Monday, January 27, 2014

My Interests Throughout My Life+ 24 Hours of Daytona

Throughout my life I have had a variety of interests. Some I shed, perhaps outgrew and others are current.  Some are off and on.
getting into everything as a kid.
letters and numbers, particularly when I was little.
PBS as a kid, first Barney, Sesame Street and Lamb Chop, then Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Arthur, Thomas and Friends (Shining Time Station was the show, but it was my country's Thomas show when I was a young child), Reading Rainbow, The Magic School Bus, Bill Nye, The Puzzle Place, Charlie Horse Music Pizza, Wimzie's House, Teletubbies, Between the Lions and Clifford. Of this last group, Arthur was first to go, Thomas and Friends was next but that was an opportunity issue mostly as the time it came on (Sunday) when I was a kid made it hard for me to watch it very often, then Reading Rainbow and Magic School Bus, then Charlie Horse Music Pizza, which was replaced with Wimzie's House on my list of shows to watch. The Puzzle Place was on-off-on again, then replaced with Between the Lions in terms of time slot and on my list of shows, Teletubbies overlapped with the ones from Puzzle Place (again) and all the ones that follow it on the list. Teletubbies, Between the Lions and Clifford, which replaced Wimzie's House on my list of shows after that show left PBS were my last PBS kids show group. Then I outgrew PBS kids.
Books and magazines, which is ongoing.
Game shows, longtime.
Car races 1997 (at latest, I know I was in school and no more than seven)-2000 (my last NASCAR views as kid had Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as racemates and besides FOX took over coverage in 2001) and 2011-present.
Other sports, including sports books in late elementary years, mostly but I kind of like basketball.
Making up stories, ongoing
drawing, at times
Toys, as a kid. I collected Kelly Dolls and stuffed animals. I had baby dolls and got a precomputer, which is from Vtech.  I still have it but rarely use it. Same with my Furby, which I got at nine or ten.
Hand held video games, somewhat. This one was mostly as a kid, but I still play these occasionally . I even got a couple GigaPets and a Nano Baby.  The baby got broken and the pets haven't been active in years.
Autistic people off and on. currently on.
Animals, longtime Favorite animals throughout my life include dinosaurs, I thought they were "totally cool" when I was little, elephants and furry animals like cats.  I had some elephant rides as a kid.
Christian music longtime but stronger at times, like now.
I have had other more minor interests that are sort of silly and I feel uncomfortable mentioning these.
I had a series of special interests after sixth grade. American history, churches, my favorite teacher, mice (related to this mouse project I had in Animal Science), cars,  the movie Cars, a woman in our church who had a car accident, history, included alternative history, politics, our cats, Christian music and Christian websites, diets and car races. Muisc and diets overlapped, timewise as do music and car races, but these two have a connection. The link between music and car races is centered on K-Love, a radio station network with a station near me that I listen to, sponsors NASCAR and has drivers as guests sometimes. One of my favorite drivers was a guest on K-Love and said he listens to it while on air and posts Christian song lyrics on his social media.
On Saturday, I watched part of the 24 hour Daytona road race with my dad.  He watched the rest of a basketball game first.  His favorite college team played that day and the second half of the game overlapped with the race.  He works nights, so he missed part of the game due to this as this past weekend was a work weekend.  He's on an every other weekend schedule. The first two hours of the road race were on FOX, then coverage when to FOX's sports channels which are cable TV channels so we don't get them.  I saw online there was a few NASCAR drivers, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson and A. J. Allmendinger in the race.  The Internet said how there was a wreck that caused a red flag and sent two drivers, Memo Gidely and Mateo Malucelli to the hospital. Gidely has a broken back, which reminds me of Denny Hamlin last year, except Gidely will have surgery and I don't think Hamlin plans on surgery. Not a real Hamlin fan, but as a race fan, I knew about his hurt back.   Gidely was driving the pole winning car and while attempting to lap another car, hit Malucelli's car in the rear, since he apparently didn't see it. Malucelli's car was losing power so he pulled over and Gidely rear-ended him due to his attempt to duck under the car he attempted to lap.  Gidely also had left arm and leg surgery. Attrition hurt Chip Ganassi's team as they had a flat rear tire at the 18 hour mark and Michael Shank's team had two gearbox issues that sent the car to the garage.Action Express was the winning team, our paper says.  My mom's birthday was yesterday.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Just Some Asperger's Girl Traits I Have or Have Ever Had Some With Explanations/ Elaborations Plus a Little Snippet of My World

