Piece #6 - The Fourth Move and Education

'I'm goin'ta Kansas City...Kansas City here I come!' The song by Wilbert Harrison sounds so easy, since I'd lived there for most of my life, finding a house should be a piece of cake...right? Welllllllll, that wasn't the case, it proved to be a lot harder than I thought. The bad part was for the first time we had to try to sell the house in Seneca before an official move could be made! (And that wasn't easy either!!!) By the time August rolled around, we were still unsuccessful in finding a home or even being able to sell the current house, and school was starting...soon. We only had one real option, I was going to stay at my parent's house in Kansas City and Jaimee and the girls would have to stay in Seneca. So with the school year beginning, I was at Kansas City Middle School of the Arts (KCMSA for short) and the girls attended Seneca elementary.

When I wanted to see my family, I would have to drive about 3 hours to Seneca for my beautiful wife and my lovely girls. I have to admit that was one of the hardest things to do because they were far away and not seeing them every day was difficult. It was nice having my parents around, but it wasn't the same. The only time Jaimee was able to come up and help me look for houses were during holidays like Labor Day, Halloween and so on. It was becoming increasingly difficult on everyone. I remember there were times when I would start crying in the car on the way to school from hearing a song on the radio and I would think of Jaimee and the girls with them still being in Seneca. I've noticed that with my Asperger’s that when I reflect on events that have happened I tend to get a little more emotional than at that time of an incident. (Unless I get angry, that always seemed automatic.) Many times songs or movie moments tend to set it off. (Pixar movies are the WORST! You talk about Niagara Falls!!!)

The other thing that made this all so taxing was that I was teaching for the Kansas City School District. Now, don't get me wrong, it wasn't because of the district, but because I wasn't ready for the environment I was about ready to step into. You have to understand that at that point, I was teaching in country schools with mostly rural people and their cliques. This was a whole new ball game...the inner city and gangs. When I was in college, I had a taste of inner city schools when I observed some classes from Paseo High School. I will be the first to tell you that this wasn't the same thing. It is totally different being the teacher than watching the teacher. One thing that I'll never forget was when the first day was over, I had been in the office when one of the vice-principals had approached me and asked me how everything went. I told her it went well, and then she asked me something that I'd never heard before from any administrator, she asked me if I'd be back tomorrow. At first I thought what a really odd question, but as my first year in the district came to a close, I understood why she asked. Many teachers have had a bad habit of coming into a teaching job, but they had a hard time staying. I stayed. With that, I was able to put on four plays for the four years I spent at KCMSA, and I would have to admit it was rather fun. The facilities that Paseo has are really amazing. They had built some beautiful theaters. I'm currently teaching in another school building for the district.

It wasn't until November that we finally found a house. Not only that, but we had found someone to buy our Seneca home as well! This was quite a blessing from the Lord because November is not a prime time for selling or buying a house so it was quite a miracle. We took the Thanksgiving weekend to move in the home. It was a wonderful feeling having everyone back in Kansas City.

[I just wanted to say to all the students I had the pleasure of knowing during my time in Southwest Missouri, I truly enjoyed my time with all of you and it's great to see how well you’re doing after high school...Thank you Facebook! And feel free to ‘Friend’ me if you want.]

The Song of Inspiration [Check it out on iTunes!]:

Song: “Still Here”

Artist: Superchick

Album: Reinvention

Here is the house as it stood when we first moved in. It has changed quite a bit since that time. I believe this is to date, the largest house we’ve lived in.

Piece #75 - My Directing Method

Being a director like I have for several years, there are things that I've had to deal with in this business. This isn't the professional method of directing, but this is my perspective on how to be a director in any medium. I will probably address the proper method of how to treat actors, but that is not the sole focus on what I'm going to share. As a director you will have to deal with people who think they know it all and you can't say anything that will benefit me. The problem that most amateur actors forget is that acting is an art form, but it's also an occupation. I think people tend to forget that acting is work...hard work. One of the things that I try to let the kids know is that it's a very difficult business to get into. I feel like they need to hear the truth about the world of entertainment. I tell them that they have to 'want' it very badly and do almost anything to get in. An internship is a great way to get your foot in the door, bu

Piece #103 - I.Q.

I have, in some form or fashion, addressed this topic on intelligence, but I thought I'd hit this head on. One of the big things that people with Asperger's gets tied with is having a high intelligence. I have to admit that I've had a hard time finding solid evidence on all people with Asperger's having a high intelligence. I guess this a bit of a piggy back to my earlier posting #78 No Talent Required. The difference between these two is I'm going to address the intelligence in general versus the talents from Asperger's (or Savants). When it comes to the topic of intelligence, I get a similar feeling like in high school when the class decides on 'the most successful' label. I say this because I've always questioned what is successful? In turn I would also ask in the same breath what is intelligent? Testing the intelligence of someone used to seem like either a brainiac, just an average person or an idiot...depending on the score which is reall

Piece #28 - Puzzles

I realize autism is symbolized by a puzzles piece and I've noticed that some people have taken some offense to that, but this doesn't deal directly with that topic. This is a straight observation on puzzles and how they affect me and the twins. With the new age of electronic devices, it has changed to way we do pretty much everything! In this case I want to focus on puzzles because there are lots of computer game companies that are betting on us to buy their own special puzzle game, whether it is on the iPad, iTouch or smart phone. I will say that I do own an iTouch and yes, I do love it! Unfortunately, I can get sucked into several good puzzle games. So far the top ones I love to play are Chuzzle, Bejeweled, Tiki Totems and of course...Angry Birds. To be honest, I also will go 'old school' and play Solitaire, Mahjong, Sudoku and even Tetris because they still have a place in my heart. Sometimes the simpler games I would rather play because they are quick and easier

Pressing Puzzles

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