Wednesday, September 18, 2013

MORE THAN 2-1/2 YEARS!!!!! WHERE IN THE HECK HAVE I BEEN???

Sorry about that, folks. I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted anything.

The blog site states it has been more than 2-1/2 years (Dec. 2011) since my last post.

There's a lot for me to catch you up on.

Let's see:

I'm now in my third year as a background artist on films and in T.V.

Both my sons are happily married to the wives they had in Dec. 2011.

At 11:04 AM on May 31, 2013 Miss Monroe Summer Wells was delivered to Rainbow and Dan. More, much more, o.k., much, much, much more about that in separate posts....many posts.

I was with my mom in the living room of the home she wanted to go home to on Sept. 26, 2012 when she headed into the light. Alzheimer's Disease, which she started out with in early 2003 finally won.

On March 26, 2013 Terri and I said our farewell to the home I was brought to on May 4, 1955, at the age of one-day old.

We now live in Murrieta, Ca. in a four-bedroom two-story that allows me my OWN CAVE! Well, if you add the garage, where I have my carpentry stuff now, I have TWO, that's 2, really it's one plus one CAVES! Terri has her very own cave, but she calls it an office/studio.

To top TWO caves off, we also have a good sized swimming pool AND a in ground jacuzzi.

The 'official' diagnosis of me having asperger's syndrome also came along during my hiatus from posting, but Terri and I, along with family members and others knew that it was only a matter of time before I got the 'official' classification. That was kind of a big thing.

As for being a caveman, not only am I still, but I might be even more of one. More about that in the future.

Moving caves is something I truly wish to not do again. When one accumulates so much stuff from two different residences, then combining them, then moving them once, then staying in that combined place for only 6 years before doing it all over again for another almost 15 years, is far too burdensome to a real caveman who just wants his cave the way he like is. But we had to move, so here we are.

Living in Murrieta is GREAT when you are a caveman. There are so many caveman-type things to do AND there is a whole bunch of stuff NOT to do.

I have found it more of a caveman paradise. It is close to the second largest freshwater lake in California. It is not so far from the Pacific Ocean (but much farther than R.P.V.) and the Salton Sea.

In the city directly next to us is an Indian Casino.

You can be anywhere and also nowhere is a very short time.

Aside from traffic, it's far less congested than in the Los Angeles Basin.

You can have friends NOT around when you want them NOT around and it is a place where if you have few friends, that's o.k., too.

As far as my health goes, I have made and continue to make big changes. Well, hopefully smaller changes as in the waist measurements of my jeans.

Finally starting insulin was a trip and I will probably write about that separately, too.

Terri loves, loves, loves it out here, too. Since I don't have to share her craft space in MY cave, I gave her the larger of the two extra bedrooms. Now we have four bedrooms in total.

And THREE toilets!!!

I promise to write more posts, sooner rather than later.

Miss Monroe changes almost daily and Grandpa wants to keep folks updated.

Dan went from winning (in 2000) with a car he built, the World Championship for Street Dancers to this year, being in the top 10 finishers at his latest Rally Car event. He's moved on from lowriders to race cars, pumps and dumps to roll cages and standing outside the car to driving one, with his wife as navigator inside.

Dave and Pamela went around most of the World for nine months instead of the planned 12 months, for their honeymoon. The now live in the tallest residential highrise in the Southern Hemisphere, in the Q1 building in Surfers Paradise, Austrailia.

They bought the land they will build there house on, about 10 miles away from where they live now.

While large life-changing events are not really what real cavemen enjoy, we barely tolerate these types of things, I seem to have come through many life-changing events and came out, hopefully, somewhat better.

Getting a caveman to do something he does not want to do is usually practically impossible. It sometimes comes with angst and prodding, but that who we are.

Moving our hunting and tilling grounds is also involving and mostly not in a good way.

But for me and I think Terri, it has been so much better.

More on future posts.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas 2011, Cavemen and Cavewomen

For what might be the last time for a very long time, my cave family gathered near my cave, to celebrate Christmas.

Here we are. From left to right.
Rainbow Wells, Registered Nurse and younger son Daniel Wells, Paramedic.
Terri Wells, Library Aide, Miraleste Intermediate School and me, 'retired from AT&T'.
Elder son David Wells, in employment transition (also continental transition, too) and Pamela Wells, Travel Agent.

