I wander. My original destination is not completely forgotten, but I end up taking a circuitous route. I wander on the page and in my mind. I wander in the physical world, too. My wife complains that when we go anywhere, there’s always the chance I’ll wander away the moment I…
Category: General
General topics.
More movies about autistics. Because apparently we’re fascinating fictional characters, or at least fictionalized. Asperger’s Syndrome, on Screen and in Life New York Times By Neil Amdur Aug. 3, 2009 The three new movies would seem to have little in common: a romantic comedy about Upper West Side singles, a…
Movies are a challenge for me. I can’t even recall the last movie I saw before tonight. It was something in California — either an X-Men movie or Star Wars Episode I. (Neither would be my choice. I like cartoons and romantic comedies, usually.) But, I am in Davis, CA,…
There are times when nothing makes sense. The universe, despite its patterns, seems random, chaotic, and even cruel. Yet, reality simply is. We can study statistics, predict possible outcomes, develop complex models for nearly every contained system… yet on the personal level those models are useless. We can predict that…
I have been very sore and sensitive for the last few weeks. My back, legs, and hands ache. Unfortunately, this drains me of any ability to deal with things I dislike. Trying to start a cultivator, also known as a tiller, I yanked too hard just as the starting cable…
Last night I attended a baseball game at the Metrodome. I was fine with the noise inside the stadium, which is incredibly loud. I bought food (diet soda, two kosher dogs) before the game and never left my seat. I enjoy baseball, and was able to focus on the action.…
I like my routines. In fact, I am desperate to maintain them when I am under stress. For the last few years, I have listened to WCCO (830, Minneapolis) at night. The overnight hosts on this local station simply talked. They’d talk about local music, the weather, and stupid news…
I have discovered that I like bowling. I bowl alone on Tuesdays, after teaching. It isn’t that someone else can’t join me, but I go bowling in the student center with or without anyone else. Bowling allows me to concentrate on something “meaningless.” It’s like meditating. I think I like…
Ribbons and wristbands are a fairly poor way to indicate interest in a cause. When there is a dedicated color of ribbon or wristband for every issue or cause, none of the rainbow matters. A chest full of ribbons, aligned in some proto-military fashion, seems ludicrous. So, one more ribbon…
I am scheduled to speak at a workshop sponsored by the Autism Society of Minnesota on January 23, 2008, in St. Paul. If anyone cares to meet me and hear me ramble about university students with autism spectrum disorders, this is a good opportunity. (Visit http://www.ausm.org for more information.) The…