Speech Presentation

I got a 92 on my speech presentation. I thought that I did a good job and the only negative feedback I got was that my voice was monotone throughout the whole speech. I didn't even notice...I wonder why...I tried really hard to put in what the professor calls "vocal variety." Oh well, I won't get upset over that too too much. I can work with the SLP on that one. Also, I got 105 on my Biology exam...the last one...the one that I was sure I had failed due to the weird test format. Greatly relieved.

I've decided to do my History paper on the Battle of Stalingrad. I've decided to do my Biology paper on Coronary Heart Disease in memory of my Dad and grandfather. The Paradox of Affluence: How does it affect the environment essay is due the first week of April so I need to start ASAP. G2G for now...need to study and get to school early this morning! Have a nice one.

Busy Busy Bee!

I haven't written in a while, but not for lack of want. I've been SO busy that I just want to wrap myself up in a blanket and go to sleep! If I could sleep... Currently I am dog sitting, baby-sitting, volunteering for the honor society at school, have one 3,000 word History essay to write, have one 1,500 word Biology essay to write, have another essay to write to earn some money through the contest, appointments with doctors, preparing my persuasive speech presentation, am running for officer of Fellowship at the schoo, Taekwondo,l...I haven't had any time to do my favorite things! My laptop has crashed...it's been about a month of not playing WoW, and my printer quit working as well! I can't scrapbook now! I can't even print out any photos. I wish I had more alone time. I just need to pull myself together sometimes...It is almost like coming apart, but I find solace in sleeping under heavy blankets (or at least lots of layers of them), or tightening all the muscles in my legs and arms and then releasing them. I've done that since a baby and it somehow helps...I think it is isometric exercise? I have no clue. I have to find some other methods of relaxation too... I will try the note-pad you suggested though M! Thanks :)

Mid Term Exams and Sleep

I have taken my History exam and received an A, and I had taken my speech book cumulative exam and received a 106! I missed a one point question because I had difficulty understanding the question in the teacher's wording of it. I did my college success skills class midterm and turned that in as well...grade pending. The only exam I need to take is the Biology midterm and it will be taken this Tuesday. On Thursday I have to present my informative speech in front of the class. I've been attempting to practice, and I do make it within the time frame, but it is still difficult because of her grading sysytem... The parts I might have difficulty in are the "Extemporaneous Delivery Style", verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and nonverbal communication (vocal characteristics). So, that's it for my midterms.

Sleep is another issue. I have only been sleeping an average of 5 hours a night, and they are all interrupted. I'm not sure what to do about the sleeping problem...I know that I had this same problem when I was a kid. I just laid there, awake and sometimes I would get a couple more hours sleep if it was the weekend. I've always had sleep problems, but they are pretty bad now, so I hope everything will be okay. I will talk to my doctor and see if some of my meds need to be switched/reduced/increased. Back to bed for me!

Speech Eval

Yesterday an SLP came to the house and did some evaluation/tests to see what areas are the most difficult for me. In the middle of testing it occured to me that I should have had this done a LONG time ago. I believe things would have been much easier growing up, but at least it is getting done. I had a great deal of trouble with all but two of the tests, but the evaluation isn't over yet...I have to finish up the testing next Monday. So, I'll update later.

Babysitting

Well, I didn't realize what I'd be in for yesterday, but it turned out to be one very LONG day. I picked up my neighbor's kidsat 10am and drove them off to an indoor playground for around 2 hours...then,we went to a nearby outside park for another few hours...then I took them inside the mall to play at that indoor playground...THEN we went and saw all the animals at the pet shop...Then I took them back home around 4pm. When I pulled up with their van and we went indside, their mother (having a very bad flu) had gone to sleep in one of the bedrooms to rest...so, I stayed with the kids and let them watch some noggin tv, fed them some spaghetti with meatballs and some bread for dipping around 5:30. The kids were very tired and the little one wanted his mom, but I was sure I should let her wake up by herself. So, at around 7:30 pm, she woke up and I got to go back to my house. I was soooo tired that I went straight to bed. I didn't wake up until a few minutes ago, and I am not sure what time it is because I remembered that the clock is supposed to Spring Forward an hour...but I don't think this computer has it set automatically...I really love spending time with the kids, but now I have an idea of what it's like to spend almost an entire day with two small children and it does take a toll on oneself.