Dave and Pamela were married on August 2, 2011, in Fiji and today was the first time all six of us were together since Dave and Pamela left for their year-long, around the world honeymoon, from Fiji.

They have a blog for their travels at: http://pamelaanddavertw.blogspot.com/ Please visit it.

Rainbow and Dan live in Hesperia, California while Dave and Pamela will return home to Australia at the end of their honeymoon.

I like building things and that it definitely true for Daniel and his wife, Rainbow.

For one of my Christmas presents, Terri gave me a pack of 'Nanoblocks' which are micro size versions of other blocks now on the market.

I was fascinated, but I knew my 56-year old-shaky left hand would have difficulty navigating the construction processes, let alone my old eyes trying to follow the instructions.

I knew for a true fact that Daniel, the true caveman that he is, would marvel at the contents of the little packages and he would appreciate the smallness of the building pieces. He has had great adventures with building pieces since he first held a 'Duplo' and he has built countless things with any number of 'Lego' pieces.

What floored me was how much Dan's wife Rainbow also took to the 'Nanoblocks'. She is one who is also the perfect Cave Wife to a true Caveman.

SHE was the one to grab the package and open it. It was wonderful to watch both of them work on trying to figure out what turned out to be very difficult (and incorrect) illustrations.

They both had their hands and fingers working on putting the tiny pieces together to finish an adult and young-looking Emperor penguins.

They seemed to really enjoy their teamed efforts. On my Facebook page I have a photo of the Subaru rally race car they are building in their garage...together.
Here is the result of their quest to put together the penguins according to the photo on the package. On the right is my hand holding three pieces I know for a fact would never get connected together had I attempted to use my old and shaking left hand.

Of course, every Cave-dad who has at least one Cave-son also has to deal with that son's selection of vehicles.

The issue is compounded when that Cave-son marries a real Cavewoman who shares his 'appreciation' of all things cave-like.

Thus, Terri and I, along with birth moms Lori (Dan) and Ziane (Rainbow), now have the 'opportunity' to 'appreciate' Dan's and Rainbow's selection of vehicles.

It's not so much the kids' Infinity G37 or even the Subaru Impresa, WRX rally racer that is still under construction in the garage that we are watching the kids enjoy.

But added to the new cave family's stable is the (dang) Subaru Impresa, WRX, STI Dan and Rainbow bought. (Hey dad, want to go out onto the dry lake and take it for a spin?)

And yes, it is PURPLE! (I had a 1958 Chevrolet Impala that was also purple.)

But no Dan, I've had my cave-racers and it is time for me to slow down as you and Rainbow speed up. I'll be glad to be an active part of their pit crew for the rally car as Terri and I helped and watched Dan and his former partner Bret win a World Championship for Street Dancing by "Energizer", back in 2000.

While Dan and Rainbow stick close to their cave, that is not currently the case with Dave and Pamela.

Both of them, prior to sighting each other on a safari bus in Kenya, had extensive travel stories they gained separately.

**NOTE TO MOMS AND/OR DADS**

If you have a son that looks like he can be on the cover of "G.Q" magazine or a daughter who could be on the cover of "Brides" magazine, DON'T 'help' them with the opportunity to have their eyes meet, on or near a safari bus, or anywhere else on our planet!

Terri and I, along with Jan and Perry Platt didn't get the note, three years ago.

It's would not be a bad thing at all if the kids met each other and ended up married to each other. It's just the added travel expenses required to visit the new family, whever they settle down.

Dave's caveman joys are reflected in his drive to see and explore so many things around the world. He went from eating very selective foods provided by this cave-dad and Lori, to a menu explorer who eats things I would not even like to read about.

Pamela was also a world traveler as a passion and for employment. She is also an accomplished artist, creating works using several different media.

They have plans to live in Australia where they might open a cafe/gallery where folks can eat and shop at a gallery displaying works by Pamela, her 'mum' Jan and others.

Terri and I will still have lots of opportunities to visit with Dan, Rainbow and our three 'grand-dogs' but visiting Dave and Pamela will have to depend on finances and longer blocks of 'free' time, to travel to Australia and back.

