Swimming with the Fish While Preparing for Tests

On the Saturday before we left, I mowed my neighbor's, the Well's, front and back yard. Before I went to school the next day, I went to Hen House to tell them I would be available to work starting May 4. I also got some lollipops and Tension Tamer tea to take with me to school. Mom also gave me dried fruit bars and some apricots. I went back with Jack in my mom's car. After I got back I went to the library and returned my books on screenwriting that I checked out. The next day I also made an appointment to take my next History exam, which would be on April 2, in the Testing Center at 1:00.

The next day, several THRIVE students and mentors went to Planet Sub, where Julie, a second-year THRIVE student with Down syndrome, does her internship. Her mom and sister were in Warrensburg visiting her and her mom bought us lunch. As we sat down at the table, I noticed the collar of Julie's work shirt was up and I walked over and put it down. Julie beamed.

"Thanks, Ben," she said.

During that time I started telling myself after each bite of my sandwich to put it down. Then before I picked it up, I tried to be mindful of my desire to take another bite. I did the same thing with my drink.

The next day I got six names of people who would be interested being in the UCM Autism Spectrum Support Group. The next day I got Tyler's name and Hillary made slushies for people who wanted them.  She, Kayla, Amanda, Philip and I went outside and drank them.

On Friday I went to an event hosted by an honors theater fraternity called Oh, the Drama, which the THRIVE students were invited to and the mentors required us to go. We sat in a circle and said our names, where we were from, what year we were in and an interesting fact about ourselves. I said I was into making films.

We then got up and did some physical exercises. Then we played a game where we stood in a circle and each person said one word to create a story. After that we were given a card with a type of job–mine was a hairdresser–and we got up on stage and tried to imitate a person doing that job with just our movement and people had to guess what we were doing. At the end we partnered with someone and read lines from a script that we all used for each of our scenes and we had to tell our story with our voice since the lines had no content. Emily and I played a couple lost in the desert.

After going to Oh, the Drama, I went into town and bought some red embroidery floss, which I had almost ran out of and needed to make my friendship bracelets. That night I also went to Hasting's and saw book called Never Be Lied to Again: How to Get the Truth Out of Any Conservation or Situation in Five Minutes or Less. The next day went down to Hasting's and bought the book.  When I got back, I ate some Indian butter chicken and rice which Kriti made for the THRIVE students.

On Monday I prepared for my next History exam. I reminded myself to be in the present by saying things like, “Looking over my notes, I am not trying to pass the exam.” Finally I went down to the Testing Center and took and took the exam. After Tuesdays Workplace and Community Skills class, I went down to the library to type a paper for that class which was on who we would like or roommate or next year to be, although Jessica, the teacher, said that nothing was certain. I wrote my paper and said I would prefer my roommate to be Jack. On Thursday, I bought several UCM folders and bookmarks with my THIVE points during Personal Math class. There was no Workplace and Community Skills class so I spent that time in the cafeteria typing a story for my Creative Writing class.