Boredom, Change, and Speech

Not much has been going on lately even though it is Spring Break. I've been very bored. I went out to Michael's craft store and bought a desk to assemble for my room. My mom is getting my old desk and I just needed a little one. I had so much fun putting it together and I use it all the time now. It has 3 drawers on one side, and a bookshelf on the other. It is able to be tilted as well! It really made my day. Also when I was at Michael's I got a new scrapbook album as my other one I was working on fell apart at the binding. Now I can work with the new scrapbook on the new desk. Some changes like this are okay. Others I am not so sure about. The time is going to change on Saturday. It's time to lose an hour. That kind of change is difficult because it takes my body forever to adjust to the difference even though it is only one hour. Another change that is coming up is that speech therapy is starting on Monday...at least the evaluation is. This event is hard for me as well as I have no idea who the person will be, or what is to be expected during the evaluation, or where in the house it is going to be. Lots of unknown variables cause me some irritation, but I suspect I will be fine.

Pretending to Be Normal

Well, this is one of the books I got at Barnes and Noble for my speech that I'm doing on Asperger's. I've read some of it already and was wondering the opinions or ideas of others out there who have read this book. It is an account of Liane Willey's life with Aspergers. The book goes through the stages of her life, and so far I've gotten to her late teens and early 20's...about where I am now. I guess I was hoping for a book that I could relate to more since I have a hard enough time trying to relate to people. However, I find that L. Willey's experiences are far from those of mine. It is hard to understand for me why she was able to be on the swim team, hang out with the popular kids in HS, be thrilled about public speaking and drama...etc. Please know that I by no means intend to make little of her struggles. I am just curious as to why I wasn't able to do all the things that she did when she was younger. I will continue to read this book to make sure there is not something I am missing...something I can relate to...I know Asperger's and Autism are part of a spectrum and thus everyone with them functions differently and has different abilities. It just makes me think of "why didn't I..." Oh well...

New Red Belt and Change...

I did it and I earned my red-belt. I am going to talk to my instructor about my score though, even though it was passing. I usually get 9's across the categories (perfect scores) but this time I got an 8 in my form and it took me 2 times to break each bored, one with a jump round kick and one with an upset knifehand strike. This might be due to the fact that I use the harder brown re-breakable boards instead of the blue re-breakable boards which are easier, but in class my boards fall the first time ALL the time...Perhaps it was also because I had all my gear on when I did it? It doesn't really matter...I did get my red belt.

Anyway, I am going through some issues with "change" again. Today is March 1st when I have been used to February for a month...this might seem silly but I really like to have the same things all the time. It is not as big a change though as when the time or year changes. Also, I changed belt-colors. I know this is a good thing, it is just going to take some time to get used to the bright red belt with gold stripe compared to my brown belt gold stripe.

I haven't slept all night, and when I did manage to sleep for 10-15 minutes I had weird, violent, and sad dreams. This is a major change too, coming from someone that usually dreams about what went on during the day. This time bees were coming after me (which I attribute to the ones chasing my backpack when I walked by their "trash recepticle" on campus). Then I had a dream about missing my Dad. (which I attribute to my thoughts on what to say in my black belt speech). And lastly I had a dream in which I attirbute to holding in a meltdown too long...I became destructive and was tearing things off walls, knocking things off tables, screaming...When I have a meltdown (I think of it only in my head, and do not do such actions). Other than that, I picked up a book at Barnes & Noble last night about AS and thought I'd write about it in my next post. Check back again!