Brain's Dual Engines: Wired Neural Broadband

The brain's a dual structure, like eyes, ears, lungs and kidneys, but with a difference. We're geared with two brains, right and left, which Gene Cohen (The Mature Mind, 2005) says are "connected by a kind of broadband neural link called the corpus callosum."

Functional differences between the left and right side of the brain's hemispheres are well-known. Language comprehension, speech, logical and mathematical reasoning is largely handled in the left hemisphere, while face recognition, body language, musical recognition and intuitive/holistic operations are handled by the right. But the left and right hemispheres work in concert because no one activity is completely dominant on one side of the brain and this tends to increase as people mature.

You've no doubt heard talk about some people being left-brained or right-brained, which goes so far as to say that men are left-brained and women are right-brained. This is mostly metaphor, however. Men and women continuously tap into both sides of the brain throughout a day, no matter the activity. So to show career choices favoring one side of the brain or the other according to Gene Cohen, misrepresents current knowledge.

Throughout early life, the brain typically uses one side at a time for things like decoding written language, generating speech or recognizing patterns. As people mature, these tasks are usually performed in both hemispheres.

To keep your brain functioning well throughout life people need both mental and physical exercise. "Engaging in challenging new learning experiences boosts the development of the brain in the second half of life," according to Joseph LeDoux, NYU behavioral neuroscientist, since novel experiences create new synapses and other natural structures within the brain. Good news is that taking on mental challenges in new areas improves information processing and memory storage. And people who engage in regular physical exercise are less likely to develop Alzheimer's and dementia or suffer a stroke.

So fire up your dual engines to keep learning and exercising throughout life. I bought a Frisbee game to play with my grandsons and I often take on new technological challenges. At some point I want to take up painting. Hmm... what field would you like to explore or what new activity will you try?

Daddy's Girl

When Pamela was a baby, Steve bought a 1972 Triumph Spitfire and tried to restore it. We ended up selling it to my sister Pam and her husband Randy. Randy restored it, and we just bought it back from him. If you are short on time, watch the last minute: Steve hands Pamela the crackberry, and she pretends to make a phone call, while sitting in what we lovingly call the Papa Smurf Mobile.


Some people might find it odd for the parents of a twenty-year-old to be thrilled about a pretend phone call. This quote from Birth to Three Matters works for me, "We need to begin where the learner is in giving every child [or person] their right to play." Her faux phone call confirms that is a Stage 3 toddler thinker when it comes to play:

If he picks up a toy phone to make a phone call, you can pick up a toy phone or other object and do the same things. Or when your toddler picks up the toy phone, you can ask who he plans to call. As your toddler responds to your imitation and questions, continue following his lead.

If you would like to know another parent's perspective on RDI, click this clip to an online radio show.

Here are the two of them picking out dogfood for the gf/cf wonder dog:

Coins

The following should be of interest for coin collectors. My grandpa said he has collected some coins when he was staying in New York in the past 7 years. Although I am not a coin collector myself, but I really feel exciting when I found some coins dated at 1700-2008 from his collection. There are few pieces of coins dated at around 1750, that cost $300 each piece. Last I have read some newspaper articles that some people are trying to buy some 1 sen ancient coins (not aware of the date of the coin) for Rm 300 - Rm 6,000 randomly. Therefore, from my prediction, these coins will definitely worth as much in the next 100 years. Worth collecting for me.


