So this is the photo what i said i would upload on Monday. Firstly, this is me. You have never seen me before so atleast now you can put a face to my writings. Secondly, this photo was a result of me and my mum messing about in the kitchen. I put this teatowel on my head and i tried to look holy. My nan thinks i look like jesus and some of my family think i look like a assassin off assassins creed (a video game). What do you think? Thanks for reading.
P.s i was a bit nervous at showing my face
Last Friday whilst at college i got an injury. I strained my groin. It was when i was having a bit of a kick around either before i went into college or before i went home. I cant remember. Anyway last weekend i didn’t do as much exercise or anything like that, because i wanted it to get better for the week ahead ( i did one walk). And it did. Or i thought it did because yesterday, exactly one week from that injury Ive done it again. I don’t get it though because i stretched before i had a kick about and i have been playing football all week at college. For those of you who are new here or have just forgot, when i go to college i play football for 10 minutes before i go in. This is so i can settle down before i have to go inside and do something. For some reason if i don’t play football for 10 minutes i don’t cope as well inside college. Its probably routine. But here is where the problem lies now. This injury is worse than last weeks one so i need to give it about a weeks rest at least. So what will i do when i go to college and i cant play football. I would probably just have to go for a walk around the building once or twice. I have got a tiny bit better at my routine changing now though. Before i didnt like one thing changing in my routine. And if it did it would mess me up. It just shows how intrinsic and important if for autistic people. We feel safer when our routine is in place. There are no surprises or variables in our day. Its like blood or oxygen for some people. If you don’t have it, you don’t work as efficiently, simple as that. Now as i have said, i am better at that now. I can change some things in my routine. So i will use this benefit to not get as stressed or worried about things changing. Like going for a walk instead of playing football. I will still though really look forward to getting back to playing football though. Just be wary of peoples routines though because some people need to stick to theirs, just as you may need to stick to what time you arrive at work for example. Thanks for reading.
P.s i might put a picture of me on this in a few days. Its me with a tea towel on my head. i know, weird right? But My mum and nan think i either look like Jesus on it or a character from assassins creed. let me know if you want me to put it on or not so you can tell me what you think.
Today i have been to the Manchester City Football teams stadium (or Etihad Stadium). I went because i thought i was doing some work experience there. I went with one of my support workers called Steve, who is a massive Manchester city fan, and a few other people. When we got there we had to wait in the reception area for someone called Paul (same name as me). When i asked why this was, Steve said it was because Paul had to show us around first before any work was undertaken. It was basically an induction, like the one at a gym. When i say work, i mean small menial tasks like giving the seats in the stadium a quick wash over. When Paul arrived he began to show us around the place. He told us that it was a work place so no one could mess about. They went into this room where there was a TV showing sky-sports news. There was a few people sitting down and also having a drink. They was probably on their break. We all sat around a table because i think one of the people from my college had to sign a few papers. Steve knew i didn’t like sitting around the table with all these people, so he asked me should we wait outside the room until they had finished. I obviously said yes. As we was waiting outside the room and chatting, a person went into the room where we had been in a few minutes before. After a short while he came out and was pushing a large trolley. And on it was a large dark brown box. Steve knowing a lot about the stadium told me that inside the box that was just wheeled out was the premier league trophy. I was glad to be this close although i didnt see it. Shortly after, the rest of the people came out of the room. We walked out of some doors and we was in the tunnels. The tunnels where the footballers walk out onto the pitch to thousands of cheering fans. It was fantastic. We saw where the players was interviewed after the match and continued up the tunnels onto the edge of the pitch. It was a big stadium but it was smaller than i expected. I asked Steve (when we was going out of the pitch) how many seats there was in it, and he said 48,000. At the edge of the pitch i saw just how pristine the grass was. Absolutely immaculate piece of ground. I would have loved to have gone on it, but there was a big fine if you did step on it. I saw the managers seat, where he would sit watching his army of footballers try to win the game. There must have been hundreds of emotions going on in that seat when he was there. On the right side of the pitch there was massive cranes towering over us. That was because the stadium was getting more seats. Steve mentioned it would have about 65 thousand all in all i think. After 10 minutes it was time to leave because my Taxi driver Javid would be waiting. I would be doing work next time i go there.
About an hour ago, on the news it said Princess Anne was at the exact same stadium i had been too. And then i vaguely remembered Paul said something about that when i was there, but i was too anxious to think correctly at the time. And she was there at the same time. I bet we nearly bumped into her. That would have been a great story to tell. Imagine when i was stood at the edge of the pitch, a royal came and stood next to us. That would have been nerve racking and amazing.
Even though i don’t support the club it was a great experience to have.
Thanks for reading.
