More updates...

To my small but loyal group of followers.. Greetings and apologies.. apologies for not keeping up with this blog. My life gets very busy. I guess a sociological insight i can give is this.. when it comes to the special needs community, we are a quite homogenous group. In order to actually "get" a person who has special needs and know how to relate in a way that doesn't come off as perhaps insulting or ignorant, you either have to have special needs yourself, or know someone who does. Society in general does not understand autism as much as a parent of an autistic child does. They do not know what the word "autistic" truly means. They may know in their head what that entails..oh yeah, they have difficulty with social commutation, reception etc. But they dint know what that MEANS until they are face to face with someone who has those difficulties. I realized myself its one thing to read about autism and having meltdowns and perseverations and the like and another to actually work with persons on the spectrum and see the good and the bad aspects first hand. No doubt my own experience on the spectrum proves useful to understanding my students who have asperger's and autism and the like..

It also strikes me how the special needs community is a quite small world. Ive run into the same people (children, usually) at two different settings or more.. and its funny how we all "know" the same people and have similar connections.
Speaking of the special needs community, i have been proud to serve in one capacity or another..respite care worker, summer camp counselor, etc...but the jobs i had were always temporary, or always filling in. But my perseverance and patience have paid off. I landed a Part time job as a recovery coordinator for an organization known as SAIL or Superior Alliance for Independent Living. What it entails is providing outreach and resources for individuals living with serious mental illness who no longer qualify for services at community mental health. This definitely a step in the right direction. The only down side is it requires driving out of town i the winter..which im nervous about..but ill manage somehow.. pay is definetly worth it..12 bucks an hour. Peace out!

6 months later...

Well, i finished out hte year subsitute teaching..and leave this morning to return to the special needs camp i worked at last year. I will be there till september 1. Peace ou!

Update....

Hello...for those of you who are reading this.... I do apologize...im just as bad about updating this blog as i am with handwriting.....just kidding. Actually, my handwriting has improved.....but, i still rely on a computer to type everything. If i really need to, given time and enough writing space, i can write legibly, just have to work harder at it. Which is good, beacause sometimes in my job, i have to write things for kids...what job is that, you ask? I work as a substitute teacher, and substitute instructional aide...so im busy....I love my job, because i love kids...and enjoy seeing them reach their potential.

Working at a Summer Camp..

Well, this is my first chance to update in quite a while.. not that i regularly update this blog anyway, right :). I've just been busy working as a counselor/diswasher, and thers no internet at the camp..had to wait until my day off and to go to a big city to get internet access.

Things are still going well.. LOVE my job.. got a great mix of kids at the camp.. life is good!

Waiting is over..got a job offer!

Well, my patience and hard work finally paid off..i got a call back from the special needs camp i applied to with a job offer..part time dishwasher, part time roving counselor..the director didnt want to give me more than i could handle, im happy with that..leaving Thursday to start the job..gonna get moved in an acclimated..so that means i may be not able to update this blog.. ill post when i can!

Hanging around...

Well, i graduated, now what? Hope to find a job...waiting to hear back on an interview i had with the director of a special needs camp..my dream job :D. In the meantime, i find ways to keep my self somewhat busy..lol..computer games and watching star trek DVDs.. just checked out some Chinese books, so i can brush up on my chinese a little bit. Also, i may try my hand once again at programming my own amateur adventure game.. that will keep me occupied for a good month or two, im sure :). Lucky for you readers, i have a lot more time to blog..but may not have much to blog about, now that classes are done... no profound sociolgical insights today..sorry.. which is partly the reason i started this blog. But more than that, this is the blog of an individual living with PDD-NOS, sharing my challenges and joys. Seeing as how autism by defeniton involves a lack of social sense, doesnt it make sense to blend a discussion of social theory and one of autism?

Commencement 2010

Wow, what a great ceremony, and the speech given by my classmate was excellent. Having one of my clasmates give the student portion of the address made me proud to be a sociology major.. Class of 2010 RULES! Pictures are forthcoming