On my first day of the winter
break I got favorable e-mails from the heads of the psychology, social work,
and communications department who said they could put the message about peer
mentors on Blackboard and their department’s organization websites. I called
Hen House and found out they couldn’t put me on the schedule but call me each
day that they had a shift available. I
told my mom and she said I ought to go down to the Prairie Village Hen House
and tell Phil what was going on and see if I could get some hours at that
store, also suggesting it might prompt Phil to call Rick and help him put me
down. I realized though that I also
probably wouldn’t get many more hours at the Prairie Village Hen House than I
would at my own store. I learned the
fingering for the Lord of the Rings book CDFGAB by developing a pneumonic that
goes Cute Darling Female Gives a Bounty of Hope-which doesn’t exactly follow
the pneumonic rules but was catchy to me and just felt right for some
reason-and I improved my playing. After that I worked on scrapbooks with covers
made from snack wrappers and my bag woven from Hen House produce bags. Then I worked on my bowl made from teabag
wrappers and made some rosettes made from teabag wrappers. I tested out my coaster made from receipts on
my beer, and it worked perfectly and took a picture to post on Facebook. I also talked to Tyler and agreed we might
see the next Hobbit movie tomorrow night.
I talked to Tyler, and we agreed
to go see the Hobbit movie that night. Then I finished two tambourines made
from bottle caps and helped Mom pack for Colorado. After that I went to see the Hobbit movie
with Tyler. I found it to be very action
packed compared to the first one, noticing Gandalf getting taken prisoner, and
I loved the dragon but was also surprised by the ending, which had a very
cliffhanger feeling. Later I realized
that I could repaint the letters on that stone with some lacquer paint from the
hardware store, realizing I do need to take a risk in loving someone who will
love me the way I deserve to be loved. As I was getting into Tyler’s dad’s car, I found a dollar on the ground
and took it as a good sign.
The next day I found several
more Snapple caps for Tyler. Then I
worked on some more bottle cap tambourines, which my mom loved. I also remembered how I promised Teresa I
would take a risk loving someone who loves me the way I deserve to be loved and
do it even if I get hurt. The next day I
grinded up and put leaves in the flower bed for fifteen dollars an hour for
three hours. I did some laundry after
that. Then I worked on my bottle cap
tambourines, flower photo frames for my grandmom and Aunt Laura, which I also
decided to make for my mom. Later I also
drove to and back from Taco Republic, getting fifteen more minutes of driving
and night driving. While we were there, I
had some delicious roast chicken tacos, while Dave, an avid Tolkien fan, and I
talked about Jackson’s movies, both of us thinking Jackson did a fairly good
job of sticking to the story, myself saying that some of the changes simply
helped make the movie more cinematic.
“I mean Lurtz wasn’t in the book, but he helps
give the Uruk-hai a face.”
My mom shook her head in
disbelief.
“Ben, you are just…brilliant!”
We talked about The Hobbit and
Bard the Bowman, who Dave said was from the Lake-town of Esgaroth.
“Actually,” I said, “Bard was from Dale.”
“But the Lake-town was part of
Dale, wasn’t it?”
“Well, no they were both their own little
separate city-states, but the Lake-town becomes part of Dale.”
“Dave, I think Ben’s out-knowledged you on
Lord of the Rings,” said my mom nudging Dave in the arm.
I drove back getting another
fifteen minutes of driving. When I got
back my granddad called and asked if I would like to help him move things at
his church to make some money and I told him I would do that.
The next day I went to St.
Anne’s and did some work for Granddad during which time I realized I could use
the broken strap from my old Drawing I notebook to make bottle cap finger
cymbals. My granddad paid me twenty-five
dollars and then we ate lunch together. When I got back to the house my mom paid me for the work I did the day
before. Then I went down into the
basement to get some wire from my old journals in one of my boxes and recycle
all the paper I didn’t use, and I found in that box my Scythian gold griffin and
my Japanese gilded panel. After that I looked
at my grades for the semester on my MyCentral account and found out I had
gotten all Bs. While I did that, I tore
out all the unused paper in my old notebooks from junior college and recycled
it. Then I worked on my presents for my
mom, grandmom, and Aunt Laura. After that I made my present for my granddad, a pair of finger cymbals made from flattened
bottle caps to help him with meditation. I also saw on my Facebook page that Caitlin Samuels had invited me to
see Frozen with her.