These are thought to be Asperger's traits, some are general and some are girls only. It's different for girls because girls and boys are different so the manifestation of Asperger's differs in them. Maybe I wasn't a perfect match because of girl presentation.
I have a high interest in songs.
I like to make poems and write.
I was hyperactive as a kid. ran around on my tiptoes, like my dad
I have wandered.
My emotions are strong. This includes empathy, which female Aspies can have. Sensitive this element of me is called.
I'm capable of deep thoughts.
I was thought to have hyperlexia because I could read many years ahead of my age.
I knew my alphabet, numbers 1-10, colors and shapes at two, my mom says.
I'm bright (see above, which shows me as a smart girl) and creative.
I like to play with words.
I'm good with computers, which is common amongst Aspies but may not be a perfect correlation*, though.
I have sensory issues, don't like loud noises, bothered by fluorescent lights as a little girl, only like certain touches.
I flapped my arms and spun as a little girl, have rocked at times and can pace and talk to myself. Once, when I was in college, I did the latter because I had three chapters to read in a textbook. I know they were connect because I paced and talked right around the time I read the chapters.
I like bright colors. (some of the autistic do)
I don't tend to lie because I don't like lying.
I'm sweet and sociable but  have been imperfect in social situations.
I talk a lot. again not a perfect correlation but like the computer abilities could be linked.
Some Aspies have a sense of humor, which includes me. I like to joke around and make puns.
I'm quirky. Sometimes I tell people this to help explain me. Everyone has their quirks, so this isn't unique to Asperger's but for those that have it, the quirks are likely linked to it.
I have a good memory, as some of the autistic do.
I have intense interests, which may be linked. When I'm interested in things, I gain incredible knowledge about that thing.
I can be daydreamy. (but redirectible)
I'm strong willed, which could be linked.
I'm spunky and assertive, which could be linked in my situation.
I'm clumsy at times, which may or may not be linked. my dad's a little clumsy too. I'm better than I was, though.The clumsiness was noticed when I was in preschool. My mom sensed a gap when I was a toddler and knew I was hyperactive but she thought that was all it was before I was four.  I got evaluated and she was told I was mildy autistic. Asperger's is considered a mild form of autism.
I learned to jump while in preschool, which was apparently delayed as they noted it.
In preschool, I did mostly solitary and parallel play but at the end, I at age 4.5 was starting to play with the others. more outside though. There's a picture in the Me Book we made of me in their toy bus with another kid.  It was part of Head Start. As a schoolgirl, I could play with other kids on the playground.
I had trouble distinguishing feelings as a little girl.
I'm rather immature and childlike in some ways. so's my dad. My mom said he's more childlike.
Her oldest brother's widow** has a sister that's childlike as well.  My dad and my aunt's sister could be undiagnosed Aspies.
I've been a picky eater since after preschool. Maybe I got more aware of food then. I don't like mushrooms (who wants to eat fungus) or onions (they smell) for example.
I liked to climb as a kid. I may have climbed a ladder and I remember I used to climb on play equipment. For example, I climbed to the top of my swing set and sat on it. Don't worry, I held on. I also climbed an inflatable rock climb at a school fun day in elementary school.
Though I could take my bath on my own at the age of 12, like my mother, I was delayed in shaving my arms and legs as well as brushing my hair. I was in high school before I could do these.
Since elementary school, I've liked to swim, which could be linked.
I still like to swing, which may be linked.
I like Thomas the Tank Engine as a kid, though any kid can like Thomas, autistic kids are particularly likely to.
I don't like change.
These may just be things we're capable of
I'm loyal.
I'm hardworking.
I have high enthusiasm. ( I read females with Asperger's can sound eager)
I like cats.
I'm a rule bound girl, in many ways, which is common amongst the autistic if they can understand rules at least.  I read this next part in an autistic blog. They think their daughter may fall on the spectrum in PDD-NOS range and said she's this way (very rule bound).
This is the ones I'm sure of.


My mom used to want a 49er's shirts because of her birth year and I call them her team as in "Mom, I think your team lost." I don't like football and my mom sort of  likes it only if the 49ers are playing. My dad's birthday was a few days ago.
*some people not diagnosed with Asperger's are like this as well.
**If you read my life story here, I tell how my uncle died when I was in third grade. This refers to my aunt who was his wife.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

A New Chapter Maybe+ Daytona test

On how I may have a new chapter of life coming with my views on Daytona testing after.


Last Friday, I got a phone call about a job interview and scheduled it for Monday afternoon. I was waiting when writing this. I've been working with an employment agency and my job coach did a bunch of online applications for me.  She thought I did good at the interview. My answer to the last question was particularly good she said.  I put in a resume at another place before I knew about the call. 


