h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

feeling rather anonymously ominous. Probably becuase it's a number and I don't like being a number. Mind you I don't mind anonymity but prefer monikers to numerical titles. I am at a loss as to how to make my username appear at the top of my personal space. I like Jetsammingalong! It's what I do best!

I did remember my new user name and password without any trouble despite the fact that I jotted it on a piece of paper and put that up stairs ... somewhere.

Also, I'm surprised I found my way here since in Calgary it is New Year's Eve and some very nice Jamaican rum and a bit of sweet bubbly and yes, a tequila shooter (with salt and lime, thanks) make it's way to my tummy. I'm waiting for blessed sleep but I think it was chased away by the single cup of coffee I had in order to plough through the dirty dishes after all our guests left.

A deep rumbling sound from above tells me the Spouse is asleep. If I sneak in between bouts of snoring, I won't have to nudge and prod to make the sawing of logs cease. From the silence above, the children are asleep too, and the silence down the hall tells me yes, the dogs are as well. Sleep gently world, for tomorrow dawns a sun-on-snow-cold-day! Yup we got snow in Calgary, Alberta, Canada AFTER Christmas!

Despite the fact the other members of the family don't rumble much, I feel their presence in the house. Fortunately, the familiar presences of my family are all that I sense here.

I keep staring at "We all lead interesting lives" in the preamble to this white box and I wonder what is so interesting about my writing that I could share? I suppose the most interesting thing about my writing is that it is a solitary act that no one but me is ultimately responsible for creating or destroying the fictional world complete with characters and scenery which I have written. Creating a character in fiction is sometimes a bit like having a child, but not quite.

No one starts out with the a preconcieved notion of what they want their child to look and act like when they get to the business of conceiving that wanted child. Often I do have an idea of how I want the character to look and act. What astounds me is that once I've given the character a little outline, quite often the characters take on a life of their own. They write themselves and the plots and sometimes even the themes!

Now here's an interesting idea ... contraception in writing ... a way to avoid writing the unwanted character! Makes me laugh out loud just imagining 'not creating' a character via some contraceptive writing method. I know that 'not writing' makes me cranky and nasty-tempered, so I write something somwhere (even here) just to alleviate the itch to type on the keys. I can only imagine what holding onto a character sketch that is so compelling to write it begs to be out, out, out would be like!

Hmm, I never quite realized how real, yet spontaneous and full a process writing truly is. For me it is not contrived or planned or organized at all. What a stunning thought!

I'm not quite sure where this journal entry will end up, I'm only just learning about this place in cyber-space. I am familiar with public forums, and discussion groups, I have participated in a few, guarding my anonymity carefully, seeking to follow 'the rules' and discuss or debate a little rather than shame and flame.

I do like emails and yes, I am grateful for the Internet because now friends from all over the world do get in touch. I've found myself reconnecting with old friends (and sometimes disconnecting as well ... when we both come to the same epiphany there was a reason we didn't keep in touch!)and making a few new friends in the oddest places.

And *chuckle* those who hated keyboards before email have had to learn to live with fingers on the keys-to-communicate. Although one friend has found a way around this. His first attempt to send me an attachment did not work very well on one of my email programs, though. It was a beautifully hand-written letter attached to my name and email address. Unfortunately, after the wordpro program tried to decipher it (yes, they can do that now, the evil things!) it was like running a translation through bablefish and back several times. Not at all what he meant to write.

So I read the scanned hard copy letter right off the email program and treasure the fact that some people still write in handwriting.

Back to my confusion about this place in cyber-psace called H2G2. While the nudges and how-to's help somewhat, I haven't come in contact with any other 'persons' other than reading their words.

Since I'm not even really sure how to access my own personal space and these entries ... I'll close this particular entry, my first on the first day of what my son reminds me is 2K3 - (I wondered how we'd get around all those zeros and the new millenium).

Now a quick edit for spelling and I'll post my very first entry!

And if I'm awake, perhaps I'll wander around looking for Jazzn' a cyber-pal who introduced me to this site!

Hi Jetsammingalong,

My name is Feisor and I am an ACE (Assistant Community Editor) here at h2g2.

As you havent activated your personal space I have posted to this entry to say Hello. If you would like people to "pop in" please write something in your personal space so that we can leave messages.

