Some Pesky Room Remodeling

I went to work the next day and got a new Sweet Leaf Tea bottle cap on my two breaks and my lunch break.  After work I got a Vikings: Their Myths and Legends Events bookazine. The next day I went to work and learned a little more about doing ikebana on-line. Apparently, there are three primary vertical lines I guess each representing the hierarchies of the ancient cosmos: heaven, earth, and man. I also realized that the UCM Autism Spectrum Support Group could be a great place for autistic students to tell people about projects and goals of theirs remembering one time in high school when a student told the school at an assembly about his tsumani relief project. I also got a June/July 2013 issue of Saveur magazine after work. The next day while at work I came up with an idea for giving out certain prizes for getting people to sign the Friend of Autism Pledge, one for one person, another for five people, and another for ten people. 

              After work I went to the Pathless Land with my granddad and after I got home, I moved my books from Jamie’s bed into the bedroom in Kate’s old room. The next day I went to art class with Jack and drove back from his house afterwards, realizing I might get use to driving by doing it even when I don’t feel comfortable doing it. After I got home, I went to the bank and deposited my last paycheck, and then I went to Bruce Smith and bought a June/July 2013 issue of Afar magazine, a June/July 2013 issue of National Geographic Traveler, and a July/August 2013 issue of Archaeology magazine. I got home and I emptied my laundry basket and my duffle bag, and I took my pallet paper out of my mom’s car. Then my mom and I went to the airport and picked up Jamie.

              The next day I went to work and on Saturday I was able to see how an episode of Austin and Ally where Austin’s attempt to gain his shy friend Ally recognition by putting her song on the radio backfired and I took it to mean I’m becoming more of a screenwriter. Later I pulled the weeds for my mom for half an hour, and she agreed to pay me $7.50, half an hourly pay for weed-pulling and I worked on my flowers made from straws. I went to work the next day and afterwards I met up with Jamie, Cam, my dad, grandmom, and granddad at BRGR. 

The next Tuesday I got my new THRIVE certificate in the mail and I went to work. During my breaks I took my receipts and turned them into origami hearts in order to recycle them. Afterwards I got Time magazine’s Gettysburg: A Day-to-Day Account of the Greatest Battle of the Civil War. When I got home, I saw some bunnies in our back yard, and I got some pictures of them.  The next day I went to work and made some more origami receipts during my breaks. On my way back I stopped by the library, and I looked at a book on Cape Town and the Garden Route in South Africa where I learned about a museum of South African Jewish history with a section on the Holocaust and several sites associated with slavery. I also checked out the book on Mongolia. When I got home, I read in the book we were reading at the Pathless Land After the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Buddhist author Jack Kornfield about how Buddhist teacher Ajahn Chan said if he acted perfect people would make the mistake of looking for enlightenment outside of themselves and it reminded me of Chogyam Trungpa’s drinking and sexual affairs. I also read a quote by Zen Buddhist teacher Shunryu Suzuki about how there are no enlightened people, just enlightened activity.

I went to Barnes and Noble with my granddad and got a June 2013 issue of The New African, a July 2013 issue of Shambhala Sun, and a Summer 2013 issue of Buddhadharma. I realized that my collection of Buddhadharma and Shambhala Sun magazines could help me feel close to the teachings of Shambhala Buddhism and I went to the Pathless Land with my granddad. I did the dedication of merit for them at the end and on the way to Roasterie, I read about a book in Shambhala Sun called No Ordinary Apple: A Story of Mindful Eating which I realized could help me eat slower. We went to Roasterie Coffee. The next day I drove to my art class with Jack adding twenty more minutes to my time and drove back adding another twenty minutes. I drove to an art show where Donna’s work was displayed adding forty more minutes and back adding another forty minutes.

