It's Thursday!

It's Thursday!

An #ActuallyAutistic Instagrammer (I will note her name next time I come across her) does this thing sometimes where she posts tips on how to talk to neurotypicals (like me).

"Walk in the room and say an obvious thing, like 'It's Thursday!'
They will love it and say something like, 'I know, I can't wait till the weekend.' Or point out the weather. 'It's raining.'"

LOL. True!  If you don't need that sort of touch-base, it sounds meaningless.
I need it.
As I'm always saying, I miss my Auntie Vi. Our conversations were 50+ percent chit-chat of that sort --social-emotional proprioception, giving me a reading on my location, like information from a cat's whiskers.

Blogging can do that too--be a touchstone, or a readout of place in space.

I don't have much to say or time to say much this morning, so I'll start with saying, "It's Thursday!  Outside my window, a pretty blue sky and lots of green blowing in a breeze.”

My mother used to say green and blue clothes don't go together, which is so weird because that's the dominant natural color combination in this part of the world (midwest North America).

The weather is blessedly cool. After a weirdly warm winter (I’d biked all but one week), I was worried we'd have a hideously hot early summer. Probably hideous heat will arrive later (surely it will), but here we are--June 6 (Thursday!)--still very pleasant weather.
We've had weeks of days in the 70s---seems these days have moved from the autumn to the spring, so I need to adjust my expectations.

The 2-hour Community class that goes on outings (weekly to the library and grocery store) is going on a long field trip to the big waterfall a few miles away. They will be gone several hours, so I can't go because I have to attend a student from a different group.

I don't mind staying behind. I like but don't love those coworkers, so it's not like I'm missing a wonderful social outing.
(I love the kids, but they are my work charges--I’m always scanning for their safety, comfort, etc. Not relaxing.)

Last night calligrapher Maura wrote out two awards for me (thank you, Maura!)--for the graduating seniors in that group.
She is a pro! (She is.)
Here's a glimpse--she used a pen that holds two inks at once:

The idea of giving awards is mine.

I'd mentioned here a while ago that a couple coworkers treated me rather coldly. I wasn't sure why.
One in particular felt almost hostile to me. That one individual is autistic, so I'd wondered if it was just a social difference, not actual coldness, but I've seen them be warm with others.

Anyway, after I suggested this idea to them, they (both people) warmed up noticeably toward me.
I wonder if I'd given off some vibe... something they read as cold?

I can't know. . . Doesn’t matter…
but in truth, I decided to include these coworkers in thinking about awards (my first impulse was to do it myself) with the conscious intention (hope) of creating a bond. "It's Thursday!"

It seems it worked, or maybe I'm lining up cause-and-effect all wrong.
I don't know, my coworkers don't talk in those terms, but things have been friendlier between us all, and that's a relief.
(I'd even at one point wondered if I should try another school next fall. Now I don't need to.)

One thing a coworker suggested was that we give the awards only to the seniors--I was thinking of one for everyone, so I hesitated to agree. 

But then I thought--yeah, that makes them special--just the seniors, who otherwise don't get much social praise or recognition. (These are "high-support need" students.)

And the awards are great!
I have to go get frames--maybe I'll do that while the class goes on a field trip.

And that's it for now. Have a nice day. A nice THURSday!
________________________

P.S. Oh--I took out the line above the bear's head in the portrait of Fog City.
You can't erase a carved line, so I inked it in---in real life, the difference in ink texture shows up (a little), but I still like it a lot better.