The next day I got a new bottle
cap from my drink at Better Cheddar and some wood for my tambourines at the
hardware store. I got back and finished
another tambourine and nearly finished another one. Then I cuddled with Peter thinking of how I
would feel warmth doing the same thing with a girl who I loved and loved me the
way Teresa talked about. After that I
got a call from Hen House saying I’m working from 12-8 on Sunday, 8-4:30 on
Monday, and 12-8 on Tuesday. I also went to Winstead’s with Granddad, then Barnes and Noble where I got the
January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun, the January/February 2014 issue of Afar,
and a Moleskin Hobbit journal for my travels to India realizing that they may
sort of be like Bilbo expanding his own horizons. Then we went to the Pathless Land where I
meditated and did the closing. Afterwards I realized Granddad seemed to be telling me all along to keep
my mind open to all the possible girlfriends who would come into my life.
The next morning Ian called, and
we arranged a ride home from the reunion. Then I heard Caitlin say she could see the movie on the 26th. Later I grinded up some more leaves and spread
them over the flower beds in the back yard. I drove to the Horizon Academy reunion getting ten more minutes of
driving and night driving, while my mom talked to Dave on her cell-phone,
making me incredibly nervous, but I drove well all the same. She got there and said, “See I wasn’t there
to give you instructions and you did fine.”
As I stepped out of the car, a
strange feeling was upon me like I had just entered another world. At the reunion I saw several old friends of
mine from school: Ian for one, then Matt Gauer. I saw my former high school teacher, Vicki Asher, looking exactly the
same as when I saw her years ago. She
hugged me and told me that they took the Horizon students to visit UCM.
“And we were all like ‘Where’s
Ben? Where’s Ben?’”
I laughed.
After some pizza Mrs. Kennedy
our former school principal took us on a tour of the school. During that time, I heard Matt say that Ian
was pursuing a career in some kind of international social work. I saw another familiar face next to me, a
girl by the name of Adriana Godsey, with a tall dark young man standing next to
her. I learned she was working at KU
Medical Center and that the man, her fiancé, had finished school at Pittsburgh
University with a degree in broadcasting. I, of course, gave Adriana my sincerest congratulations on her engagement.
We went to the downstairs floor,
which had many renovations done to it even since I saw it last year. On the right side of the hall through a door,
I saw a room with a dark carpet and a short shiny black stage.
“What is that room?” I asked Mrs. Altman, a
teacher who was standing next to me.
“That is our new Blackbox Theater where we
have some new drama classes.”
“Really?” I said. “Well, it sounds like it would be a great job,
being a drama teacher.”
“You should come back here and do that some
time,” said Mrs. Altman.
“Why I would love tha,” I said.
“Well, we have these cards in our reception
room and you could take one and write on the back that you love to come back
and do that.”
“Definitely.”
We went back to the reception
room, and I did indeed get one of those cards. Then I went with the others into the multipurpose room where there would
be a performance of the nutcracker. I
saw Sean Swindler there, whose son goes to Horizon. We said hello and I told him about how soon
we would need the right paper work for the peer mentors. He said he would get that to me sometime and
would be sure to come down to Warrensburg sometime and help the UCM Autism
Spectrum Support Group get more members. During the performance I put down on the card what was going on in my
life which there was a section for, and indeed mentioned my desire to come back
and be a drama teacher.
After the performance we went
back into the reception room. I saw my
old middle school teacher Bob Fritch. He
said to me, “You were always the professorly one I remember.”
He asked me what I was studying, and I told him my major was in Cultural Studies.
“Do you think you’ll teach that some
day?” I explained to him that I was
planning on starting a film making career but sometime after school, in order
to support myself, help in archaeological digs and hands-on cultural projects
for kids with Down syndrome.
“Well, you ought to come and teach here,” said Mr. Fritch.
“Well, yeah that would be great. Mrs. Altman said I ought to come back here
and be a drama teacher and I thought that would be great.”
“Definitely.”
I later saw another familiar
face, a dark-haired girl Jordan. I
learned she was at Johnson County Community College and planned to get a degree
in Occupational Therapy.
“That’s cool,” I said.
“Yeah,” she smiled brightly at me, and I smiled back. Then I met the new intern for my old school
counselor, a woman with short blonde hair and a very kind face who said she
knew both my dad and my grandmom, the former Dean of Education at the
University of Kansas City, Missouri. I
saw another old friend Riccardo Rossi, who earlier told me he had planned on
being a counselor. I asked him if he
still wanted to do that.
“I don’t know, just because it
can be kind of stressful.”
“Well, any job can be stressful.”
“That’s true. What do you do about stress?”
“Well, I exercise regularly, have
some hobbies, make time for friends,…"
“I mean at work?”
“Well, I just take a deep breath
and remind myself that there’s no moment to be in other than this one.”
“Yeah,” he said nodding
slowly.
