The Christianville Spirit: Let's Talk about Halloween

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 25th, 2017-TCS # 567

So, Happy Halloween, My Readers! and, a Happy Birthday to My Brother, Michael! His Birthday is Tomorrow! I do not like Halloween. Remember to be Kind to The Kids Trick or Treating and Try Not to be too Scary. Happy Halloween Everyone! So, It is that Time of Year again, The Time of Year that unlike Christmas, I dread. Halloween. Okay, so, Two Things that come to Mind with This Newsletter. One Thing is Halloween was NOT as Scary as it is Today. Yes, I thought that Halloween deserved a History Lesson because Halloween might as well be a Holiday from Hell (Sorry Kids!) Actually, There are People who believe that and can back it up with Scary Facts. So, Halloween (otherwise known as “Hallowe’en” or What it originally was called back in Pagan Europe, Pre-Christianity, “Samhain”. (or Basically, My Least Favorite Holiday) Anyway, Halloween or Samhain is a Celtic Holiday that is basically the Eve before All Saints Day. A little darker version of Christmas Eve basically. Anyway, People in the Celtic Region went to Neighbor’s or Friends House to knock on Their Door and Recite Poems to The Door Answerer, and for that, They would get a Treat of some sort. Yes, they did dress up, but only as Angels or Mock-Spirits to prevent Real Spirits of The Bad Kind from Harming them. So, In other words, They would trick The Spirits into thinking that They were another Bad Spirit. Again, The Celtic Rumor at the Time was that Spirit of Good and Bad would come to Earth more likely on Samhain. Maybe because All Saint’s Day was a not-so-great day to do that. So, “Trick or Treating” took it’s form going from Reciting Poems to Pranks for Treats, which then turned an Americanized Holiday and Now, We “Trick or Treat” to get Candy. Some say, It is a Night for The Kids to get Candy and Get High on Sugar, that and dress in Cute Costumes (like Super Heroes). As long as There is No Mask, I am okay in that category. Others say It is a Night for Mischief. Now, to be fair, Mocking Spirits in either Good or Bad Ways, back in The Celtic Days, probably was considered Mischief. and, This is where Halloween gets Bad because Today’s Mischief means Toilet Paper and Egging. I, of course, would never do that. and, Finally, The Pranks. Now, People can get Extreme with Pranks and of Course, dressing as Scary as You can and Scare Kids. Logic says, It is Scary Holiday, Right?! Well, The Pranks, The Scary (Costumes with Masks and Scary Figures), and The Mischief are Why I Hate Halloween. Honestly, for Some People who don’t celebrate Halloween, those are The Facts that They use to say that Halloween is a Hellish Holiday. Now, Here comes the Second Thought here, but, I was reading an Article from a Site called “Scary Mommy” it basically described Halloween for a More Autistic Kid Way of “Observing Halloween”. They, I feel are The People in The Middle. The People that really don’t want Observe Halloween but, Yet They don’t want to be Counted Out of Halloween. In Other Words, They have to Conform to Halloween. Come to Think of It, They would be Okay, Reciting Poems and then, Maybe flipping on and off The Lights! Now, Back when I was Kid, I pretty much had to Conform to it. I did not want to go Trick or Treating, but Everyone else was doing it and I did not want to not be Included in it. Luckily, I lived on a Street that had a Cul’d Sac and Four Yards interconnected. So, We would have a Little Block Party on Our Cul d’ Sac. At That Time, I was more fascinated with Hanging Out with The Block Party because it seemed like Fun to do so. Of Course, When It was time to go Trick or Treating, I did not want to, I wanted to stay at the Block Party but, I went Anyway. The Most Exciting Part to me of Trick or Treating was not The Candy or Shouting “Trick or Treat!” I was more Excited about Ringing The Doorbell and Seeing The Inside of My Neighbor’s House. The Scary Mommy article mentions that Her Child likes to go inside and Look at The Lights or some off thing in Their Neighbor’s Houses. After all, Special Needs Logic and Regular Logic would say that if You rang the doorbell of Someone’s House and They answer it, that means You can Come In and Talk. Now, I did not do that as a Kid, but I did look inside from The Front Door to what I could see Inside. Because I was Curious about The Lights inside. After that, I did that at Every House. It is a Chance to see what was Inside Your Neighbor’s House even just for a Second. I was a Kid, who really like the Style of Lights. I really liked The Flashing Lights or Lights that did different things inside their House. After going Trick or Treating, I was excited to get back to The Block Party, It is a Fun Time! These Days, I am glad that I don’t have to conform to Halloween. I can Hide in My House, Watch TV, or Maybe go to The Book Store and Read while All the Kids go Trick or Treating. I know that I am not Alone because I have talked to others that feel the same way. All We ask for is Some Understanding and Respect! All in all, Just Because You like Halloween does not mean that Your Child does. Anxiety goes way up and it does not feel good!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. We all have Our Favorite Holidays, Halloween is not Mine! 