Caption: a set of coins


Caption: one piece of ancient coin, worth $300

It's weekend again

I have been told that my amway membership is expiring soon, and therefore, we were planning to renew it (for membership purpose, the first time, you may need to pay RM 85.00 I think, and RM 35.00 in the second membership year, and you will get a RM 10,000 insurance). There is this new Amway building where I think it is worth paying a visit, and yet someone told me that they are going to have a mini supermarket to sell their suppliments and other products in that building itself. As soon as we reached to Amway centre, I realized that my sister has an existing account (we usually purchase and consume Amway suppliments, and have been more than 20 years now). Therefore, instead of renewing my acccount, we went to the building to close my account (one advantages that causes me to feel that Amway is a reliable company because they are willing to pay you back the amount that you spend if you dislike some of their products and / or membership). Finally, I am free from Amway again. Since we only consume the suppliments, and not working as a direct sales for Amway, so if anyone interested to have an Amway membership, either (1) contact the Amway directly yourself, or (2) I can introduce you to some friends :)

Caption: my grandma and I at the entrance of the Amway building

Later in the afternoon, we went to grandparent's home to meet up with Liz. After observing the picture (in the below) for a number of times, I realized that she is quite tall. She is not wearing a high heel shoes in the picture, and if she do, she will looks taller than me :)

Caption: Liz and I at grandparent's home

Since it is Saturday on that day, we have decided to have some fun. This time, my younger cousin brother followed us along. If you look carefully at the picture (below), you will observe a little 'devil' trying to massage my grandma lol. That little devil is him, and his name is Adam Lim. Seriously, he is a very cute and shy person, except he cried very often and will get offended very easily. Probably he is still a little kid of age 6. One special talent that he has, that is his mathematical calculation is brilliant. I assume if his parents willing to spend more money to allow him to study abroad in mathematical area in the future, he should have a bright future in this field (related to mathematics, i.e. scientist, mathematicians, like Einstein? :O and etc).

Caption: the little devil massaging my grandma

Anyway, firstly, we went for dinner in a restaurant. They ordered a lot of dishes. This time, we have chicken, fish, vegetables, what else, hmm, I think one of the dish is yam, and some mixture of seafoods. Thumbs up! I really love the chinese foods in Malaysia if I rate it based on the price and quality, of course, compared to the foods in the UK.

Caption: dinner in a chinese restaurant

After the dinner, we have decided to walk around the nightmarket. As usual, I am not really interested in walking in a nightmarket, probably due to the heat. The weather in Malaysia is always warm, very warm, and I assume the temperature should be around 34 degree celcius throughout the year. They sell many things in the nightmarket, similar to the Wembley morning market in London, UK, except the nightmarket in malaysia has more stuffs for sale, and at a more cheaper price.

Caption: went to a nearby nightmarket (or pasar malam)

Then, we went to IKEA. Usually, people will go to IKEA to buy furnitures. Our mission is different. Instead, we went there for free drinks, lol. Anyone who has an IKEA friendcard (mastercard) can have free drinks, such as coffee, tea and soft drinks (as much as you want). If you look at my grandpa, he drank at least 3 cups of coffee on that day, and complained that he could not sleep at night, lol. As a result, greediness will not bring a person anywhere.

Caption: having coffee in IKEA

We went home at approximately 12:00 AM that night. My uncle bought some bluray cd's, and asked us to watch that movie produced by Mel Gibson, namely Apocalypto. I rate it as an excellent movie. This is really a good movie to me, and I strongly suggest people who has not watch this movie, should spend 2-3 hours watching it. As for dessert, he asked us to try out some of the fruits (this is the first time I have ever seen a fruit like that) that he bought from his friends. I heard it is very expensive. RM 18.00 per kilogram (that is almost £3.50 per KG).

Caption: an un-named tropical fruit

This unknown tropical fruit, is a fruit that looks similar to a 'natal-plum'. Someone named it as "buah susu" in Malay, and if you interprete it into english, a "buah susu" means milk fruit. I do not see a drip of milk in this fruit and so, I think that is not the right name for this fruit. According to my uncle's friend, this fruit is a very famous fruit in Brazil and Indonesia. This fruit is very nutritious, especially for girls. I have asked, will eating this fruit be beneficial for guys and he said "not that I know, but it is very beneficial for girls who eat them". For girls, consuming this fruit will provide them a better skin texture / complexion. One of my friend told me the name of the fruit is called "Maracuja" (or called Maracuya in Spanish), is a type of juicy passion fruit, a native to South America and widely grown in different countries such as India, New Zeland, the Carribbean, Brazil, colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Califonia, southern Florida, Hawaii, Australia, East Africa, Israel and South Africa. Thanks to Swee Ling for the information.