So this Christmas was bittersweet for me. But it is also joyous because I get to watch how successful they both my cave-sons have become and how happy they are married to their beautiful, wonderful, intelligent and gifted wives.

We 'scored' two base-clearing home runs with Rainbow and Pamela.

All four are very adventurous in their own ways and all four display vast amounts of courage and wonder no matter where they are or what they are doing.

Please take a look at "Around the World With Pamela and Dave". It is funny and very informative.

Keep checking out your 1998-early 2001 "Lowrider" magazines for photos about Energizer's build, quest, and success at winning a World Championship.

There are so many more adventures ahead for my cave-family, for which I will be eternally grateful.

Happy New Year!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Yes, I'm an Aspie!

This blog was created and driven by an 'Aspie'.

I have moderate asperger's Syndrome.

I have had it all of my life, so far.

It took decades for me to learn about what an Aspie is and how I am affected and how I affect others.

Being an Aspie is not a bad thing at all, ONCE you learn about it and how to live your life while understanding how different you are from others.

Those I find to be normal I call "normals", "the normals" of some other form to note normalcy compared to Aspies.

Everything I am and do is done by an Aspie and it took a whole heck of a lot of learning to understand the differences in me, compared to the normals I encounter daily.

I am a visual and emotional person, as all Aspies are, no matter to what degree they are dealing with.

Aspies are usually more intelligent than similar numbers of normals and Aspies can be confusing to normals as much as normals continue to confuse 'us'.

I am a very verbal person when I wish to be. The counter to that is that I, along with most other Aspies, do not easily or readily understand verbal instructions coming from normals.

Aspies can learn just about anything BUT NOT when we taught things merely through verbal transmissions.

Show and Aspie how to do something and when they have 'got it' they can usually verbally teach it to normals, but not other Aspies.

One of the biggest 'traumas' incurred between Aspies and normals is when a normal will attempt to instruct an Aspie with only verbal communication. Aspies SEE what normals are attempting to teach them and get quite confused by their own interpretation of what they SEE compared to what the normal is trying to convey.

Show and Aspie. Illustrate something to an Aspie. Draw out what you are trying to teach and Aspie, and we will 'get it' far better than just telling us AND it will lead away from on of the most troubling part of communications between a normal and an Aspie.

Since Aspies SEE, visualize and try to receive information so differently than normals, Aspies easily feel and get overloaded in attempts to translate what is stated to what Aspies can understand.

Aspies are usually hyper sensitive to EVERYTHING! No matter which sense is brought up, Aspies have a keener, more emotional, and greater offensiveness to incoming information, no matter what the source is.

"Too much input" is really a watch-phrase associated with Aspies.

When we feel overloaded, unrealized Aspies can only take in so much before they snap in some form.

Since every incoming sense or stimulus is hyper, we get overloaded more quickly than normals do.

Aspies must self-realize they are, in fact, Aspies. Nobody can 'tell' us we are. Nobody can use 'teach' us we are. Aspies must learn on their own that they are Aspies and only then can they adapt better to normals.

Aspies are usually 'wallflowers' at parties, for several reasons.

The first really huge reasons is that of constant over stimulation in the 'party' environment that Aspies get confused with. Too much noise, Too many people, The smells. The tastes. The overall considerations that 'we' can deal with what normals naturally deal with at most parties.

However, give us a stage at the party and we are off and running.

We don't interact very well with communications within groups of people. We are better off on a one-on-one situations, except for that stage thing.

Aspies SEE and FEEL everything and our memories are just as emotionally bases as is our visual memories of past events, people situations.

I can tell you exactly what I felt and viewed the instance 'Tish' entered my life. I remember what she was wearing, what I was doing at the time, who followed her in and what that person was doing.

'Tish' entered my life on the very first day of Kindergarten in September, 1960.

I can exactly reveal what I was doing and how I felt the instance I headed up the aisle and opened the lobby door and saw 'Susan' for the very first time.

Along with all visual memories, I remember the feeling of the first glance of my future wife, Lori I had, two years before we actually met. My visual, emotional, and thinking memories of our first real meeting are as fresh as memories I created, just yesterday. My first spoken words between Lori and I occurred in 1975.

Aspies do things like that. We remember feelings and thoughts and visuals for a very long time, should we choose to or should those types of memories simply remain far back in our minds.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing for Aspies. With 'Tish' I also remember the day I received a letter from one of her friends she was camping with. I mailed a letter to 'Tish' and found the reply not from her, but from someone else.