The Christianville Spirit: Find Out Who The Fettuccine You are

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 18th, 2017-TCS # 566

Ciao, Hallo, and Hola, My Readers! Wow! A Triple Greeting! Those are from all Three of My Origins, Italian, German, and Puerto Rican. So, On to This Week’s Newsletter and I promise it’s a Good One! Ya Know, There is question that People have to ask in Their Lifetime, Who The Fettuccine Am I?! I don’t mean, who are you, meaning The Personality side of You, but Who are You in The Background? My Name is Christian, I am Christian, and I have Potocki-Lupski Syndrome, what else is there to know? Well, how much what Descent are You from? My Mom’s side is Italian (Grandma Honey’s Father was Italian) and German (Grandma Honey’s Mom, Great Grandma Mimi was German) and, Of Course, My Dad’s Side is Puerto Rican. But, In Life, You are curious to want to learn about What Percent of What are You? and, Where exactly are You from? Well, I found out the answers to that Question via My Mom, Asking My Grandma Honey, and Research. So, First, I will tell you the Percentages of My Background. I am 

40 % Puerto Rican (Made up of 80% Spanish White, 8% Black, and .4 % Native American)

 25 % Italian

 25 % German

10% Irish

So, It was if I did My Ancestry Report without Submitting anything, just doing Research between My Mom and I. Now, I will say that with Two Sides of a Family and Two Descents, There may or may not be a Little Bias. Often You are told what Decent to Identify with. For Example, My Dad and His Family always told me to Identify as Puerto Rican (or Puerto Ricaño). As I did at the PTLS Mini-Conference (Maybe I should call it “PTLS Conference on The Road or PTLS Conference to You!”) in Madrid, Where I said I was Part-Puerto Ricaño. Actually, There is where My Last Name (Like or not) Centeno, came from. After All of Our Research, I feel that I would Identify with both of Puerto Ricans or Italians because of My Love of Pasta and Italian Food in General. However, I can Thank the Germans for bringing us The Language of English. Yes, Folks! It is True, in case You did not know that English comes from German and Yes, even a little Dutch.

 Anyway, Continuing with The Research because Percentages on Graphs and Statistics of Things fascinates me. What got me more curious more than The Percentages was The Where of it. Too many times, When it comes to History of Things, We tend to focus on the Who and the When, but not too much on the Where, that is unless The Where in History is Important. Now, If You tie all that together, I feel that it makes The History more Exciting and More Interesting to want to learn about. If It is not Interesting to us, then We think it is Boring. We think it is Boring, when History is told in a less Interesting Way. I remember in School that it is was like that and Pulling back to Family, At One Time, I was more Interested in Playing with My Cousins than Listening to at least what I thought at the Time, was boring History Stories from My then-Great Grandma Mimi. I bet you that She tell us The Who, The What, The When, and The Where; All Best Parts of a Story. Honestly, I wish I would have appreciated it more than I do now. But, You live and Learn, and Sometimes, although You may think that History is boring and Does not relate to You, but Oh, It Does! 

Anyway, (Clearing Throat), Back to My Research Story Here! I did Find out the Where of My Family. My Dad’s Side is Easy because My Dad’s Dad lived in a Town called Manati which is a Few Hours West of San Juan. I believe that, The Spanish part of My Dad’s Family came from Toledo, Spain. My Brother found that out and I found out while I was in Spain. 

The Italian/German/Irish Side of The Family, My Mom’s Side, took a Little more research. The Italian Part is from My Great Grandma Baba, who married Great Grandma Mimi who was German. After that, came Grandma Honey, came My Mom, came Me. I was Curious about it because I knew that We were Northern Italian (and, Yes, I am told, It really matters whether You are Northern or Southern Italian) But, to say that You are “Northern Italian”, to me, Is Very Broad! Northern Italy can range anywhere from Rome (Roma) to Milano-Torino (Milan and Turn respectfully!). Italian Names for Cities! it sounds Better, Okay?! Anyway, We are from a Town (now a City) called Bergamo in The Italian Region of Lombardia. But, There is a Little of us that is Tuscan (or Toscana) from Pisa. I like to know the Nearest Major City when It comes to Geography and Where Places are. It is Northeast of The Major City of Milano. 