The next day I worked on my travel plans to Mongolia and I packed for my dad’s. I drove my mom to PetCo, a woman’s house, and then Hen House adding twenty more minutes to my driving time. After work I went to my dad’s, and I made some origami hearts from receipts. When I got back, I learned on my Lonely Planet book on Mongolia book about a retreat where people can learn about photography and wildlife poetry. The next day I went to Peanut with my dad and Jamie for brunch, worked on my travel pans to Mongolia, then went to Blue Koi with Jamie, Cam, my dad, my grandmom, and my granddad for dinner where I got some cartoon pictures of them and regular pictures of the inside of the restaurant. 

The next day I went to work again, and I made some more origami hearts from receipts during my first break. Later while I was working a thought occurred to me. People like Tyler and others on disability benefits should be allowed to make as much money as they can because no one should have to pay more to enjoy equal access to society. It would be like rich people having to pay to send their children to public schools and it decrease the amount of tax revenue we have making it harder to provide services to people especially people with disabilities. Later I traded shifts with Keuni from work and agreed to work from 8-4:30 on Tuesday. I worked on my hiking stick after work, and I realized that people with autism may be mistaken for gay or asexual because their interests are not always things people associate with their gender. I also carved a knife and worked on my ikebana flowers made from straws.

On Monday I went to work and afterwards I made some more origami hearts, worked on my flowers made from straws, and carved some more knives from wood. I put my ikebana flowers in a Pringles can vase covered with Tibetan tiger stripe designs and I took the last of my book shelves up to my room then I put my books on it. I rode my bike for about an hour and I decided to make the petals of my straw flowers look better by making them shorter. I also thought my phone’s battery was dead when it wouldn’t charge and my mom and I agreed to go to the Verizon store after work. I was able to see more of how an episode of A.N.T. Farm developed which I took to mean I’m becoming more of a screenwriter. I also put the magazines on the book shelf I first brought in on the bed in Kate’s old room until the new book shelf beneath it. 

The next day I went to work, and I decided for every one person someone gets to sign The Friend of Autism Pledge we would give away a bottle cap pendant, earrings, bracelet, or magnet; for five people we would give away a toilet paper roll cord holder; for ten people we would give away a Pringles can pencil cup or piggy bank all of them with neurodiversity themes. After work my mom and I drove to Einstein’s, then the Verizon store where for four dollars they were able to tell me that my charger had dust in it and that’s why it wouldn’t charge. I let my mom pay me $3.50 for my weed pulling because she paid for the phone service. I drove us home after we went to Target getting twenty more minutes for the ride there and back. Then I went to Winstead’s with my granddad and got a copy the current issues of Mindful and Ancient American. Then we went to the Pathless Land and did the chakra meditation with the others. I told them about my miksang photography and at the end of our session I did the dedication of merit. I also wrote down the name miksang photography for Steve on his phone. After I got home read in my Lonely Planet Mongolia book about a museum for the victims of Stalin’s purge and I saw an article in Mindful about Gettysburg. I remembered a story I read in Wisdom’s Blossoms: Tales of the Saints of India about this Hindu servant who wanted to visit an important pilgrimage site and achieved it through his hard work and that inspired me to really perform well at my job and maybe one day travel to the places I want to go to.

The next day I put my magazines, CDs, journals, coin collection, sword, shells, fossils, and bottle rocket on my book shelf and I rode my bike for about thirty-five minutes but came back when I saw it was starting to rain. Then I made some better flowers for my ikebana arrangement, and I read on-line that ikebana can be made not only from flowers but also dry wood, tree roots and branches, stones, pebbles, straws, seed berries, and even modern plastic and my collection of mani stones is kind of like ikebana. The next day I went to work and while I was there the thought occurred to me that the lack of economic freedom for people with disability benefits probably creates the need for so much paper work, costing our government a lot of money that it could use to provide services for people with disabilities like autism. I drove home adding ten more minutes to my driving time and my night driving time. I went to work the next day, and, on my way, I realized I could get started on my toilet paper roll cable holders for the UCM Autism Spectrum Support Group by taking apart the legs made from toilet paper rolls, which were crooked and sort of unsightly, I used for the table I made and replace them with legs I made from paper towel rolls I made which were much straighter. I also went to work the next day.