I remember when 'Susan' broke up with me and when Lori said she was done with our marriage.

Aspies have abilities to deal with the most positive and surely most negative moments in their lives and normals need to know this so they can interact better with Aspies they know and love.

Aspies don't appear to be "Type A" folks. This is illustrated by the fact that Aspies can be quite comfortable spending time completely alone. Sometimes normals confuse our ability to be alone as something like a rejection. It is not any rejection of anyone when an Aspie has a wonderful time just being alone and even doing absolutely nothing but pondering.

Rage is a real problem for Aspies. Until each Aspie self-learns what enrages them, only then can they alter their internal mechanisms to avoid or lessen the rages that always come up.

I feel the best an Aspie can learn is that there are real reasons we feel rage and there are many ways to learn how to control the rage that usually comes because of over stimulation.

Aspies, even though it might not seem so, are more sequentially-tasking than multi-tasking.

All through this blog are references to my inability to multi-task. On the other hand, when sequentially tasking, Aspies are about the best that can come around.

Multi-tasking in environmental, social and by other means goes directly against Aspies' hyper sensitivity and rage issues.

Normals can't really TEACH Aspies anything. Aspies must individually learn, on their own, what normals wish to teach them. This is also a region where rage and over stimulation become factors. Too many normals seem unable to understand that Aspies learn differently than they learn. Normals too, get frustrated with this.

It is up to the Aspie to teach the normal about the differences, once the Aspie learns that for himself or herself.

One of the best things to learn about Aspies is that they tend to see EVERYTHING as at least somewhat comical or humorous.

One example of Aspie humor that gives many of us glee revolves around the following innocent sentience: "I haven't seen her yet."

To most normals, the sentence is a statement that the talker has not seen the female, for a certain period of time.

To most Aspies, the sentence comes out as the talker has not seen a part of that a particular body part.

Because Aspies visualize EVERYTHING, we tend to confuse things at first. This is another reason why only-verbal instruction does not work well for Aspies.

Since 'we' see everything differently, we sometimes make comments that normals would never consider or regard. Aspies have a greater ability to translate into normal than normals are attempting to translate into Aspie.

Another recent case in point. In a recent Forbes magazine there appeared an article titles; "America's Fastest Roads"

Most normals would see the title and consider roadways that have fast vehicles racing along them.

To an Aspie who has knowledge of other facts, the title means to us something completely different.

I live on a peninsula where there is a .8 mile stretch of Palos Verdes Drive South that is in constant movement due to land slippage in the Portuguese Bend area.

In fact, that portion of the roadbed physically moves faster than any other road, roadway or roadbed in the Western Hemisphere.

So to me, and Aspie, "America's Fastest Road" is the .8 mile stretch of Palos Verdes Drive South and that is what I visualized when I read the title of the article and not anything about vehicles traveling over any road.

The vast majority of writers don't wish to understand that titles and other wording can be taken in very differently than they intended their words to reflect. This is also why so many Aspies find humor where normals just don't see it.

If I had the money to bet, I bet many of the funniest comics today and for so many yesterdays are or were Aspies. To other Aspies who have good self-knowledge about being an Aspie, we can see these folks particularly funny because we can follow their humor to other levels and almost know what they will say next.

Normals seem to marvel at the 'quick wit' they enjoy from many comics. Normals may not enjoy improvisation as Aspies do better with.

There is a true negative condition Aspies appear to have and it is something that does not look good at all or is taken well by normals.

Aspies appear to have a lack of compassion for events or happenings in the lives of others. It has been tested and demonstrated in brain function that Aspies tend to lack some ability to empathise towards conditions of others. We just don't have the brain connections many normals have with this issue.

It's not that we just don't care. Studies have shown that many Aspies don't have the ability to care about SOME things many normals care about.

This is probably an over stimulation issue that Aspies have. It is probably also the most negative thing Aspies 'suffer' that is so difficult for normals to understand.

Many Aspies also have difficulty feeling remorse and/or gratefulness and/or guilt.

It is likely that Aspies' somewhat lack of the ability to have or feel guilt that is one of the toughest things to deal with, with normals.