After that I saw Mr. Epstein and
got a chance to tell him about school and my blog Ben’s Blog, which he asked if
any of the students might find interesting. I told him they might as they or someone they know might be on the
spectrum and it deals with college, relationships, and independent living. I then went home with Ian Sneid and another
one of my fellow students, Jacob Rasmussen, who told me that another one of my
fellow students, Austin Oerkhe, was going to UCM. I got home and told my mom, dad, and granddad
about tonight and about how they said I ought to be a drama teacher there and
they were all really excited for me. My
granddad told me that he also believed I would do a lot for the autism
community. Then I worked on my bag woven
from Walmart bags and organized my stash of plastic bags to repurpose up in my
room.
I drove to my psychiatrist
appointment the next morning getting ten more minute of driving, to the post
office, getting another ten minutes, to Bruce Smith getting another five
minutes, then home, getting another five minutes, and got much better at
turning hand-over-hand. I got a call
from work asking me if I could come in on an emergency shift and I took it. I drove to work getting another ten minutes
of driving. I also got a new Snapple cap
on my break. I drove back home getting
ten more minutes of driving and night driving. Then I watched the extended version of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
with Mom, Dave, and Brenda while I thought about how Tyler is able to
contribute to society even while on disability benefits and remembered a quote
Dr. Mayfield told me from Einstein about how everyone is brilliant, and you
can’t judge a fish by the standards of animals that climb trees.
The next day I worked on a
basket made from some of my plastic bags. Later I practiced my flute for half an hour, getting the fingering used
in my Lord of the Rings flute solo book, getting better at it. Then I worked on making a foil statue of a
panda bear. The next day at work I sang
every now and then to pass time an old song I heard on King of the Hill:
Blue moon on Kentucky, keep on
shining. Shine on the one that’s gone
and left me blue.
Blue moon on Kentucky, keep on
shining. Shine on the one that’s gone
and left me blue.
It turned out my voice was much
better than I thought. During lunch I
got a new Snapple cap for my collection. While I sang, Angela, one of the cashiers said, “Ben, I’ve never seen
you like this before. You’re normally so
quiet. I love it!” After I got home, I realized that it was
perfectly possible for the right services to be universally provided to
autistic people as thirty-three states had already mandated that autism be
covered by insurance.
The next day I went to work,
during which time I realized that the orcs pursuing the dwarves in the Hobbit
movies is very true to the book as the orcs killed and tortured Thrain in Dol
Guldur. I also got three new Nantucket
caps for my collection on my breaks and lunch. I went to Abby’s birthday celebration after that. I also read that the orcs did march towards
Erebor in the second Hobbit movie like I thought. I realized that the Kili and Tauriel romance
really did help show the tension between the elves and dwarves in Middle
Earth. I also read on lotr.wikia.com
(Lord of the Rings Wikia) that during the War of Dwarves and Orcs, Azog tried
to claim all the mansions of Durin as his own and many of the orcs fled to the
High Pass near Rivendell so the orc chase in the first Hobbit movie kind of
made sense. I told Dave this and he
said, “Yeah…” sounding somewhat impressed.
On Christmas day, not having
anything for Jamie, Cam, Abby, and Eric, realized I could just give them all
five dollars, which would easily make in tips in that day’s work. I drove to work doing well with speed and
hand-over-hand turning even though Mom was on the phone, getting ten more
minutes of driving. I also got a new
Nantucket cap on my break. After I got
home, I finished my picture frames made from bottle caps. Then I had Christmas Eve dinner with Jamie,
Cam, Graham, my mom, and Dave. I also completed some more of the challenges in my book The Hobbit: An Unexpected
Journey Activity Book.
I gave Jamie, Cam, Graham, my
mom, and Dave, their presents and they all loved them. I got a December 2013 issue of Wired magazine
with a cover article on Bill Gates and Bill Clinton and using technology to
help the Third World, mouthwash, gum, chocolate, a paint tube shaped pin from
the Indianapolis Museum of Art, a craft knife, Stamp Collecting for Dummies,
Postal Service Guide to 2013 Stamps 40th Edition, The Letters of J.R.R.
