computer savvy?

Now the question is..... How can I get the photo on my profile? it keeps saying there are illegal characters. 'nother question, i've got hello photo hosting but can't work out how to get into it, do it. Help!!!

Procrastination!

You can drag a Karen to food but you can't make her eat!

OKay so that title is metaphorical, but there is a hidden meaning. Any guesses? It is yet another day, I have completed all my data collection and am starting my data analysis today. I also need to finish my paper and article critiques as on Sunday I am sailing away on that big black boat the "Spirit of New Zealand". Yes and the day I get back those two pieces of work are due hence my need to finish them now. That means today required much less procrastinating and much more work! The big news of the day, or yesterday rather is Graham Capill admitting to the futher child sex charges. Any comments are again most welcome. Is there anyone who would like to discuss synethesthesia and it's link to autism? Or the genetic link possible in autism and the abnormalities in brain structure? Yours awaiting discussion Karen

Up in smoke

For those of you who don't know, Takaka is my favourite place, so the fire that guttered Fonterra, Takaka's main employer last night was a bit of a shock! I was msming my friend Kiley who lives in Takaka at the time that I heard about the fire on the news, weird to talk about something that was happening up there and have her give me real time updates! So they evacuated the whole town of Takaka cos the silos at the plant were filled with chemicals which combined would form deadly mustard gas! Wow! And amazing that I can picture the whole thing knowing the area so well. So my fellow Takakainians please leave a message and tell us all about it! What was it like? where did you go? What si the aftermath like? The last fews days I have been a busy beaver down in Dunedin testing 3 and 4 year old participants for my dissertation research. Done 60 so far! Fun and games, challenges, smiles, surprised looks and beaming little friends! Kids rock!!! (as oppossed to Kid Rock). Work is a calling!

Running on tiredness

Hello from the deep south! I am tired yes and I do have reason to be. Yesterday was a full day at Kindergarten testing participants and playing with kids. Exhauting work, then a St John metting at Waihola, then the "Eight" concert. it rocked! Caught up with Chris Cope which was cool, hadn't seen him for ages!Got home at 1:30 am. Spent all morning at kindy again, some challenging little cherubs! Most people have a very low patience level with chanllenging kids. Why? Life is meant to be a challenge, embrace it! More and more I am realising that people like living in a safe world, with certainty, no risks, getting jobs rather than creating them, working for people rather than making people work for them, reading the philosophy rather than creating it, working for money rather than making money work for them, accepting the system rather than challenging the system, getting quick gratification for a good days work rather than slogging it out for a lifetime to create amazing work. In case you didn't already know, I am not like that.

A blog by any other name

It is easy to get disillusioned by the world around us and take things out of perspective. St John youth is such an excellent activity for the young people of today. How can you go past have knowledge of first aid, patient care, self-discipline aided by drill and parade, having a knowledge of the history of the organisation you represent and learning so many worthy life skills such as civil defence, road safety, fire safety, water safety, community service, commuity awareness, communication, animal care, international understanding, camping, venturship, leadership, hobbies, natural sciences, child care, mariotanga, handy person skills, religious studies,home safety, health care, the arts and casualty simulation. You probably won't learn all this stuff at St John but you will learn a lot. And the potential to move on into ambulance work as a volunteer and maybe get a paid job later as a paramedic if you so desire is a huge bonus. I think St John youth is ideal for any kids, especially those who are interested in everything and anything. There are comps if you a competative and heaps of socialising, great for the Aspies among us cos its real stucture and social contact is a naturally occuring process. There is common ground for discussion. If ya know kids who might be interested send them to the website. If they are in Dunedin and think the Hillside division ( South Dunedin, St Kilda, St Clair etc) sounds right send them my way, cos they will have an absolutely awesome assistant divisional manager! (if I do say so myself!). St John rocks! Enough rant on that. Got any thoughts on the Graham Capill issue I would be most interested to hear what you have to say.

To blog or not to blog? that is the question!

I better not get too bogged down with blogging today as I do have lots of work I need to get done!I am extremely good at spending extrodinary amount of time on the computer without having much constructive output to show for it. So I will finish a form and take it to my supervisor so he can photocopy 60 copies for me, work on my critique of a journal article that looks at the social and developmental effects of living in Romanian orphanages. I also need to do my research for my report on language disorders. So I will bid a sweet farewell until next time. Captain Geek signing off

Hindsight is a beautiful thing!

No particular reason to mention hindsight but if we could somehow turn it into foresight it might make life a whole lot easier. But life was never menat to be easy, there are the shadowlands remember. Autism is an enigma and an enigma is also a beautiful thing. Mathematics too is a beautiful ting, so it makes sense that many individuals with autism have amazing mathematical abilities. I can only but wish I was tarred with that brush! Paradox is one of those ideas that God must use to chuckle away by himself. I don't want to get into a politically correct argument about the gender of God because he (sic) had none, he is a spiritual being, no human form so no genetalia, chormosomes or hormones. Makes you wonder why people argue about it really, when it's basic science. Dying so we can life, now that is a most ingenious paradox. The trumpet is mentioned 60 times in the bible. That would make it a bit more than "the seaseme seeds on a Big Mac" don't you think? Much more worthy of a position playing in an A grade brass band in it's cornet form. Yes as it was once said "I am a brazil nut...... hard on the outside and delicious in the middle"

"What would Teddy think was in the box?"