Caption: the inner section of the tropical fruit

I think i did mentioned to Liz about the importance of this fruit to her, and I think I did mentioned about the 'buah susu' (milk fruit) thing, sounded like will enhance a ladies *cough* and that is why she has this facial expression when eating the fruit? I might be wrong though :)

Caption: this is what happens when you tell a girl that a fruit is good for them

It may look a little gross to you, and you may eat the whole inner section of the fruit, and yes, including the juicy seeds. Chew the seeds well, and swallow it. The fruit tastes like mango, except the texture of the fruit (the eatable section) looks more like the softer version of a pomegranate. We finish watching the movies at around 3:00 AM. Surprisingly, I met my uncle's cousin brother. I have not seen him for quite some time now. Last I heard he went to Johor (a state in Malaysia that was located near to Singapore) and build his career there.

Caption: my uncle's cousin brother and I

Lastly, this picture is for my younger brother who is currently staying in the UK. This is also one his favourite vegetable. In fact, he hated this vegetable, but on purpose, I named this as his 'favourite vege' lol. However, he can not get mad at me because both Liz and I have agreed to capture the picture of this vegetable for blogging purpose, specifically for him to read :)

Caption: white cabbage in Tesco

Went outing with mui-mui

I have been busy lately. Much more inconvenient to blog when I am not able to move my right hand around. Anyway, I went out with my mui-mui again. She brought me to a vegetarian restaurant in Sri hartamas (somewhere in petaling jaya).

Caption: Me and mui-mui

The foods are alright. I ordered vegetarian chicken teriyaki with rice (one my my favourite dish except in vegetarian style). The food tastes good but the portion is little. Price is reasonable I think. I really like having dinner in a pub-type of restaurant, mainly because we can enjoy the food for a longer time period, sitting there chatting and discussing 'personal stuffs', haha.

Caption: vegetarian style chicken teriyaki

Caption: vegetarian style fish dish (forgotten the exact name)

After dinner, we walk around different shopping complexes around petaling jaya. I think we spend quite some time walking, at least around 4 different shopping complexes (Ikea, Ikano, Tesco, and the Curve) on that day. Walking and chatting, chatting and walking, life can be really fun. We have been walking around Ikano and we came to this Sony shop. Guess what I saw?

Caption: SONY Vaio P at Ikano

We saw the Sony Vaio P series laptop. In my previous post, I did mentioned about the Levano's ultra portable computer. That suppose to be the world smallest note book. Recently, I found out that sony came out with this Vaio P series, and the size of this computer is really small! So basically, these 2 series of portable computer have become a rival now. The picture below is a depiction of the size of the Sony's latest portable computer.

Caption: mui-mui and the Sony Vaio P series laptop

The Sony's latest 8 inch (weight: 1.4 pound) is priced at RM 3,800 (or equal to £730) whilst the Levano model do not provide a price yet. T3 magazine believes that the Levano portable computer should have a lower price than the Sony. The size really attracts me, especially when you can fit it right in your purse and / or jacket.

Anyway, the 2 portable computer is no longer important if you compare them to this luxorious 24K carat gold Apple Macbook pro. The Apple logo in this machine is crafted with pure diamonds. It definitely looks so grand and unaffordable to me since it does not has a price yet.

Caption: 24k gold Macbook pro

An hour ahead

Due to the changes of daylight saving time, the time in the UK has now changed, and is officially an hour ahead. That means, an hour less for people in the UK to sleep :)

Two Major Milestones in One Week!

This week had two major milestones for Pamela: her twentieth birthday AND reaching Stage 3 of RDI. Stage 3 reflects the dynamic thinking of children between the ages of two and three years old. During this stage, we will be working toward short conversations about what things we did together and our different perceptions. Pamela will learn to take on the responsibility of sharing joint attention, finding out how other people feel, and trying different things for fun. She will be improving her ability to collaborate by working together better, checking our actions, reactions, and communication, and using language to smooth out coordination between us.