I got the Daytona test info from the Internet since we don't have cable. All the levels tested in what they call Preseason Thunder. The lower levels, Nationwide and Trucks are banning tandem drafting for more than a lap. This means they're limited to bump drafting. The racers can give someone a push but can't stay on the other one's bumper after one lap, to those not big NASCAR fans. The top 10 fastest in the Cup were Austin Dillon, Brian Scott, Matt Crafton , Aric Almirola and Kyle Larson for the top five, with Casey Mears, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin and Danica Patrick rounding out the top-10. Also noteworthy, at least to me is Joey Logano was 18th and Trevor Bayne was 23rd and he only ran single, no drafting but still came with 4mph of Austin Dillon. These young drivers were 195.109 (Dillon) and 191.657 (Bayne). Mark Martin tested Tony Stewart's car and was 28th fastest. Except Matt Crafton and Aric Almirola, the top five consisted of rookie drivers. There was rain the Cup was scheduled to test, so due to this rainout all testing was done in an eight hour window the second day. The rest you can look up if you want.


Nationwide tested after Cup. The Nationwide top-10 were Dylan Kwasniewski, James Buescher, Kyle Larson, Elliot Sadler and Ty Dillon for the top five, with Ryan Reed, Trevor Bayne, Bill Elliot, Dakoda Armstrong and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top ten in the first session. The second session top ten were Chase Elliot,  Bill Elliot (Chase's dad), Reagan Smith, Ty Dillon, Trevor Bayne for the top five with David Ragan, Chris Buescher (James's cousin),  Kyle Larson, Dylan Kwasniewski and Jamie Dick rounding out the top ten. The third session top ten were Dylan Kwasniewski, Chase Elliot, James Buescher, Bill Elliot and Brendan Gaughn as the top five with Kyle Larson, Brian Scott, Regan Smith and Ty Dillon rounding out the top ten. The last session top ten were Chad Boat, Kyle Larson, Ryan Reed,  Dakoda Armstrong, Chris Buescher as the top five with Trevor Bayne, Ryan Blaney, David Ragan, Bobby Gerhart and James Buescher rounding out the top 10. Bayne, Chris Buescher and Reed, the Roush drivers were the best Fords in the Nationwide test along with David Ragan, at least the first day.


The Trucks were the last to test. The Trucks first session top ten were Ben Kennedy, Jeb Burton, Timothy Peters, John Wes Townley and Darrell Wallace Jr. for the top five with German Quiroga, Tyler Reddick, Sean Corr, Kyle Busch, Mason Mingus rounding out the top ten. The second session top ten were Jeb Burton, Ben Kennedy, John Wes Townley, Matt Crafton and Darrell Wallace, Jr. as the top five with Timothy Peters, German Qurioga, Sean Corr, Justin Jennings and Ross Chastain. Only five trucks tested in the final session,  John Sauter, Matt Crafton, Ross Chastain, Ryan Ellis and Jennifer Jo Cobb.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Mystery Keeper: College and beyond

This is the story of my life after high school. My high school graduation gifts of a cell phone and laptop computer were for college.

After high school, I went to a community college for my freshmen year.  It's in a nearby town to where I live, so I rode with someone, either my dad or some people in our church, usually, but one of my mom's cousins whose work was in that town took me once.  There was a boy a year ahead of me in high school taking classes at the college and a woman of going back to college age. The boy, Jonathon was a back up and the woman took me home on my short day.  Another woman was working in the town where the college is and had to take her brother there since he had no car then. I usually rode with her, but after a while she didn't want to take me because of some life circumstances, a main one being her daughter had some sort of health issue.   I took liberal arts with a science concentration this year. My first semester classes were English, College Algebra, Psychology and Biology, the last caused my short day since lab time was a stand alone ( my only class the day I had it). I made the dean's list. My second semester classes were History, Genetics, Animal Nutrition and Music Appreciation.  I planned to take an animal major at another college after that year and many of my classes at the community would transfer there. We camped at the park we went to went I was sixteen.  I graduated from the girl's club and had my last horseback riding lessons.


The next year, I transferred to the animal major at the other college, but had some issues there. The classes I took were two animal classes, microbiology and chemistry.  I also volunteered at an animal shelter near the college, since that fulfilled a requirement. I failed the lab practical for one of the animals classes and had to work at a vet office the next semester and over the summer, but I wasn't ready for that class, so I couldn't go back to that major.  I'd been a happy girl, basically but this took that away for a while, buried it.  They would've allowed me back at the college in another major, but I chose to go to quick admit day at the community college.  The community college took me back. That spring, our cat died and we adopted two shelter cats. They're sisters and the shelter thought they were one and a half at the time. They weren't little kittens but they were still young. My maternal gramma died shortly before I started back at college.   We returned to that park again.