Our brains seem to 'not get' many feelings associated with guilt, remorse and/or empathy or sympathy. I'll use this as my one 'brain chemical' excuse, in this post.

In the end, Aspies need to self-learn about life as an Aspie. Aspies need to 'own' how they are different than what is considered 'normal' and that Aspies are not bad folks at all.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

A Long Dry Spell Must End For Me

This post is written for several of my blogs because I have taken an extended absence from writing on any of my blogs for quite some time.

So much has happened in our extended communities since I stopped writing on the blogs and I want to get back to pondering, questioning, commenting, arguing, and dealing with many issues common to the communities I live in and events and conditions in and around the communities most of my readers live in.

Nothing is more common in all of the communities we all deal with than John and Muriel Olguin. Right now, nothing is more important for all of us in those communities.

Most of us know that a great gentleman, very long into life and even longer in adventures would pass from us, far too soon.

We all knew the day would come that we would make us sad and drive our memories into overdrive.

We all knew none of us can and could measure up to the personhood we all now honor with the passing of John Olguin.

Muriel was and always will be the 'winner' of my writings about our community members who were closer to being "more like John Olguin" than the rest of us. She is in our hearts as she and the rest of us remember John.

Starting 2011 with the new adventure of working on ways to honor John's memory and try to be more like him in the acts of kindness and teachings he showed us, is a task we need to do. It is the first task of what is going to be one heck of a year for all of us.

As we move forward, please include in your visions and dreams the smiles your remember beaming from John's face as he taught you something you didn't know or how he was so happy when you understood how he regaled in your learning.

Let's work towards a public memorial that includes contributions of whatever you can provide to those in need and a clear demonstration that we all 'got' the fascination, wonder, and joy John offered, all supported by Muriel, a true inspiration, artist, and gift to all of us as she was to John.

One way to honor John and all those who volunteered for us is to volunteer to work on issues and projects that interest you in ways that promote those things that benefit 'community'

Not only are your acts, deeds, thoughts, comments, and wishes important, your means of demonstrating those things are also important on many issues you might want to concern yourself with.

Here is just a partial list of things that I am pondering about and I hope your list is at least as long as mine:

John's public memorial, the U.S.S. Iowa, Charter City status and vote in Rancho Palos Verdes, Ponte Vista, SRHS #15, downtown San Pedro, protecting our environment, Western Avenue, community goals, park lands, politics, arts in communities, good citizenship, the local economy, working for those less fortunate, San Ramon Canyon, Marymount's Expansion Project, educating everyone, recession recovery, working for peace, celebrating, family, neighbors and friends, contentious issues, common goals, fun, faith, play, and experiencing a full and productive life. Grandchildren, perhaps someday.

I hope to get back to writing on a much more regular basis on several of these blogs.

I know Ponte Vista is important and should see posts and comments from others throughout the year.

I live on the eastern side of Rancho Palos Verdes. San Pedro in heart, Rancho Palos Verdes in thought. I feel strongly that residents of Rancho Palos Verdes need to be better informed and more able to deal with and comment on their government and city.

There are "Issues to Ponder" regarding San Pedro. It may have a continuing set of problems in its downtown area but it has a growing vibrant aspect in its arts and entertainment and there will be new things popping up in the future throughout the community.

I know that "R Neighborhoods Are 1" and there is more to be considered in our community, for our community, and with our community.

As I am still a caveman, my 'dairy' needs to be updated with stories and learning this caveman has encountered over the last couple of years.

Whether I can manage to work harder to be more like John is something that I don't yet know, but I really need to try.

I hope readers will learn or argue or agree or disagree or ponder or rant or rave or just read. But with all blogs, it is truly more for the writer to write than the reader to read. If that was not the case, there would be no blogs and just look how many there are now compared to when I first wrote, in September, 2006.

Thank you and please return from time to time.

Mark Wells
aka M Richards
mrichards2@hotmail.com

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A New Post, Now At The Beginning

I haven't updated postings on this blog for much of the last year or so. There is no good or profound reason for my tardiness in posting on this blog, either.

This post is like the other more recent post that is out of date sync with the remainder of the blog.

As you may note, almost every other post carries the same date as the first post. I did this to keep most of the postings in order from the true beginning until the more recent observations and comments were created.

I shall digress from that model with this post.