Getting a Driver's Permit

               On the first day of June I went to work and got the schedule which said I work the next day from 7-1:30, Monday from 8:30-1, Wednesday from 10-5:30, Thursday from 3-7:30, and Saturday from 3-7:30. I also found out the schedule had been changed so I worked from 3-7:30. I went home and slept for another hour and after I woke up I carved a banana from a stick. I went to work later that day and I realized that the UCM and JCCC Autism Spectrum Support Groups should help autistic people find better employment thus raising tax revenue until eventually the government will have no excuse for not providing autistic people services made hard to find by government bureaucracy.          

               The next day when I went into work Phil told me the schedule changed again so I didn’t work until 1:30-10 and I used the time I had to sleep in some more. Before I went to work I went to the Prairie Village Art Fair where I saw several good photographs which inspired me to keep doing my photography.  I also picked up something for my mom from RSVP. Later on I went to work.

                On Monday I went to work and on my way back I got a Lonely Planet book on China with a section on Tibet and when I got home I rode my bike for about an hour. The next day I found some good Tibetan Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Inner Mongolia (not to be confused with the country Mongolia), Yunnan, and Beijing and some good cycling and rafting places in China. I went to my appointment with Dr. Mays and I got some cookies, eggs, ice cream, and cheez-its at the Prairie Village Hen House near my neighborhood. On my way back I saw several ducks in the creek nearby and got a good picture of them and I realized my Buddhist practice of miksang photography, taking pictures of things when you have a fresh perception, might go well with my pictures I do when I do bird-watching and wildlife-watching. I later took some pictures of flowers in my mom’s garden and my mom and I agreed to go take my test to renew my driver’s permit on Thursday, which was a little nerve-racking to me. Later I heard my granddad say when I talked to him on the phone that he found another issue of Smithsonian from this year that he wanted to give me and the story of how he found it which he took as a sign that the universe wanted me to have it. 

                I went to work the next day and I saw that the store was selling a National Geographic special issue called Mysteries of the Maya and a Time magazine special issue called Special Ops. I got a new USDA cap on my first break and saw a coffee drink near the snack section that had a cap like those in Frappuccino’s that I could add to my bottle cap collection. My granddad picked me up and when I talked to him he told me something that made me realize how the trouble autistic people have finding services in a whole bunch of government bureaucracy when he said that for impoverished people to get a free meal from this charity in Lee Summit there was a lot of paper work that asked everything from the name, race, and so on about the person getting it which costs so much money. He also said that next time I went until 5:30 he could just pick me up and take me home from work so I could get changed. 

                I meditated with the others at the Pathless Land on how I came to “the path,” what my view of enlightenment was then, and how it’s changed. I guess after being engorged in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, the remote Eastern feeling that I once associated with Buddhism felt so familiar to me and its peacefulness appealed to me while my friends fought in my middle school years. I heard one woman there who was a regular member for years say that she was brought there after she found out her husband had Alzheimer’s which made me realize how important it is to appreciate your time with the person you love. I also realized that pictures on food and drink, like I get at Roasterie Coffee with Granddad, would be a great subject for my miksang photography as they are like Tibetan Buddhist mandalas-art that’s impermanent. After the Pathless Land, my granddad and I went down to Roasterie Coffee where I got some pictures of my brownie and my smoothie and as we drove back home, me feeling a little nervous about my driver’s permit test, I remembered a line in a song by Ross Lynch from the Disney Channel’s Austin and Ally, which I saw with Tyler quite a lot, “It’s just a journey/and I’m not in any hurry.”

                My granddad took me home and gave me the Smithsonian issue he found which turned out to be the travel issue with some good articles on Africa. I remembered then what my Granddad said about how he thought the universe wanted him to find it. I watched an episode of Corey in the House that night, at the time when it was Tyler’s and my time to watch Wizards of Waverly Place and at the end of it the president of the United States said to Corey, “If you believe in yourself, things will get better.” I also remembered my mom told me a story about a girl with a learning disability who was able to pass the test taking it on a computer.