Right now, we are poking and probing the foundations for this objective. We are focusing on something very difficult for Pamela: constructing a coherent narrative about past events that include feeling and meaning. Like many people with autism, Pamela remembers incredible details about past events. The first twelve years of her latest autobiography filled one section (36 pages, both sides) of a five-subject notebook. She is starting to sprinkle it with feelings here and there. But, there is very little depth of feeling or meaning attached to the story of her life. Here is a typical entry:


RDI focuses on episodic memory and self-awareness as one of the five core deficits of autism: "the ability to reflect on past experiences and anticipate potential future scenarios in a productive manner. Developing an internal mental space to consider, reflect, preview, prepare, regulate, evaluate, hypothesize and dream." The hardest thing about encoding episodic memory is the emotion (the subjective) associated with the what, when, and how of the event (the objective). What is even harder for our kids is seeing the present as a continuation of the past while previewing the future!

Chat about the Future
One thing I love about how things have been flowing lately (and I give all the glory to GOD for this) and merging into one tapestry. All year long Pamela and I have been working on experience stories (a la the association method) to work on past, present, and future tense syntax. During the week, I preview future events by having her ask and/or answer questions about what might happen, either orally or in writing. Here is an example of Pamela and I talking about going to co-op the next day:


Chat about the Past
We also review past events by having her ask and/or answer questions about what happened, either orally or in writing. Up until now, my focus has been on syntax and language rather than a coherent narrative (remember, these are the baby steps required for a person with aphasia and autism). Here is an example of Pamela and I talking about what happened at co-op the previous day:


As my consultant explained to me the first lesson in our objective (guiding Pamela in recalling feelings and deriving personal meaning from her narratives of past events), I realized we have been laying the foundation for this all year long. Quickly, a plan for this fell into place. Borrowing from Charlotte Mason of tying something already learned with something new, I could cut up the typed narrative of a past event into sentence strips and show her to ask feeling questions (learned a few years back through the association method) about important facts. Then, I could tap into the idea of having a moral to the story a la Aesop and come up with a moral to her story.

I decided to pick an event that I thought worthy of spotlighting and encoding into an episodic memory. Every Wednesday, we always pick up lunch or dinner for Pamela at a drive-thru restaurants. Pamela usually chooses a different restaurant in advance, so we headed to McDonald's to order lunch last Wednesday. We drove up to the drive-thru and saw a long string of cars. My heart sank because I was already running late for a dental appointment and usually Pamela would rather wait or have a mini-meltdown because it was taking too long. I knew better than to suggest we try another restaurant at the last minute. Those of you with autistic children need no explanation! Pamela noticed the very long line too and very calmly said, "Changed my mind. I want Hardees." I thought it important to focus on how beautifully she handled a situation that would have been a crisis for her a few years ago. Here is what she typed for her past experience story:

Adding Feeling and Meaning
I cut up the story into strips and placed them in order. Then I wrote out "How did you feel about" and let her decide about which fact to ask a feeling question. She picked a fact and answered the question, while I recorded what she said in writing. We ended up selecting five facts for feeling questions, and Pamela blew me away with her ability to pinpoint accurate feelings for each situation.

Then, I explained to her how we were going to write a moral to this story and, after going back and forth we came up with this: "Changing your mind is great. You can think of something else." The follow video shows exactly how we worked on attaching feelings to facts and deriving personal meaning to picking up lunch from the drive-thru.

Birthday, Beanie-Baby Bash!