Since getting laid off from the U.S. Census, I have been 'hunting' and 'gathering' looking for an employment opportunity that could last me for at least 12 more years of work life.

Currently I am in the 'nether world' of having accepted a contingent offer from the Transportation Security Administration and now continue the process of trying to figure out how to completely and correctly fill out the monstrous background check documents that I seem to remain slightly and mediumly out of the loop with.

It certainly doesn't help matters that I worked four different assignments for the 2010 Federal Census of the United States, in different times, and out of more than one office.

But as of this morning, I haven't received any new Emails about problems I have been having with those forms, so I am keeping the fingers I don't use typing, crossed.

Uncertain that I will eventually get the call from T.S.A., I am also attending job fairs and 'hunting' for positions, as a caveman can and should do.

Naturally too, being the caveman that I am, allows me to work on my 'hunt' and 'gather' much information about possibilities for me in an economy that continues to stink and does not look to be improving any time soon.

Now that The Marymount Plan's measure on the November 2, 2010 ballot for residents of Rancho Palos Verdes has its own identity, "P" I have been and will continue my quest to offer commentary, facts, figures, and just about every means at my disposal to help voters learn how dangerous I feel having up to 250 college-age students living in on-campus housing at the particular site of Marmount College, would be.

Since I am a true caveman, I have the ability to singularly concentrate on hunting for facts, gathering information, and working hard towards defeating the 'enemy' that is approval of Measure P.

Cavemen are uniquely qualified that, when necessary, we can focus solely on the subject at hand, plan, and then execute means to deliver results that are good for the cave dwellers and good for the community.

Folks like me can concentrate, without distraction, on important matters and leave just about everything else out of the picture, until we decide other things are important.

I call what true cavemen do, sequential tasking and you can read all about that on posts describing the real differences between multi-taskers (mostly females) and sequential taskers (mostly males carrying the caveman genetics in these times).

Since earlier this year, I have been learning more about and finding better relationship to my nature as a caveman and my mediumly affective Asperger's Syndrome. I have found out many fascinating things about how these two seemingly very different things are actually beneficial to each other.

Cavemen, as history notes, were required to remain extremely focused on the two major requirements of their lives; supplying the cave with food and assisting in the creation of more cave-babies.

You see in many persons, mostly males, with Asperger's a view that they are very uncomfortable doing or thinking about more than one thing at a time.

Cavemen were the first and most importantly for the success of the cave, the best sequential taskers.

Try and distract an Asperger's person away from the one thing they are concentrating on and you will quickly notice the frustration and irritability that is caused.

Also, cavemen must also have been extremely aware and keen to their personal surroundings and tactile responses in order to hunt for food or grow and reap foods. We see that many Asperger's persons are extremely sensitive to touch, taste, noise, bright and overly sharp images and everything else that would keep them from complete concentration of whatever task they are performing.

Terri knows this well when I am typing away at a keyboard. She knows that she must do more than a simple verbal request to get me to acknowledge that she is even in the same room as I am.

Terri also knows that when I am in my stream of whatever I am doing, I am unable to concentrate on anything else and nothing is of greater importance than what I am doing at that particular time.

It took quite a long time for me to learn not to erupt with much anxiety when distracted by something other than what I was doing. It is very difficult to get many Asperger's persons to feel any real ease at being distracted and it is hard to teach that to others.

So I pondered and pondered and now I feel that Asperger's Syndrome is a very long and very old established consequence of having more genetic similarities to true cavemen than science has learned, so far.

Maybe someday scientists will finally discover more connection between those with Asperger's Syndrome and those of us who continue the genetic line of true cavemen.

I also have been pondering Autism and I am now thinking that it may be a genetic result of cavemen genetics clashing with newer genetics that still have yet to be discovered.

I shall ponder and write on this blog more, in the nearer future.

Monday, July 12, 2010

A New Post After Some Serious Pondering

Greetings!

Yes, it has been over two years since my last post. I have been learning much and pondering even more and that is why I am now posting this higher than all other posts.

This blog was created to offer humor and insight into men like me....a true caveman.

But I have been doing a lot of thinking and I may have found a real link between the real men who lived in caves and did those things I illustrated in this blog, and what I am and have seen and learned in others.

