Return to the Motherland

At the beginning of this month I spent the weekend at home with my mom and stepdad. During this weekend I got to see my friend, Maddie Stock who I met at JCCC. We went to TCBY, a local frozen yogurt place and talked about how our lives have been over the past one and a half months. After I saw Maddie, I rode on my bike around the block for a while. I went back to UCM the next day and my mom brought with us a water heater for my room to boil water and make tea.

A New Connection from Outside the Nest

I got my dad's present in the mail. They were three books Best Buddhist Writings 2008, Best Buddhist Writings 2009, and Best Buddhist Writings 2010. I discovered the Buddha's teachings when I was sixteen and since then have considered myself Buddhist. Buddhist teachings are frequently the themes of my screenplays.

I have still been going down to my Freshman Seminar class at nine o' clock on Mondays through Fridays. I have been going to run on the treadmill in the Rec Center at eleven o' clock on Mondays for Adaptive PE and I have been going to that class on Wednesdays and Fridays. I went to my Beginning Bowling class at eleven o' clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays through Thursdays, I went to my Independent and Daily Living Skills class at one o' clock and my Technology Literacy class at two o' clock. My dad and brother also came to visit, and I gave them a tour of UCM.

I have been meeting a fair amount of new people over the weeks I have been at THRIVE. I went to the pool and meet up with Emily and Jennifer from the program. We sat in the hot tub where we met Keke a girl from Hong Kong and Kee Lee a girl from Taiwan. For the first few weeks of September, I have been going down to the pool every day of the week except Wednesday, when I have Person-centered planning, and swimming for about an hour.

I have still been running on the treadmill every night from Mondays through Fridays for an hour and a half. My schedule has changed slightly this month. On Wednesdays at three o' clock I have been going to Person-centered planning where I meet with an advisor in order to help me figure out what classes I will want to take next semester. I have also been going to a study hall for half an hour for two nights week which is the minimum requirements for THRIVE students. My nights are Wednesdays and Sundays. I also went to a mandatory THRIVE meeting where the mentors mentioned they were starting a THRIVE fundraiser to raise money to do THRIVE activities.

My mom and brother came to visit over the weekend. They brought me some soap and shampoo and I gave them a tour of the campus. Later we went to an Asian restaurant where I tried sushi or the first time. I am normally a picky eater but this time I have to admit the sushi was good.

The next day, my grandparents came to visit me. I gave them a tour around campus, and we went to the same Asian restaurant.

Next Saturday night I went to the UCM Talent Show. It had various acts such as people singing and dancing, a girl doing stand-up comedy and several Indian bhangra dancers of which one of the THRIVE mentors, Kriti was in as was her boyfriend Josh.

I went to study hall one Sunday night one week and happened to meet a volunteer from the social work program. Her name was Cassie, and she was volunteering with the THRIVE students during study hall in order to get her social work requirements. I enjoyed talking to her. I learned a great deal about her. One thing that I learned is that she studied abroad in New Zealand, where she said it was hard not to feel envious of the pretty Swedish girls. 

"You shouldn't think of yourself lesser than them. You should be happy with yourself the way you are," I told her.

Cassie and Kimmie, one of the THRIVE mentors, laughed and said that was really sweet. For some reason I didn't think that Cassie should feel herself in any way less than those Swedish girls. I ran into Cassie one night when I was leaving the Rec Center and saw Cassie and got to meet her roommate Mckinsey. 

Over the last Thursday night of the month, I talked to Cassie a lot in study hall. I learned that, in addition to going to New Zealand, she also went to Kuwait, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and I learned that she has four siblings.

The next day on Friday as I was walking back to the dorm after having found out Adaptive PE class was cancelled I happened to run into Cassie. We ended up walking to the cafeteria together and sat talking to each other. She said it was nice sitting with me instead of just by herself. 

That night my mom came to pick me up from Warrensburg and took me home (even though I know feel UCM is home). I texted my friend Maddie who I met at JCCC and told her I was home for the weekend.  We planned to get together and talk about how the last month and a half of our lives have been. In the last text she sent me that night, she said, "Welcome back."

A Break with the Newly Settled Nest

As the month of September started I went to Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend to see my family. I meet my newborn cousin Hunter and went to his baptismal ceremony. During my spare time I read a little bit of Ray Bradbury's book Dandelion Wine. I saw my grandmother's a new retirement home and she gave me a book of pictures from when I was a year old.

A New Beginning in Mid-Missouri

I have just moved in this month. On my first night here, I went to the campus kickoff. I then went to see a comedian named Buzz Sutherland. I also got a signed picture of him. 

That night I went to a mandatory meeting where Ashley, the community advisor, told us the rules. Basically, no alcohol, no violence, on candles in the room that are lit. The THRIVE mentors also went over some rules that are only THRIVE rules: no being outside of the dorm after ten unless approved by a mentor and always sign in and out every time you go somewhere during the day.

The next day I went to the UCM convocation and heard the UCM president Dr. Charles Ambrose speak to the students. I called Phil my manager at my job back at home and told him I would not be able to work until next November because I am now at UCM. Phil told me my mom called and told him, and he'd taken care of everything. He also told me to have a good time at college. After that I got my student ID.

The first Monday I did not have class, and I used it to explore the campus. I went to the library and checked out a book called Sudan: Darfur and the Failure of an African State because I have always had an interest in the Third World.

Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I went going to Freshman Seminar class. On Wednesdays and Fridays, I went to my Adaptive PE class. Every Monday at eleven o' clock I run on the treadmill down in the Recreation Center. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I went going to Beginning Bowling at eleven o' clock. On Mondays through Thursdays, I went to Independent and Daily Living Skills class and Technology Literacy class. For one of my Independent and Daily Living Skills class I had to answer some questions about my response to one of the four news articles we choose to read for an assignment. Next Monday when I was in my Freshman Seminar class, the teacher for Mrs. Carter who is last the Independent and Daily Living Skills teacher, said she was very impressed by my writing skills.

On the first weekend I spent at UCM, my mom and stepdad picked me up to go to a birthday dinner.  We ended up going to a bar called Hero's. I had a great filet mignon, and my mom got me a shirt showing the dog Brian from Family Guy. Around it was written, "I'm allergic to stupid people."  She also got me a shirt that said, "I live in my own little world but it's ok, they all know me here."  Whatever, I thought.

We went to a THRIVE meeting where there where the staff reminded us of the school and THRIVE rules and we were told we would be getting point sheets for areas including accountability, empathy, participation, cooperation and self-care for areas such as our THRIVE classes and residential life. The highest points were four and the lowest was zero. That night I got four out of four points on all things.

During the second weekend of this month my dad came to visit me. I showed him around the campus then he took me out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. We went to the UCM bookstore, and he bought me a small miniature leather notebook. He also bought one for himself. He said my birthday present from him would arrive soon.

Every Monday through Friday night I have been going down to the Rec Center and running on the treadmill, not because I have to but because I want to. I get to watch some of my favorite television programs such as King of the Hill and American Dad. I say for about five days a week I have been running on the treadmill for an hour and a half.  At the end of the month, I checked out a book by Ray Bradbury called Dandelion Wine.

Above Comedian Buzz Sutherland performs
Below Hypnotist Jim Wand