To do this go to the part marked " Welcome to the Personal Space of Jetsammingalong" and follow the instructions -if you have any problems just reply to this and I'll see if I can help.



Enjoy!!
Have fun!!!
and above all DON'T PANIC!!!


Feisor

*waves to Feisor*

Hello Jetsammingalong!
In reply to your journal, I found it interesting that you read the words of people but didn't quite get the people.

On my personal space {just click on my name} you will find a drop-down list of "Researchers I have met" and if you do a little lurking you'll find pictures of me elsewhere onsite.
I am one of the "converts" to cyber-culture, up till the age of 38 I had never sent an email or visited a chatroom, I had no idea about online communities. I took a course in IT when my youngest was oneyear old. I did CLAIT 1, which involved becoming proficient in spreadsheets, databases and word processing. However I still wasn't prepared for the internet, or know of the friends I would make all over the through h2g2.

I suspect we are roughly the same age, I'm almost 48 and a grandma.

I have a son with Asperger Syndrome and I noted your comments about congenital and genetic inheritances in Amy's journal.
I have osteo-arthrosis {inherited from my father}, but everything else is in good working order.

I hope to meet you at one of the regular meet-ups sometime.



~AGB~

I enjoyed reading your reply.

Several things caught my attention in your words, but this one intrigued me ...

"I found it interesting that you read the words of people but didn't quite get the people."

LMBO! Since I've been playing on the internet, I have found such huge numbers of friends and often new ones, too! I've met quite a few F2F. In addition to 'getting' the people and finding I still can 'read between the lines', I've also had to learn to write more forcefully using the internet as a resource to stay within a certain ... objectivity.

Having been privileged to make a few new 'writing' friends as well as connecting with various 'old friends' including a few old colleagues from waaaayyyy back when I worked with kids, I find my online voice is a lot more confident than it was before I was "flamed" to cripsy critters and 'shamed' (usually by the incredible rudeness and viciousness people can assume in their anonymity) in various communities in my journey to explore cyber-space.

I've learned to be outspoken and truthful these last couple of years. As my friends and colleagues used to complain frequently, I was always the lurking listener who became a peacemaker. I spent a good deal of my career honoring "What you see here, what you hear here, never leaves here." until I began to write.

Then, I discovered that the 'net has a website or article or snippet of a book that warrants or backs my point, gives a plethora of up-to-date information or nurtures in ways I never expected! Online communities are everywhere, it seems! Which brings me to something you mentioned about your son.

Asperger's Syndrome, like many of semantic-pragmatic disorders was one of the diagnostics I have always had trouble with. Mainly because a lot of highly gifted and eccentric boys fit the same protocol and profile, but Aspergers is never attributed to girls! However, almost every woman in my family at one time displayed various symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome or Atypical Autism during childhood. As it turns out the gals who seemed 'austistic' or to be semantically challenged, all tested out Intellectually Gifted. Same with the guys.

Oh dear, the chili's scorching and the girls have to be at guides in less than 1/2 hour.

Take care,

J

I heard a thing on the radio today - someone said (and I'm sure that their tongue was in their cheek) that autism is actually just concentrated "maleness" - all you have to do is look at your typical teenage boy to prove a point

Autism as concentrated maleness ... hmmm. There's a thought, eh? I like the idea of concentrated introverted intelligence, a certain spirituality as well. Gail Anderson Dargatz describes her husband Floyd, who is often written into her books, as 'mystical'. There is a book written by a Mother who describes her autistic daughter the same way. Stephen King tipped the scales with his characer Charlie Moon, who while mentally challenged in life, dreamed himself 'whole' in dreams in his book The Stand.

I've always been quite comfortable around introverted people, having grown up with them and finding a lot of peace in silence. In fact, having been on 'silent' retreats with both Buddhists and Catholics I find that the presence of silence seems almost ... palpable.

I do like your name, btw, Archangels have always fascinated me and I'm quite the Sci-Fi fanatic.

Some of my favourite authors are Orson Scott Card; Anne McCaffrey; Elizabeth Scarborough; Jodie Nyes; Terry Brooks and a few I can't remember right off the top of my head.

Thanks for the response again.

J.