Tolkien, and a monk dashboard figurine for when I get my driver’s license from
my mom and Dave. I also told Dave how I
thought the expansion of Arwen’s role in The Lord of the Rings movie and
Tauriel in The Hobbit films would have been supported by Tolkien because he
meant to give females a greater role in the story, which is why he added Eowyn,
and Dave agreed. On the way to my
grandparent’s house, I got more of a feeling for American culture from the
Postal Service Guide. I gave my dad, my
granddad, my grandmom, Uncle Todd, Aunt Laura, Abby, and Eric their presents
and they all loved them. I got a Tibetan
victory banner and a Lego Architecture Big Ben set from Uncle Todd, Aunt Laura,
Abby, and Eric, a $100 debit card and a shirt with a Chinese peace sign from
Grandmom and Granddad, and a bird whistle, wooden Indian block printing textile
stamp, Beer Crafts: Making the Most of Your Cans, Bottle Caps, and Labels, and
Lonely Planet books on Tibet, Bhutan, and Mongolia from my dad. I learned some more of what I wanted to do in
Tibet, Bhutan, and Mongolia from my travel books. I also realized that I could draw attention
away from autism organizations that spend more on their executives than
services for people with autism when I tell people what I’ve done as a person
with autism. I went on the annual
Christmas walk with Jamie, Cam, Dad, Granddad, Uncle Todd, Aunt Laura Abby, and
Eric where I took several great pictures and walked to the edge of the forest
with Uncle Todd and Aunt Laura. I got
back and built the Lego Big Ben set. I
ate dinner with Jamie, Cam, Abby, and Eric afterwards. Then I learned more of how my travel plans to
Tibet, Bhutan, and Mongolia will go. I
later realized that Azog being resurrected by Sauron and Bolg working as an
interrogator at Dol Guldur makes sense because Gandalf came to Erebor with the
news that the orcs led by Bolg were coming to attack after being in Dol Guldur,
that the orc pursuit made sense because of Thrain having one of the dwarf
rings, so therefore the orcs being hunted down by Legolas and Tauriel and the
romance between Tauriel and Kili made since, and that the third Hobbit movie
might open up with Gandalf talking to Thrain in Dol Guldur. When I got back, I talked to Tyler and I told
Dave how I thought the third Hobbit movie might open up with Gandalf meeting
Thrain in Dol Guldur and he said he heard that would happen. I also saw that Caitlin had messaged me on
Facebook asking if I could go see Frozen tomorrow. Since my brothers, dad, grandmom, aunt,
uncle, and cousins were all planning on us going to see a movie that day I
asked her if she was available the day after that.
The next day I told Caitlin through Facebook messaging that I could meet her anytime between 12-6
tomorrow and asked her to name a time and place. Then I got to my grandparent’s house before
my dad, Jamie, Cam, grandmom, Uncle Todd, Aunt Laura, Abby, Eric, and I went to
see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I realized that my popcorn bag had a poster of the movie and decided to
frame it, and after the movie was over to make the other’s bags into
beads. During the movie I watched the
movie, during which time I realized the way Peter Jackson told the conflict of
the Elves and the Dwarves as being over jewels was true to the story as those
jewels were what the Mirkwood elves besieged Erebor over before the Battle of
Five Armies, that I am able to be valuable to a lot of people, not just with
autism, for what I do for autistic people, as many have autistic loved ones and
prejudice, stigma, and discrimination are self-destructive. Soon after it was over, I got the idea to make
some robots out of cigarette boxes I collected for Tyler to play with, one
representing the ego, another representing the id, and the other the super ego,
to help teach him self-restraint. I got back and as I saw Dave with some new
ice cream, I decided to eat it less nights to cut down on human waste, and I
recycled all the cigarette boxes I collected except for some for beads and
Tyler's robots. Then I found Caitlin said she could meet tomorrow at 10:45 at Town Center, and I said I’d meet her
there. After that I gave Mom two
bottle cap tambourines to give to Kyley and Hunter for Christmas and finished
one for myself. I put my cousin's up on
the top of a cabinet so Wally wouldn’t chew on them.
The next morning before I went to sleep, I realized how even though people have said that Gandhian economics wouldn’t have allowed India to become an economic superstar, it seems India’s real glory is the rich becoming richer while the poor become poorer, unlike Bhutan’s gross national happiness. After my meditation, showering, and breakfast, I drove to Town Center afterwards getting twenty more minutes of driving. Then I saw the movie with Caitlin at the movie. When it was over, we both seemed to have really liked it. After the movie, Caitlin and I ate lunch at Panera and learned more about each other. After she gave me a ride home, I found my stone Teresa gave me. Then went to Bruce Smith where I got the December 2013 issue of National Geographic, the December 2013/January 2014 issue of Archaeology magazine, Sacred Places of the Ancient World from the editors of Archaeology magazine, and Mandela: His Life in Pictures: 1918-2013 and my medication. I then traded in a bunch of ones and quarters for fives. I also decided to take my World Archaeology tests in the Testing Center next semester. I ate dinner with the Wendland’s during which I heard Cam talk about his dorm life, with his building being largely Asian, and my mom suggested that the Chinese send their kids to America to be educated to meet the Chinese girls Americans have adopted and that their government probably became so corrupt because they were short of money. I got back and packed up for the trip to Colorado tomorrow. I also decided I would take my Early American Literature tests in the Testing Center as well.