I think if scientists study people like me, our brains and how we think, they may find the genetic and chemical link that offers the best insight into early mans' history and how people like me can be helped live in this environment better than we do now.

It is all about understanding how people like me, mostly males, think and see things and how it must have been for real pre-historic cavemen, so very, very long ago.

I have a form of Asperger's Syndrome which is a mild form of autism. For me it benefits me in many ways and it allows me to consider why I am the way I am and how I might be more genetically closer to pre-historic cavemen that most others are, today.

In going through this blog more, you will read that I am not able to multi-task and I am a great sequential tasker. That type of thinking and working was probably the only way pre-historic families survived and grew in numbers and I explain it all fairly well in the first few other posts on this blog.

I am a visual thinker and take things almost exactly as I see them. This is one trait of someone with Asperger's that is universal between the milder and more harsher forms of Aspergers leading towards autism.

It is now my opinion that truly successful cavemen, the ones who really contributed to the success of the community had to have been almost completely visual in their thought processes and nowhere near as verbal or thoughtful as others, typically women, in the community.

It is because I am and cavemen were almost completely visual in their thinking processes that they were able to hunt and gather better than persons who were more verbal and better at thinking through abstract thoughts.

Since I see what I think and think what I see, I am able to spot things like animals more clearly than many others.

I don't allow distractions to get in the way of a singular vision or thought I am considering and that is also why is takes quite a bit to get my focus off of what I am tending to and on to what someone else wants me to consider or listen to.

I simply do not and cannot focus on more than one thing and a time and that is probably the same genetic trait of so many cavemen back in their day.

They were so keenly focused and single-task oriented that they were able to provide for the cave that which the other cave dwellers needed.

Here is an illustration that people like me see very clearly but is almost impossible to explain to others who do not think and conceive as we do.

Take the following sentence: How to open a bottle of wine with no corkscrew.

Now to most people, that sentence means there will be a lesson in how to open a bottle of wine when there is no corkscrew available.

But to folks like me, I see a bottle of wine and I see another bottle of wine with a corkscrew attached and consider that there can be two different types of bottles, one with a corkscrew attached and one without a corkscrew attached.

Now for almost all of you reading this, the sentence is a no brainer. But for persons with forms of Asperger's we consider two bottles and 'see' both of them and wonder what in the heck the lesson should be about.

For most people who communicate to those having forms of Asperger's Syndrome, I am sure you know what I am trying to get across.

I bet those folks get fairly agitated because their Asperger's person has such a difficult time understanding verbalization that are found perfectly normal and easily understandable to those who don't have Asperger's Syndrome.

I can also imagine the frustration in peoples' faces with they have to repeat their words because whatever they said either doesn't sink in or is misunderstood by people like me.

I think there is a woman with the last name of Grantlin who has Asperger's and goes around lecturing about how she thinks. I think she is off base with her thinking and I feel she could help everyone better if she refocuses her comments to make them better understood by those who are not like she and I.

It looks to me that the genetic makeup of someone with forms of what we call today, Asperger's Syndrome is actually and more factually better considered as how a 'normal' caveman thought and saw things back in pre-historic times.

I now think that the evolution of the brains of humans caused what was 'normal' to become 'abnormal' after so many thousands of generations of peoples.

I would make a perfect caveman if I were to be transported back to the stone age.

I can sit and look for a kill on a hunt for hours and hours.

I can clear my head of just about every thought not necessary to help nourish myself and others.

I can grow things much easier than others I feel because I can be so patient in my work and waiting for foods to grow and get harvested.

I can offer instructions in a step-by-step manner that clears away what I consider as unnecessary wording and items.

Being so visual, I believe I have greater abilities to select a possible mate who could provide the best offspring for the success of the community. It is natural and doesn't require very much thinking-through, perhaps.

I can also some great things, one at a time. If I get requested to do too many things at one time, it is like a circuit overload and I am quite sure many readers have seen or heard what happens when someone with Asperger's feels overloaded.

It is true that when someone asks me to do something or go somewhere, I naturally feel they want me to do or go right then and they have some difficulty if I get frustrated with their request because my thought process allows me to first and foremost accomplishing the request almost immediately.

It is in my nature to listen to one thing at a time, do one step at a time, think about only one thing at any given moment.