I heard an interview with Oliver Sachs and he was talking about an autistic woman he knows who has learned to live with it - she has written books about it and lectures about it. He said that when he asked her would she like to be "cured" if it were possible she replied that she would decline because the autism was part of what made her who she is - she has learned to live with the condition (almost to enjoy it) but does not know how she would handle "normality". I love that attitude. He also said that she really identifies with cows

BTW - I met Anne McCaffrey years ago - lovely lady

When I joined h2g2 I was just Galaxy Babe, I joined the h2g2 Guardian Angels and eventually got promoted to Archangel.
So that's my title, not my name.

I am also into sci-fi, in a big way.

I enjoyed the portrayal of the Archangel Michael in "Xena - Warrior Princess" him with the huge green wings and loincloth.


re: Asperger's: Psychologist Tony Attwood (considered one of the top experts in the field - his book on the subject has sold more than 150,000 copies), likes to describe Asperger's as "having a brain that's wired differently - not defectively". Last Autumn, London scientists published findings that showed there are significant differences in the connectivity of nerve cells in the brains of people with Asperger's. The more severe the symptoms, the more abnormal the MRI scans. On the other hand, that deficit is often balanced with intuitive abilities in areas such as science or art that are beyond most of us "neurotypicals".

Neurotypical.

That's what "aspies" call us, the non-autistics.

There are female autistics at Andrew's school, but most are male. Andrew doesn't like female children, or adult males. Except for his teacher, whom, he says "Isn't a man! He's my teacher!"

Me drool! I never got to meet Anne McCaffrey but I wrote here years back. I used her Dragonrider series as a kind of inspiration for a couple of fantasy games for my kids. Then, LOL, found out there really is a computer game based on the series!

Tony Attwood revived Asperger's Criteria some time ago, but unfortunately, there was such a gap in Asperger's clinical trials and research into adulthood, a lot of parents are left struggling with the fact that as their child grows up, the symptomolgy disappears.

Does this mean, as Attwood insists that the individual has learned to cope? Given my early research on Asperger's work (in German no less! I'm not exactly fluent in German, but I gave it a serious go!) I found that even Asperger himself talked about the rarity of the syndrome. His clinical notes and observations were related to social situations and physical conditions of awkwardness, lack of eye content, seeming introversion and withdrawal but a brilliance of intellectual faciltiy and ability to ignore stimuli and absorb written or auditory material on task that was phenomenal.

Asperger's research, after finding his initial case once then not again for nearly 30 years, did however, come up again at the tail end of WWII. Asperger's study group of 5 boys (there were more originally, and the others 'dissappeared') at 11-12 years of age were never followed up on as adults. It was and still is pondered if these boys (only) might have been products of the genetic "Aryan" experiment in both Austria and Germany.

Scary though this is, a few kids I've had the privilege of working with who have survived severe trauma, emotional and physical or come from particular cultural backgrounds could easily be 'diagnosed' as having Aspergers based on the dual-venue-OSS (Observation of Symptom Scale). Fortunately, I booked unpaid overtime to check out tri- or even quatri venues and found that the symptoms didn't work out in say, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, the Train Club or Cadets or Soccer. I also found out that social situations such as bullying or cultural overload (and this can be just a socio-economic culture change) affected certain symptoms of 'learning disorders'.

A lot of my current colleagues are a bit wary of Tony Attwood's prolificity of diagnoses because of the lack of follow through in adolscence and adulthood. Asperger's has recently (in the last 10 years) been 'rediscovered' and in provinces here in Canada where no Gifted Education Programs exist, Bright Boys and Girls are often misdiagnosed with LD's to get funding for their IPP's.

Can you imagine, AGB that our Gifted Learners here in Alberta are classed as having a "Learning Disability"? Should makes it much easier if a kid is borderline Austistic and still highly gifted in various areas of learning to do a "Gifted But Disabled" right? Not so, the 'Disabled' gets the funding and the Gifted Kids who are often very eccentric are left to their own devices or mis-diganosed with everything from ADD to Aspergers to (this one really got me) Bi-Polar Disorder. Then, when the kids get into a different venue (say distance school or homeschool or even a part time job) everyone praises the educational system for 'turning him/her around'.

Blech.

Sorry for the rant, but I started this journey way back in the 70's and I've watched so many kids 'labelled' just to get a bit of help.

Thanks for your reply, I loved hearing that Andrew doesn't consider his teacher a man, but a teacher! LOL, and not liking girls? (wish we had that problem ... hormones, you know! just glad no one's doing anything with them!). What a guy! He's right you know, teachers do have this 'teacher' personna that kind of preclude them from seeming like men or women.