                The next day my mom and I went to the DVM, packed to bursting and found out it would be about four hours before I could take me test. I went home and rested a little and after about five hours plus I was finally able to take my test.  I took the eye test and got my permit picture taken. Unfortunately the computer on which I took it went down and I it would be a while before they could get back on. I had no other choice but to take the test on paper. 

                I turned the test in a few minutes later and a woman at the counter graded it. She circled five questions and wrote -5 on the paper. I asked, “Does this mean I pass?”

                “Yes,” she said.

                I practically jumped for joy.

                “I passed!” I kept exclaiming for the next hour and a half.

                I went home to change into my work clothes and then my mom and I went to Culver’s Butter Burgers to celebrate. Then I went to work and got the bottle cap from that drink I saw during my break. Unfortunately, I found out those drinks, Real Coco Aloe, weren’t coffee drinks but some kind of drinks made from kelp or something judging by their taste and I quickly got a soda from the machine in the break room to wash the taste down. That is ok I thought. Part of the fun of bottle cap collecting I’ve learned is getting to try all sorts of new drinks.

                The next day my mom told me about this exhibit called Trash into Treasure with recycled art work from a guy named Just Colcord on display at the Toy and Miniature Museum over the next two days. Later I deposited my paychecks though I took a little out for myself and I returned my Lonely Planet books on Mongolia and South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho to the library when they were due and I got National Geographic’s Mysteries of the Maya, Time magazine’s Special Ops, and the newest issue of National Geographic which I thought I’d start collecting to. I picked up a prescription at Bruce Smith where I saw the issues of National Geographic Traveler and Afar which made me realize travel would be a good place for miksang photography. I took some pictures of some ducks as I went back home and then I called work and found out I work on Sunday from 10-6:30, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 11-7:30, and Friday from 2-10:30. Then I packed for Dad’s and we ate at Mia Ranchitos in Overland Park and I practiced driving with him in a parking lot and did pretty well. We also agreed to go to Trash into Treasure.

                I went to the exhibit with my dad and grandmom and introduced myself to Just Colcord and told him about my recycled crafts projects, which he thought were pretty interesting. I saw wands that he’d whittled and I saw some of his animated films which he made with figurines he made from repurposed trash. Later we went to Spin Pizza and when I got home I worked on my travel plans to Inner Mongolia. After that I went to work and I got a new Sweet Leaf Tea cap from my drinks on one of my breaks. Afterwards I went to Homer’s where I got a new Nantucket cap from my drink. I also decided I might travel to Uyghurstan with its Silk Road towns since the Silk Road helped the spread of Buddhism. I read at Homer’s coffee shop my Lonely Planet book and found several Buddhist sites, places that sell fruits and ethnic musical instruments, and a museum with the Caucasian mummies that outraged the Chinese government since they were obviously not Chinese but could have been European and may have helped Buddhism spread into pre-Christian Europe. While I was there listening to the live music I realized I could practice “mindful music listening” by being transformed by the songs you hear.

The next morning before I went to sleep I realized that finding your purpose in life makes life feel a lot easier and therefore the UCM and JCCC Autism Spectrum Support Groups should help make life easier for many people with autism.  I went to work that day and I realized that “mindful music listening” can help you learn a person’s story and a little bit about the story of the people who listen to them. I got three new Sweet Leaf Tea caps from my drinks during my breaks and when I got home my mom offered to pay me to pull weeds from the patio and I agreed to take it. I got some sticks to carve after that and then I got home and carved some of them into wands. My granddad also agreed to pick me up after work on Wednesday and he’d bring me some Winstead’s to-go and then we’d go to the Pathless Land. 
             The next day I went to work and got a new Sweet Leaf Tea cap during my break and I realized that me leading the UCM Autism Spectrum Support Group demonstrates to people what a person with autism can do. I got back home and my mom offered to pay me for pulling weeds out of the backyard.  I also realized that mindful music listening can help you connect with people like a lover, when listening to their type of music.