started three weeks ago, and just now I'm settling into a nice mellow time schedule, getting caught up on things and thinking up some fun and useful projects.  This blog, too, while I've been updating pretty regularly, there are things going on behind the scenes that needed some cleanupness / updateness.

Pop quiz:  I just now changed something on my profile.  Anyone?  Anyone know what it is?  Of course not!  You'd never get it so don't even try.  Wolfgang went from 15 years old to 16.  That happened in July, but let's pretend it just happened and do the token birthday baby pic:

Aw, so cute, happy birthday Wolfgang, love love love, smooch smooch smooch, blah blah blah.  Okay, caught up on that tidbit...

He hasn't earned his driver's license yet, but is working on it and so wants to drive everywhere.  Add to that the fact that Chaco just recently  got his license and wants to drive everywhere.  Add to that the fact that I prefer to not take the cars anywhere, and tensions are mounting, but tolerable.

My work situation has also changed a bit.  I'm still moonlighting as an X-Treme crossing guard for the neighborhood elementary school, but I'm no longer a teacher's aid there.  I decided to resign that position over the summer.  Truth is, it was difficult for me to go from teaching grad students to being a K-5 teacher's aid.  I don't mean to sound snotty about that, but it truly was a difficult transition.  Not just the education level, but also going from private teaching to public - big differences there. There are plenty of qualified people looking for work these days, I'm sure the school will fill the yet-to-be-filled position.  I left while we're all still friends :D.

And now I'm back to being a tutor/teacher/coach for "WiseAss Tutoring" (not their real name, but kinda close...).  I like it. 

Okay, that's good enough for bringing things up to date.  The backyard is a mess, some walls need painting, and we need a new roof, but posting this gives me a fictitious impact of being productive. 

booked

I was contemplating my faceb**k friend list.  I'd say it breaks down to three main categories:  People I Grew Up With, People I've Worked or Gone to School With, and People I've Met Through Blogging.

Of that last group, I count some close friends, and I've never even met them personally!  Allow me to feature one here today.

It's been a while since I've blogged anything about the Asperger Syndrome world, but yes, we still happily live there.

A few years ago, probably not long after Magnum was diagnosed (i.e. we got a name for his weirdness), I met a fellow Asperger wife and blogger, Maureen.  And look at her now!  She's all growed up and recently published a book!

  Loving the Tasmanian Devil - Reflections on Marriage and Asperger Syndrome
  ... which I recently bought and have begun reading.

A few years ago, as I surfed around, I found plenty of resources.  Much of it was meant for parents of Asperger kids.  There were a few dry and clinical sites for spouses and adults.  And there were a few spousal voices that were  just  ongoing b*tch sessions (yes, typically it's the wife who is the non-Asperger spouse), often by ex-wives or wannabe ex-wives. 

This was not helpful to me.

Then one day, I don't remember how exactly, Maureen and I cyber-bumped into each other.  It was probably at some time when she or I was b*tching about/laughing at/ enjoying our respective Asperger husbands online and we noticed a kinship.

To my delight, she wasn't wallowing in self-pity like others' blogs I'd read.  She was soldiering on, staying with her Asperger husband,  raising her three boys (Kinship?  Remember?) , living on a dairy farm, and blogging with an intelligence mixed with a good good dose of humor sense. 

It was like a breath of fresh air after a traffic jam.

And now I'm reading her book.  It's sitting right her next to me as I type.  My name is even mentioned, ever so briefly, but to me it makes me feel special. 

She dedicates the book to her husband, who as he reminds her, is responsible for her writing the book in the first place. 

So I can thank Magnum who, in his weirdness, introduced me to Maureen.
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mysterious

It's a beaver!  It's a duck!  It's Illustration Friday on Saturday!  This week's prompt is "mysterious", so naturally I drew a platypus.

I mean, come on.  How did this creature even happen?  It lays eggs, yet it nurses its babies.  It has webbed feet and fur. Is it mammal?  Is it bird??  Such a mystery!

Gosh, I bet Illustration Friday is going to be just chock full of platypuses (platypi?) this week!  It's the universal question!

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wet clean up

A couple of days ago, I was grocery shopping.  The cashier cried.

No, she really cried.  It was rather awkward. 