"What would Teddy think was in the box?"

After a long weekend I am back in cyberspace. My weekend was full of activity interspered with times of lethargic monotony. Friday snowed and David (brother) came down from Auckland, consequently we went driving to Doctor's point where the snow was think, cos snow don't happen too often in Auckland! Saturday was awesome, St John National champs where I got right into the patient role! Had a broken clavicle which got slung 10 times. Discovered i'm very good at acting sick! Gonna do more of that patient stuff, and the casulty scenario team are awesome, great make up jobs! Attended "She" in the evening at church, and since i'd paid $10 to be a girl I decided to be and got my hair straightened. Got hooked on mosaic work (stall had some you could do, nearly had to pull me away), ate good food, socialised somewhat and got heaps of free stuff. Yesterday David and I went to the Settlers museum and the art gallery. Today I met with my supervisor and got all ready for my fist participant tomorrow. Gonna be good! Maybe after i've tested 70 kids I may be a bit sick of it! This is very diaryish right now. I'll get back into writing random stuff soon. Kaz

Baby it's cold outside!

Well the snow that is everywhere probably explain that! Had a cold slippery walk down to university from Azucena this morning. Tomes of wisdom are hard to come by early in the morning when you've been awake all night and have a bad headache! The lecture may be a mission to get through! Maybe i'll just go to class! cya l8r Kazucena

Hi ho hi ho it's off to Cambridge I go (maybe?)

Well i'm doing a presentation on language disorders in half an hour, so a quick post first! My absolute dream would be to do my PhD with Simon Baron-Cohen! It seemed an impossiblity not too long ago until I discovered he asked any potential students to contact him with their research proposals. Then my supervisor Ted Ruffman separately suggested I contact him and say i'm working with him, etc name dropping yah know.... anyway Simon is at Cambridge University, yes that very prestigious intitute of learning. So i've been checking out out, and maybe it might happen! Please let it happen!!! The would be totally the ultimate!!! Man you know you have a passion for autism when after spending 7 hours on the computer researching and writing about autism you can't wait to go to bed and read about ......autism! Yes I can't get enough! Man it's so fascinating, invigorating, the amygdala man, that's where it's at! Tonight I have a meeting at St John headquarters cos its the National Youth Champs in Dunedin this weekend and i'm marshalling. Should be great! I might go and hunt out some sustinence before going to my class. Adios Amigos

Seriously good!

Sometimes the monotony of serious study is alleviated by a serious yet wholely pleasurable and delightful journal article that you may stumble upon. Read if you wish this following article: The speech disorder of Doc in Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” Biran, I.,& Steiner, I.(2001).The speech disorder of Doc in Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Neurology,57,363 I have decided not to post the whole article here cos I don't want to get into copywrite plagarism trouble but if you don't have access to the article and would like to read it then I can send it to you.

"It was just a medical procedure!"

Well the title was a quote I heard in direct reference to the act of sexual intercourse whilst viewing the beginning of Shortland St (don't watch, just see the odd bit occasionally), closely followed by "why couldn't you have used a jam jar and a turkey baster like everyone else!" nuff said. Soooo I haven't slept, dunno why, had no caffiene or anything, so spent the night changing between reading about historical cases of suspected autism (man that stuff is great!), doing crossword puzzels and lying there aimlessly contemplating eternity...... nah actually I was writing stuff in my head, various things, blogs that may appear......how to change the world..... how to build up my autism empire....what I might put in assignments! (that should go away at bedtime!!! argh). Last night I watched a video my supervisor gave me to watch to help sooth my ravenous ASD palate. It was a three part educational documentary on autsim and related disorders which all seem to find the amygdala is a crucial link. Intriging stuff I tell you.... It was cool that they showed children with Williams syndrome cos I have read stuff but don't think i'd seen them in action. Williams syndrome is absolutely fascinating, basically the direct contrast of autism where the emotion and theory of mind centres in the brain are intact and functioning extremely well. These kids are hypersocial, high empathetic with lots of language, but they have mental retardation. Williams syndrome is a genetic disorder. Just thought you'd like to know that and if you didn't either you now know or you aren't really taking in my verbige which you are fully entitled to do. But of course wisdom is not something to be shrugged off lightly for the bible sayeth " My son, pay attention to my wisdom;lend your ear to my understanding" Proverbs 5:1 And there are mant many more verses on wisdom where that came from! Now maybe I should realise that I am not a preacher and pay attention to my powerpoint presentation;lend my ear to copious journal articles. Signing off for now Karen the brat extrodinnaire (Did I mention I have had no sleep? :) )