Tonight we celebrated Pamela's TWENTIETH birthday. Pamela requested Spike the Rhinoceros for Baby David and Early the Robin for Baby Alive. To make the celebration extra special, I put the thirty-seven Beanie Babies generously donated by the totally awesome grandmother of the Black Pearl Academy crew (apparently, these stuffed animals are landlubbers). I wrapped twenty-two presents: two for the babies and twenty for each birthday Pamela has had a birthday. To make it extra special, I wrote each calendar year in Roman numbers and included the two-letter abbreviation for the state in which we lived for that birthday year. Pamela LOVED it. We were curious to see if she would open the presents in order, which she did! What made the birthday extra special was her namesake Aunt Pam (whose husband is Randy).





Semi-Respectable GF/CF Cake

Birthday Girl

Daddy's Girl

Oma's Quilt for the Babies

The Gang

Fountain of Youth (No Kids, No Sun)

Southern Comfort

Brain's Left Side - Tames and Organizes

The last post scanned an artist’s right brain hemisphere - when it brims over with colors and shapes. Leave your art there, though, and you’ll likely see chaos at best. So what’s missing?

That’s where the left brain organizer steps in. You could see it as a mental master of sorts – equipped to corral and tame.

Left brain taming is rather exciting when an artist draws on its capability. It shakes up colors and shapes as a kaleidoscope does and places them into designs of brilliance, under a master’s hand. Or it takes random words quickly jotted down in a brainstorming session to see patterns and logical order.

Peoples' left brains help them to analyze, judge, organize and choose between one good and another. Mark McGuinness reveals how creativity's grounded in a logical process.

It’s as much in the shift here, as the dance is in the hitch. Inspiration can run wild in the brain, unless the left brain taming tactics come alive. Incredible left brain booty includes:


When artists depend on their left brains for composition, they make winning choices for …

Essential elements – through infinite details that form and focus your eye on landscape or a person’s face in the finished piece.

Proportion - where rhythm creates cadence in proportions that emote pleasure, sadness, or shock

Value – in lights and darks played for different effects

Color – through selections that establish moods and integrate relationships

Texture – which shows up to the touch through heavy, soft, rough or smooth

Perspectives and angles - that point, slant, straighten up and curve to the human eye in art we love

An artist’s brain moves back and forth between the magical right and the logical left. It’s all part of the master’s polish to a final work that’s uniquely hers.

Thoughts?

Stay tuned for more on your brain's dual engines.

Acupuncture

This is the 5th time going to the chinese doctor (the 2nd chinese doctor). First, they said the bone in my wrist has been dislocated. That is fine, they twisted my hand so many times, suffered for plenty of times now, but the fact is, they have cured the dislocation now. Thank god.

Acupuncture is a type of therapy is to promote health and alleviate pain and suffering. I heard it is a type of concepts for vital energy, energetic balance and energetic imbalance. For many years, this treatment has been vital and validated by chinese medical centres all over the world. Okay, let me get back to the story.

Since this is the 5th time visiting the chinese doctor, he suggests that the bone twisting method is no longer effective. He told me that "uncle will use a different method, a more effective one, using needles". The acupunture treatment is when the doctor uses is a method similar to how western doctors used to monitor the blood flow in the blood vessels, except western doctors will use different digital technologies (i.e. x-ray, ultrasound, etc.) for monitoring whilst the acupunturist will use some needles for monitoring. The doctor added, "this is not going to be painful" and gave me a smile. Well, it is not painful then. Come on, please do itr quick, because its getting late, 10.30 PM at that time. The first needle 'slotted', approximately 0.1 centimetre on my wrist. Well, that is fine, not feeling painful at all.


Caption : first needle

Then, I told the doctor that I wanted to capture some pictures for blogging purpose. This is why I have a few pictures now. When he poked the second needle into my hand, I started to feel the pain. I screamed but he just ignored me.

Caption: second needle

When he placed the 3rd needle in my wrist, I started to have some tears. This is the second time in my life for crying over something poked into my skin (the first time is when the doctors injected a needle for hepititis b, sometime in twenty years ago). This is insanely pain. The doctor said that he will be leaving the needles there for 30 minutes. Imagine how would i feel when 3 eedles were sticked into my skin for 30 minutes?