I construct blog posts one thought at a time after only considering the overall theme of the post and then include individual words in a step-by-step pattern.

I can concentrate on a maze and get through it probably much quicker than others because I see the route so clearly while blocking out wrong pathways quickly and storing that information so well.

But if you want me to have a conversation with you while I am eating, then we have a problem.

If you want to talk to me about vacation plans while I am driving, please don't waste our time.

If you need to provide me information then just do it as simply as possible and do not add any 'extraneous' wording or non-informative thoughts to me, because I will get confused.

I do get frustrated easily if you don't seem to understand what I am trying to say to you because it is perfectly picture clear in my mind and I have real problems with the concept that you can't 'see' in your mind what I am talking about.

But if we can connect on instructional terms, I am a fantastic teacher with lessons that involve visual topics, including hands-on and practical training.

"What's that! Can't you chew gum and walk at the same time?" Well, for many folks like me, it can become a bit hard to do two very different things at one time. If I am chewing gum and walking, watch my mouth and feet because I will be chewing in time with my steps.

I also can confuse 'normal' people with my comments to their statements and questions. If they are not visual thinkers, it is more likely I will miss what they are trying to tell me unless I can 'see' is easily.

The stock market and most financial matters are far too abstract for me to comprehend. If I can visualize a pattern or something similar to a picture of what is trying to be explained to me, I have a better understanding. These matters seem to have too many multiple layers and different concepts that are not visual and linear.

I can delve into what many feel is abstract thought, but to me, it is not abstract as long as I can 'see' it like matters involving the universes down to single-cell animals and viruses.

I don't feel out of the ordinary in terms of what 'ordinary' Asperger's people have to deal with.

Have you noticed that many people like me can not verbally communicate with other for extended periods of time and feel quite calm and at peace? It's just natural for us.

Our frustration level peaks when a verbal-based person attempts to get their points across to us when we are doing something else or just being our silent, pondering selves.

I can sit and think about nothing for a long time, too.

When I have no opinion about something, I really and truly have no opinion or real consideration of any value for me to communicate.

Terri gets very agitated at times she shops and finds something and then asks my opinion and tell her I don't have one.

However, there are times I will walk into a store to get something for Terri and I will take a quick glance around and if my eye catches something I usually get it because it offers me visual pleasure seeing Terri and only Terri wearing it. I can 'see' Terri wearing it before she sees it and I am usually right on about 90+% of the time, as long as I pick the correct size.

Picking the correct size however, is another abstract that I will always have problems with. I always have to remember what size Terri tells me she is when I shop for something for her to wear. I know what I think I like Terri to look good wearing and she usually agrees. It is another 'natural' trait.

But I will always hate shopping with Terri because she can look at multiples of clothing at the same time and that drives me batty.

I think when you see a group of 'nerds' having a discussion you have no clue to what they are talking about, either they are communicating true abstract concepts or you are not understanding their visual-base communication. That is not all that uncommon.

A comical illustration of that is when Penny has trouble understanding Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory". Sheldon is not verbal except for his exacting wording that multi-taskers like Penny can't 'see'. Sheldon is trying to verbalize what his mind 'sees' but Penny's mind is not set up to understand Sheldon's mind. That is not necessarily a bad thing, though.

So in the end, I feel more comfortable with being a true caveman now. I hope to be able to help others understand why they might be different and how we all can communicate better, together.

Sometimes I use humorous remarks because things can be so darn funny to me that only myself and others like me would understand and the rest of the folks think I am out of my mind.

Actually, I am out of their mind.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Welcome New Visitors!

For those of you visiting for the first time, welcome.

Yes I know that the spelling of the blog's title is troubling to some, but there is a reason for that and it is explained in one of the posts.

This post is here for only a short time. It is out of sequence with the rest of the posts.

I will certainly do a too lengthy post about my roles in "Upton Sinclair's Singing Jailbirds, The Musical" and how it related to my being a true Caveman.

But for those of you who saw the show, thanks for coming and I hoped you enjoyed it!

I was a picketer, The Dominie, and The Bailiff.

This blog may eventually find a way to be published as a series of short stories IF I can find a real editor to deal with my writing.

But for now, I hope you will find some humor and information about Cavemen on this blog.

Heck, if you only learn that it takes just three sentences to provide the difference between most men and most women, then my job is done.