I think being a returning student made it easier for the community college to admit me. They had my info and I had success there before.  I went into their animal major, as a path back to the other but did some stupid stuff.   I could stay at the college in another major. I was liberal arts for the rest of the semester.  I was dropped from the animal classes, I think I had two, but had other classes. They were Public Speaking, Intro to Computing with Mircocomputers, Technical Writing and halfway through the semester I picked up a history class, late session they call it, which was the next one sequentially to the history class I took my first year there.  I was liberal arts with the late session history class added for financial aid reasons, but I'm a history girl (means I'm good with history). I made the dean's list this semester. I switched to computers for the next semester because the man teaching the animal classes I took at the community college said I seemed good with computers. I wanted to do this after that animal class issue but couldn't be full time in that major since no late session class suited it.  I took Intro to Web Page Design, Microeconomics, Probability and Statistics, Advanced Computing with Microcomputers and Introductory Programming. I wasn't quite on the dean's list, but passed all these classes.  This was our last summer at that camping park.


The next year was my last year of college.  I was able to remain in the computer major this year. The first semester of my last year, I had Analysis and Logical Design, Advanced Programming,  Computer Architecture, a networking class and an overview of technology class.  The last two were out of sequence, since they're fall only and I was liberal arts the previous fall.  I went to two concerts at the college. A local musician played in the student lounge two Wednesdays without his band.  He said "I wish I could bring my band, but they'd probably blow the windows out." They played in the college's theater, apart from this but I wasn't aware until after the fact or it didn't work with my family's schedule. I heard some of their songs at the lead singer's student lounge concerts and I like that kind of music.  He played a song I know by another band the first concert in the student lounge.  His wife and their middle child were at the first concert and she was supposed to sing at the second but the little guy he introduced us to at the first concert had "bashed his head on a vacuum cleaner". His mom had to take him to get stiches.  The first concert was the day after my 21st birthday and the other was the first Wednesday of December.  I wasn't on the dean's list but I passed all my classes again.  After this came my last semester.  I had trouble getting to sleep the night before.  I was probably excited about being almost done with college. I took the other networking class, an operating systems class, two business classes, which are required for the major I took and Physical Design and Implementation. The last forms a systems sequence with Analysis and Logical Design. I passed all of these classes and graduated from college late in May 2011.  I was excited and relieved about this.
The February of this semester I had an opportunity I hadn't had since 2000. My dad had hooked up TV converter boxes the previous fall and that gave us Fox. Fox covers NASCAR races February to  the first weekend of June. I could watch with my dad like I did as a kid. It was different now due to the changes in NASCAR and the youngest drivers are around my age. For example, Trevor Bayne and Joey Logano, who were mentioned that day, are a little younger than me.  I was a Toyota fan the first four weeks of the 2011 season, then these two drivers became my two favorite drivers.   The first Bristol race gave me a metaphor, which Trevor was in the midst of that helped me get over my hurt and made me not upset.  That April, he had to go to the hospital due to an illness and I know how it feels it be in the hospital so it made me a little teary.  The first time was just overnight but the second time lasted into May.  He missed some races and I didn't like to see this be so. I was happy right along with him when he could race again. We have ABC, which also has some races.


After I was done with college, I continued to follow NASCAR and pursue other interests as well.  I had some cooking lessons in my last semester of college but not through college. I no longer do that, but I do other things with that woman, mostly volunteering at a library and animal shelter near where I live.  I've been reading, listening to music, walking, playing games, watching some things other than NASCAR, like game shows and movies, doing my Sudoku and crossword puzzles and writing. I also have job hunted and even got two interviews, which didn't lead to a job. The last started within the last year. My mom's twin brother stayed with us last summer.  About 2.5 years ago, I went to Indiana for my maternal gramma's 90th birthday party, which meant all my grandparents were able to have one. My grampas lived to 91 and nearly 97 and my other gramma was 94.  This was the highlight of 2011 to my dad to me it was graduating from college.  My gramma's alive yet, but she may die soon.  I had some supplement issues as a kid, but vitamin pills and fluoride were ones that didn't affect me in bad ways. I only needed the latter until some point in high school, I think. Flax is another one I could take then and still take now. I added cinnamon and fish oil in college and they had no bad effects on me, apparently, so I still take them.  I take these once a day and have since I started them. I took one niacin a day for a while in or shortly after college, but it was used up and never replenished, but I don't think it was bad for me. We just didn't care about it or maybe it was the expense.   I still hope to find a job, even if it was with an Aspie computer place.  People with Asperger's can be good at tech jobs.  Maybe I can get a job as a technical writer, as that class shows in the stories I write on fanficnation.com.