Caption: third needle

Finally, 30 minutes had passed. Finally. But the doctor said that he need to poke the last needle (forth needle) somewhere because he was thinking something is definitely wrong with the vein in my wrist. So he plased the whole 3.0 centimetre needle into the skin near my wrist, and tried moving my vein.

Caption: a picture of vein in a persons hand

He tried to reposition the vein on my wrist. He tried moving his needle in my skin, moving the needle in and out, left to right. Trust me, please do not go to an acupunturist. Either he do not know anything about acupuncture (my uncle went for acupuncture treatment somewhere and he feel no pain at all, instead, he feel relaxed) or my situation is very special. Anyway, a few minutes later, he removed the forth needle and asked me if it is still painful, lol? Hell I would say yes. I believe by saying "yes, I still feel painful", he will start 'messing' my vein with more needles. Sigh, actually I feel worst becase I feel the increment of pain in my hand than before meeting him.

The following day, I went to my family doctor. After several test, he believes that I need to visit a neurologist and not just a normal doctor. Then, we went to a neurologist for further consultation. A neurologist is a person who deals with disorders of the nervous system, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue, such as muscle. He suggested me to not go for an x-ray, instead should go for MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan. The MRI will be able to produce a very detail capture of my hand, including the nerve system on my hand. However, the MRI scan is very expensive (usually cost 20 times the price of a normal x-ray). Anyway, this neurologist said his initial scan has showed that it has nothing to do with the bone structure, instead, it has something to do with the vein and nerve system. There were lack of tissues in vein and in the nerve. He believe it is the stress that I have, causing this matter so serious now. So now, this has something to deal with the stress that possesses my brain, onto the nerve system. Firstly, he asked me to not move my right hand even for 1%, so typing (I can, with my left hand only, so writing journals and blogging will consume much more time now), driving, writting, etc. is prohibitted for the next 6 weeks :( However, that will only help to cure the vein tissues. He asked me to visit him again for the nerve system :(

I can not believe that the pain that I have been encountering was caused by so many factors, first bone dislocation, second the loss of tissue in the vein and third, the stress that I have, killing the tissues in the nerve system. Hopefully I will be fine soon. So students out there, especially music students, please do not give yourself too much pressure over studies and make sure to sleep on time (before 12.00 AM), and make sure you are sleeping at the right position.

In case *touch wood* you encountered similar problem, there do have several methods to treat it. Dr. Ru (the brain specialist whom I did specify in earlier posts) asked me to soak a clean cloth into hot water (60 degree celcius), dry it and cover the affected area of my wrist. He suggested me to do it for 2 times per day, (1) when I woke up early in the morning and again (2) before sleeping (simultaneously for 3 to 4 times, 30 minutes every session). That method will help removing abnormal tissues in the affected area.

Stopping and Smelling the Coffee . . .

When you are facing that marathon called autism, sometimes you need to stop and smell the coffee (I have a black thumb, so roses are out!). With all the depressing news out there, stories like the Thai fireman dressed in a Spiderman costume to rescue an autistic boy stuck in a balcony add a bounce to my step! BRILLIANT MAN! Or, what about an old story that never made front-page news: the nine-year-old boy in the U.K. whose mother passed out while driving 70 mph who managed to drive the car to safety? He even had enough wits to turn on the hazard lights. Way to go, Jonathan! This week, a just-released, follow-up study on children with the autism diagnosis in Utah twenty-years ago found that almost half have a good or better outcome ["good" defined as "a generally high level of independence at work and in daily life, requiring some extra support, and a friendship or some acquaintances"]. While they observed that "daily independence" (an area in which Pamela excels) trumps IQ when it comes to outcome, the researchers have no idea what made the difference. They need to do more research to identify what services and issues affected the social outcomes of adults diagnosed with autism. They plan to follow up the entire sample of 241 adults. We have been working very hard on helping Pamela with her anxiety, and it's a good thing! Sixty percent of the participants had anxiety and mood disorders. This article affirms that we are on the right track in working on dynamic thinking skills, which lead to greater daily independence and more fulfilling social relationships.