I have two kids, my wild child Daughter who is singing away with a friend in the kitchen, waiting for me to drive her to the library, and my son who is downstairs absorbing his hero James Bond.

Funny, James Bond was my hero, too, especially Sean Connery and Roger Lazenby. Roger Moore was okay, but I liked him better as The Saint, Simon Templar and with Bernie, I mean Tony Curtis (whom I met up at Whistler).

Ah, the girls are ready for the library and I'm dying to go for a walk!

Later, AGB, I hope!

I'm still trying to get my head round "concentrated maleness"


Having already brought up one teenage son, and lived with two brothers, the male of the species has never been a mystery to me, unless I'm trying to date them, of course.

You met Tony Curtis?
I liked him in "Some Like It Hot" he made a passable woman too. But don't tell him I said that!
I wish some people would grow old gracefully though, he looks a tad ridiculous in that wig and a twenty-something blonde bimbo on his arm...

I reckon you mean George Lazenby, or were you just seeing if I was awake?

And here I am, James Bond is not my obsession,
I could tell you a lot about Pokemon though,
How old are your children?


Obsessions, I think that is just about the hardest thing I have to cope with, other than his behaviour out in public...
I honestly have no idea what to expect when he is a teenager.
My friend sent me a book for Christmas, "Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome" written by a 15 y.o. with Asperger's.
I've read the first couple of chapters and it's quite funny.
Andrew's teacher has already told me that he will stay at his current school until he is 16, he would never cope in mainstream school.

I had no idea that you'd done research on Asperger's work, in German as well!
I'm very impressed.
I can't get over the coincidence!
Have you met many kids with Asperger's?

Gifted learners are classed as being learning disabled?

I find that very hard to comprehend!

I have heard of Bi-Polar Disorder, I am considering getting myself checked out for that one.
Is that something that can just "happen" to you, or because of what you live with - or is it genetic?
Because my life is just so extreme, the time when he is at school and you could hear a with slippers on tiptoeing across a shag carpet; to the hurricane-force tornado that hits when the transport drops him at my door.


I have to use the time away from him as my "chill-out time"

Tuesday morning I went to see a film at the cinema, but the only time I can go is 10.30, which is the "Senior Screen" {I should buy a grey wig.....} this week's film was very good, a comedy, and laughter is a great tonic. It was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". I till I

Next week it's "Signs" with the delectable Mel Gibson.


This morning I've been to the Meridian Suite at Cleethorpes Leisure Centre.
I went in the jacuzzi, the steam room and the sauna.
I think I overdid the sauna.
I came out looking like a lobster cooked to perfection.
Then I queued in the cafe, for a sandwich, there was one woman serving customers and making up all the requests. By the time I got to the front of the queue, I asked for an egg mayonaise she said she would have to make it up so it would be 20 minutes.
Hmph.
I left, came home and made my own sandwich.

This afternoon at 2pm there's a healing session at my local Spiritualist Church, so I'm going along to that.
I have arthritis and I always feel better for a touch of healing.
It's so quiet in that church and her voice is so soothing.

I have to be home for 3pm, ready for the Tazmanian relative

I better dash, catch you soon, AGB

Okay AGB, I found my way back. First my password wouldn't work, then I got going on a writing project, then ... oh never mind, I could probably make up excuses all day long!

Yes I meant George Lazenby, of course I did.

I met Tony Curtis in Whistler years ago. I can't say I remember much of the meeting, I think his son was alive then and ten times more gorgeous than his Dad. Someone caught my eye.

Yes, I have met kids (and adults) with all kinds of what I like to call social peculiarities and eccentricities. Pianist Glenn Gould for example. Said to have had Asperger's.

I'm looking forward to a few movies but the picking sure were slim last month. I want to see my Big Fat Greek Wedding. That and the YaYa Sisterhood movie. Already saw "Signs" (and yes it was the movie).

I promised Jazzn I'd go look for Karen and give her a hello since she's feeling a bit blue, he says. Jazz is such a caring guy.

Anyway, I'm off.

Sorry it took so long to respond!

J

No worries!


This morning's offering at the Senior Sreen is "Anita and Me" so I better look for my grey wig