As i said in my last post, i have recently acquired a treadmill. I saved up for a long time to get one. The model i have got is a Reebok zr10 (above). This machine retails at around £1,200 but i got it second hand at £450. And when i say second hand it pretty much isn’t, its like brand new. When me and Tim went round to check it out, the man said he and his wife had been on it maximum 15 times. Anyway before i have been going to college i have been going on the treadmill. I go on it for around 45 minutes all in all. This consist of me running 1 mile and then doing a program. There are around 24 programs all in all on my treadmill. A program is a preset work out. You can change the duration though before hand. As your doing a program the treadmill will automatically speed up or speed down, it also can put the gradient up to 15 degrees. That’s like going up a pretty steep hill. It is absolutely brilliant. And whilst your doing all of this the screen shows whats coming up next and you calories burnt, distance and speed. It also has an mp3 input, so i connect my ps vita and listen to whatever music takes my fancy, and its blasted through 2 speakers, which are actually pretty good. The max speed it can go is 11.2 miles per hour, though i haven’t attempted this speed yet. I have ran at 10 miles per hour but only for maybe 20 seconds. I actually want in future to be able to run a 5k race, so i am sort of training for it, even if it takes me 5 years. As i said before i run 1 mile at the moment. I have recently upped my speed from 5 mph to 6mph, so i am pleased with this. It takes exactly 10 minutes running at 6mph to run a mile. My record mile is 9.15 seconds. I did this the other day. After i had warmed up for a few minutes i started running at 8 mph. I ran this for 2 or 3 minutes when my chest really started to hurt. I know when im pushing myself but this was obviously too much for my body. So i slowed it down to walking for a few minutes and then ran at my usual 6 mph. I think when i go on my treadmill tomorrow i will up the distance. I will try to do 1.25 miles instead of my usual 1 mile. And then when i get good at doing that i will up the gradient slightly over time till its about 3 degrees. I think running at 2 degrees on a treadmill is about running normally outdoors. So that’s about it about my treadmill. I am really pleased with myself and with the machine.
I have a challenge for you all. Try to do a bit of exercise each day this week. It can be whatever you want, walking, cycling even dancing in front of the telly to music videos. Trust me exercise its a great thing. For me it keeps my mind less crowded (if i dont do any exercise i start to go downhill, like being depressed and i also have a self destroying mind which can only be dampened by exercise). I feel more confidant and of course your increasing the length of time you get on this earth. Once you get the fitness bug you will not go back. By the way my weight is now around 12 st 9 which is about 180 pounds.Thanks for reading
Well that didn’t work out did it? i said i was going to write on here more often on here during my holidays but i didn’t. Part of it is because i might say in my head ” i will write on my blog tomorrow” and then tomorrow comes and something gets in the way. And this repeats itself for a few weeks. I have also had some rough times during the holidays. I think i might have been on the edge of another breakdown. Maybe, but maybe not because i understand myself a lot more now and because of that i am stronger.
About 3 weeks ago i bought a treadmill. I had saved up for it for a few months beforehand. I actually ordered one from a website that said it would be delivered within 5 days, then after i had ordered it it said on a email it would be about a month. So i cancelled it and began to look for a second hand one. I found one just up the road from us. It was 2 more models up than the one i had previously ordered and it was only £30 pounds more, so my mum rang up and arranged a time to go and look at it and get it. So i have one now. I have wanted one for about 5 years but could never afford and we never had room (we had a clear out the other week, we threw away the thing we didn’t need anymore). So i have been on the treadmill about 4 or 5 times a week since i bought it about 3 weeks ago. I will write another post sometime soon telling you in more detail what i do on the treadmill.
Around 5 weeks ago i went to the doctors with my step-dad. i went for a few things. One was to try to refer me to a psychologist and the other was about my heart. My heart kept being weird and hurting and beating differently than it should have been doing, so i am booked in for a ECG in a couple of weeks. My step-dad was a trooper at the docs. In England the docs try to save money wherever they can, so they will only do something if it is absolutely necessary, so my step-dad really had to persuade the doctor to let me access a psychologist. In the end after much persuading the doctor agreed, so around 3 or 4 weeks later i found myself going to the hospital to see the psychologist. My mum and brother Adam came and explained about my life. Things like what i get worked up about and things like that. she gave me some new melatonin and she gave me some pregbalin. She said in some cases it has been a life changer. By the way pregabalin is used for anxiety and epilepsy. So i am going seeing her again in just under 2 weeks to discuss how i have been on these tablets. So far i have felt no change but they could take a while to get into my system, or i may need a stronger dose.
So these are the main events in my school holidays (at least the ones i can talk about). Anyway as always thanks for reading.
MY LIFE AND LIVING WITH AUTISM. 