Sweet Moments
This week Pamela gave me some moments of joy that reveal what started to happen when we slowed down, worked on non-verbals, and spoke with declarative language a la RDI. Last Monday, she turned twenty, but we postponed her party until tonight when my sister arrives in town. That morning, I woke up before Pamela did--a rare event. When she sat next to me on the couch, I wished her happy birthday and kissed her on the hand. For the first time ever, she said, "Ew! I don't like kisses! Yuck!" Instead of feeling insulted, I was glad she expressed how she felt in an honest and clear way! That night, I held her hand and asked, "Are kisses on the hand still yucky?" She smiled and said, "No, kisses are beautiful!" So, I kissed her on the hand! Now, how sweet is that?

Later that afternoon, we were sitting on the rocking chairs working. Pamela lightly ran her finger on my arm in a way that made me feel jumpy. I said, "Ew! That feels weird." I looked at her and laughed, so she knew I was not upset. Then, Pamela grinned at me, said, "Bee!!!" and started to pretend to sting me. I played along with her and said in a high-pitched voice, "Ouch! I'm stung! That hurts!!!!"

Borrowing Perspective
Pamela has learned a great deal about social referencing in the past two years, something she did not do very well for the first eighteen years of her life. One RDI consultant described it in this way:

Neurotypical children are constantly borrowing their caregivers perspective to make sense of new things. They reference their caregivers to determine if a new toy, person or environment is safe or unsafe, etc. Neurotypical children make sense of the world around them through the use of this relationship.

Last night, Pamela joined David and I for our church's Wednesday night fellowship. I brought gf/cf fried rice for her and she sat with me and some friends. While we were eating, someone was announcing the quarterly birthday party for the residents of a independent-living home. The lady explained there will be cake and ice cream, but no presents. Typically, Pamela internalizes "no presents" immediately in light of her pending birthday party and overreacts with mild anxiety. Instead, her ears perked up, she looked at me, and asked, "What about presents?" Then, I explained to her, "The church is having a party for some adults. They are not getting presents. You are having your birthday party on Thursday and you WILL open presents." She said, "Good" and went back to her fried rice. By borrowing my perspective to interpret what the lady said, Pamela remained calm.

While the pastor said a short prayer to bless the food, Pamela dug into her dinner. I whispered, "Pamela," and then pointed to all of the people in the room. She realized they were praying and then I caught her attention, clasped my hands, and looked down. She clasped her hands in respect but could not resist looking around the room to watch people pray. I loved that she responded to my guiding her nonverbally and referenced what other people were doing.

After she finished eating, Pamela sat on the floor against the wall with her journal. She verbally stimmed quietly, but I did not want her to frustrate people with hearing aids. While the pastor said a rather long prayer for the people with prayer requests, missionaries, and other special needs, I quietly walked over to Pamela and sat down. This time, I did something different. I put my finger to my mouth and pointed to the other people in the room. She realized they were praying and again became quiet. She spent the rest of the time during our Bible study, filling out more pages in the nth version of her autobiography.

Coping with a MESSIER WORLD
Yesterday was a hectic day for us. We always pick up lunch or dinner for her at the drive-thru on Wednesdays. She usually chooses a different restaurant in advance, so this time, we headed to McDonald's. I was running late for a dentist appointment, and, when I saw the long string of cars, I silently worried about being REALLY late. Pamela noticed the line too and very calmly said, "Changed my mind. I want Hardees." Yippee!!!!!! No fuss, no tears, no drama!!!!!

This flexibility and resilience in the face of change has not happened in a vacuum. Lately, whenever something is different, Pamela tells us about it. Steve drove home with a loaner on Monday since his car is in the shop. We have three cars: red, black, and gray. Pamela saw the gray loaner, laughed and said, "Two gray cars! Different one." When she decides to do something different, like stay home while I shop, she announces, "Pamela stays home. Different one!" Sometimes, she walks into a room backwards and says, "I'm going backwards! Different!" With her eye for pattern, she has always noticed differences, but now she is able to embrace them, even when that means a sudden and unexpected change about something important to her.