Now, this is the grocery store I typically go to.  I'm not on a first name basis with this cashier or anything, but I've certainly seen her there before, and I think it's safe to say she could pick me out of a line-up quite readily.  She's good - efficient, competent, seems to be well-liked by co-workers.  She also has a bit of a tough look about her.  She's no butch, but suffice to say that if  we were in a bar fight, I'd rather she was on my side than the other.

But, I also sense that she's not the type to hide her emotions which makes the crying thing not all that strange, but still a little strange.  I was just there at the ready with my credit card as she was scanning my purchases.  A manager walked by and simply asked the Tough Cashier how much longer her shift was, to which TC replied, "that remains to be seen" with a bit of flair to the nostrils.

This seemed to take the manager a bit aback, but Miss Manager seemed to sense that this was a now-is-not-a-good-time moment.  She simply paused and said, "okay", and walked away, leaving me there with the now watery-eyed Tough Cashier.

The watery-eyes became full-puddled-eyes accompanied by flush-face and a bit of sniffle-nose.  She would briefly compose herself, then the puddles would return.  Never all out bawling, but enough to show that it wasn't allergies.  A friend recently remarked to me how uncomfortable she is when someone cries in front of her.  I thought, it's not such a bad thing, but this was pretty uncomfortable.

What would you do?  I didn't know what to do.  Say something in condolence?  I had no idea what she was upset about.  She just continued about my groceries:  "Want your milk in a bag *sniffle*?", etc...  I thought to ask if she was okay, but then that seemed like  a stupid question.

When it was over, I just smiled, gently took my receipt, and genuinely thanked her for doing her job.  Later that afternoon, a cloudburst broke out just in time for my crossing guard duty. 

I guess it was just a water theme day.
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fish files

From the Learn-Something-New-Every-Day files: 

Apparently one of our goldfish was a bit gassy.  She was having "buoyancy issues".  Ever try swimming while hugging a beachball?  That's what our fish was imitating, to the point where she would totally flip over and float upside down when she tired of fighting it.

Note:  I have no idea whether or not this fish is male or female, but we named "her" Lillie, thus the female pronoun...

Now, none of us had ever seen such a thing and I just figured she had one fin in the toilet, but she just kept on going - for days and days.  Finally, Dr. Wolfgang did a google search and found this to be a common thing with fancy goldfish.  That's probably part of our problem, in the past we've only had unfancy fish.

Anyways, about 3 minutes of research and he learned we should feed her peas.  What? What??  Feed peas to the goldfish?  Yeah, okay whatever.

And heck if it didn't work. 

She was right side up in a few minutes and bottom feeding like the best of 'em.  A few peas in her general direction was all it took to cure the fish farts - or lack thereof.

Is there such a remedy for the dog?  OTHER  family members?
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disguise

Holy paper and pencils!  It's Illustration Friday again!  This week's prompt is "disguise", and I tried to come up with something clever, but ended up just going with a guy in a costume.

I don't think I've ever drawn a comic book type character.  But I do have a couple of artist/comic book geek friends, and that is ALL they draw.  And Batman is a favorite subject, I think because he's just so dark and mysterious.

So, I chose him for my "guy in a costume", and I'll admit that he was fun to draw. 

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just a flesh wound

Friday night, I was at Urgent Care with Chaco.  It was absolutely terrible.

Gored by a bull?!?  Through the MOUTH!!?  I purposely just loaded a smallish copy of this photo, much larger is nearly too much to bare (click on it at your own risk, and it will get larger.  And if you're really brave/psycho, there's video).

There I was, just minding my own business in the waiting area.  Oh, Chaco was fine by the way.  He just crashed his bicycle on Thursday and was still whining about an achy swollen finger on Friday, so we made the trip.  Not broken, just a bad sprain.

But it was there that I came across this bullfighter photo.  I mean, come on!  Is that the kind of thing to have in the x-ray waiting area?!?   It was on the cover of a sports magazine - an issue highlighting the dangerous side of sports.

I feverishly flipped through the pages to get more of the story.  I learned that this bullfighter actually lived to bullfight another day.  I'm glad he lived, but I wish he would've gone into another line of work.  His poor mother!

Anyway, after some pondering, I thought, maybe it's not such a bad thing to have in the Urgent Care waiting area.  Whatever you're there for, it's most likely not that bad.
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