Pressing Puzzles

I have to admit that I've been rather indecisive lately. I'm trying to remember a time in the past when I was so unaware in my life! I think the bad part is that by a certain point you should have reached were you wanted to be. Sadly that is not my case, because I always thought I'd be writing comic books, manga, novel or short stories. So far the only things I've "published" have been these blogs about my life with Asperger's. I don't know if it's the age or autism, but I'm at a point right now where I have no idea what to do. Honestly, I never thought at this point I'd still be teaching...in high school no less! Maybe college, but not in the public school system I can tell you that for sure. Don't get me wrong, I still love to write, but I feel like I've lost a little of my passion. I guess when you fight for so many years on stories and working with artists then the company either doesn't like your stuff or they go belly...

Being a teacher as long as I have and seeing thousands of students over the years, I have a terrible habit of trying to remember names. There have been times when I run into a former student and I want to so badly try to remember their name, but dejectedly I usually end up having to be refreshed on their name...and many times which school they attended! I really feel disappointed when the student is looking at you in hopes that I would remember everything about them. I guess I can remember when I was younger and I'd see my former teachers and some of them would remember my name (though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing). Although, I have had other teachers not remember my name, but they remember me by my face. So to all my students that I've had or will have, I apologize if I can't remember your name, but understand I will probably recognize you by your appearance. I have noticed that as my wife has gotten older, many people don't realize it...

If you've had the opportunity to read any of my blogs, you might have noticed that there were many times in my life that I would thrust myself into the role of the leader. It's been peppered all through out my different postings, from scouting to teaching. I guess the question would have to be 'Why am I greatly drawn to a leadership position when I try to avoid people and conflict?!!!! Arrrrrrr!' Very frustrating! It doesn't seem to make any sense. I guess I could think of it like an 'arm chair quarterback', I would gripe about how things should be; but I actually want to do something about it. It seems like I feel compelled to step up and do the job, rather than simply complain. In its simplest form, I'm the leader of the house...or at least that is what my wife wants me to think. She does a lot of backdoor deals that I tend to be unaware of. When there is life or limb on the line, I'm usually the one who makes the final decision...storms, emerge...

"You are what you eat." Does this statement define who you are? A few might say so, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that. I've been writing these blogs for a while now and I would assume one would label me as having Autism, so I guess you could call me Autistic. However, you also know me as a father, a husband, a son, a brother, an uncle, and not too far off...granddad. So...what am I? A Christian? A teacher? A writer? A heterosexual? A lover? A fighter? It seems like we've gotten into this habit of labeling everything. Even some of these labels have turned into fads. Anyone still remember the 'Hippies'? It's frustrating when society takes a way of life for some people and blows it up into fad. Makes me wonder if they'll try to turn autism into a fad! It's a just cause, I mean, I didn't get this from a vaccination needle or from a mere choice, but I was born with it. Now that I think about it, I guess deep down me having the label of a...

If there was anyone that can smell out something odd about you...it would be a bully. They all had this uncanny knack of being able to zero in on anyone that might be a little off from the rest of the pack.  ThePostGame.com   had this to say about bullies: "Experts say that more than 150,000 children miss school every day because they are afraid of being bullied. More than half of all schoolchildren have witnessed a bullying incident and three of every four students say bullying is a problem at their school." I'm a teacher and even that surprised me! I knew it has aways been an issue, but I think this is the first time experts have actually studied this problem. The report did go on to say: "The bulk of bullying occurs from the fourth through the eighth grades, although it can continue through high school and even in the workplace. Bullying is intimidation or domination toward someone perceived as weaker, a way to establish superiority through coercion or ...