While we are still working through her anxiety over Steve's schedule, she continues to have milder and shorter outbursts when Steve goes to work late (usually because he gets tied up in phone calls or urgent emails before he can slip out of the house). Last Tuesday, we went to co-op, arrived home at about 11:30, and spotted Steve in the driveway, starting to back out. I laughed and passed it off lightly like we caught him doing something naughty. "Look at Dad. He is so busted! He is late for work . . ." Pamela caught my silly spirit and giggled. Steve waved to her sheepishly as our cars passed each other. She smiled and waved back.

This morning, I was cleaning the "office" where Pamela was watching television. I was dusting behind the television stand and accidentally turned off the power strip. I immediately told her, "Uh, oh! I turned off the switch. I'm sorry! It's okay! I just turned it back on!" Pamela was cool as can be. She turned on the television and cable box. Even when she saw the "No video input" alert flashing on the television, she looked down at the cable box and said, "Booting up!" It took a good ten minutes for the cable to reboot and Pamela spent that time calmly writing in her journal! Again, no fuss, no tears, no drama!

Wordless Wednesday: Male Bonding (Wild Game Supper and Oil Filter Change)

What does the current economic crisis look like ?

The shop is closed.

Last week, Slate launched "Shoot the Recession," a project in which they asked readers what the economic crisis looks like to them. The response on the photo-sharing site Flickr, where they set up a group page to collect contributions, has been bullish. As of this writing, Flickr pool is home to more than 200 pictures.

Brain's Amazing Right Side

A curiosity about the world around him drives designer David Airey to create ideas that come to life through a wide range of media. David enjoys more creative autonomy because he chose to leave the world of "design by committee." Even now, when clients fail to tap into his experience, David claims that they miss full benefits of his artistic design. Could it be that he finds insights between the world and design because he uses his right brain more in the process?

Similarly Ellen Weber's main thrust as a writer targets brain research as it relates to learning and leadership. But, Ellen sought the wonder of creativity so she began writing a novel. Note how she describes it...

After living in Baffin Island’s High Arctic communities for two years, as researcher and professor with McGill, I wrote a novel to capture both the nuances and the mysteries from life on a frozen tundra. This story earmarks lessons learned and lived among Inuit friends and colleagues. I’d been excited to relate fictitious events about a fascinating Inuit people within real life settings. While all events and characters are my own creation, issues in the book arose from several Baffin Island community concerns I witnessed while there. My book was written for both white and Inuit readers who care about cultural conversations for deeper understanding across differences and in responses to struggles encountered there.

Ellen remarked that the characters in her novel took on lives of their own and almost moved her hands to type the words they wanted rather than her own choices. Did Ellen tap into her right brain more as she let her characters take charge? Seems like Ellen's right brain fought to take charge...

Ideas inspired from your right brain look different than ideas that draw from your left. Here’s why…

Think of your right brain as your playground for insights – that make you, you, and you’ll begin to see its use in art. Here’s the clincher. Your right brain kicks in when you observe and draw from past experiences during the creative process.

Miraculously, the right brain holds a few tricks for your art that tend to remain hidden until you rub the magic jar, so to speak, and that genie appears. Your muse, like the genie, can release gold as seen in this diagram:


Think of your right brain at its best when not interrupted by constant criticisms and editorial coming from the left side. Intuitively, it comes up with color and lines that work. Holistically, it pieces together parts of a complex plot. Concretely, it meshes mood and body language into characters of a novel.

You get the picture, it’s a bit like creativity run wild in a sense. For the novice artist less magic will be available. To the successful artist, the magic comes quicker, and yet taming will soon be required from the left side of the brain before art takes shape.

Stay tuned for the next post to find out how that logical organizer – your left brain operates.