The German Side came from Great Grandma Mimi, who was German. Now, to say that You are German again is Very Broad as Germany is a Large Country. So, You could be Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfort, or any other City in between German. We are from a City called Stuttgart. The Nearest Major City on This side of Germany is Frankfurt. Although, Stuttgart can be considered a City of It’s Own. 

Of Course, The 10 Percent Irish segment of Me, comes from My Mom’s Dad, Popi who was a little bit of Irish. We are not what region of Irish, but because Ireland is a smaller and less broad Country, I would probably guess that We were from Dublin. Now, I have heard that You could get Ancestry Citizenship of a Country like Ireland, like I feel that with respect to Ireland, I don’t feel that Irish. Italian, is more of a Likely Ideal. When You have Family Names like Borella, Cravero, and Vitagliano, You can’t get any more Italian than That! All in all, If You are Curious about History or Your Own History, I think You ought to check it out because You may find Interesting Things!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Learn Where You Come from!

The Christianville Spirit: J-S Right Place, Right Time

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 11th, 2017-TCS # 565

Cześć, My Readers! Wow! This is a New and Very Challenging-Appearing Greeting. It is actually means Hello in Polish! Now, Contrary to what looks hard to say, It is pronounced “Chest” like the Chest Part of Your Body or in other words, the part of your body that covers Your Heart. So, You learned something new! Way to go, My Readers! Anyway, on to This Week’s Newsletter! So, If You may recall in My Newsletter in 2016 that I have picture of Myself and A Woman who I mention at the End of My Newsletter. Refer to “The Untold Story of Mrs. Bachman and Mrs. James” (Newsletter 509). I mention her like This,

“One Last Note here, I met the Vice President of The College that My Mom works at and told her about My Mom (Who is a Brilliant Teacher as well!) about How Awesome The College is too. I hope that Someday soon They will have Work Programs for People like Me at The College. I know The VP is working on it. So, A Shoutout to VP Jennifer, who I will admit looks more like Her Name should be Samantha, therefore referring to her as Jennifer-Samantha. Shout Out!” 

Well, Jennifer-Samantha, as I refer to Her as, is to say the least is a Very Successful and Busy Woman! That is a Very Good Thing! So, A Couple Weeks ago, She said that She wanted to go to Dinner with us because She is Very Interested about My Fascination with Geography/History/Politics as well as The PTLS Story as well, and All the Places I have been so far. So, She invited us to Dinner last night and in True Jennifer-Samantha Fashion, It happened to be “Volunteer Night” at a Local Restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. So, On top of The Greatness of Going to Dinner, We also helped The Community of McKinney because 20% of Your Bill was Donated to a Group called “Volunteer McKinney.” Well, as Destiny would have it, Grandma Honey-Style, We ran into The Owners of a Place called “Hug’s Cafe”. Yes, that “Hug’s Cafe”, The one who for the First Time in Our Area, Hires those with Special Needs in the Food Industry. Now, Okay, There are Places that Hire those with Special Needs including Grocery Stores and The Baseball Stadium that I once worked at,( It might have been Hot to stand Outside in The Summer but, It was a Fun Job!) But, Hiring those with Special Needs are far in between. It really was an Honor to meet them! What was Funny though, is that When they walked up to us, It was as if They had felt like They had seen us before and Perhaps They did! or it might have been The Right Place at The Right Time type of Destiny. After We talked to them, We sat down and Hung out with Jennifer-Samantha as People wanted to see her and talk to her. Jennifer-Samantha is of and is in High Demand, She is a Hot Commodity, Ya Know! Actually, A Couple that wanted to see her was going to sit somewhere else and Sweet J-S invited them to eat Dinner with us and They did. Doing It Grandma Honey-Style! More Friends! The More, The Merrier! Dani and Claude Day were Their Names. They were Interesting People to talk to, We talked about Fasinating Things and Yes, including Airplanes and Airports. It was Very Interesting, The People that I talked to or were Introduced to. I Thank Jennifer-Samantha in a Big Way because of The Way that She Introduced me with such Pride, “This is Christian, You got to Meet Him! Hear His Story!”. I felt loved and accepted by Everyone! I look forward to Spending Time with Them and Jennifer-Samantha herself, again. Finally, Speaking of The Right Place at The Right Time, I felt a bit frustrated about An Event earlier in the day and so was Jennifer-Samantha, but Our Time hanging out, brought Talking and Laughing.  It reminds me of a Few Weeks Ago when I was Frustrated about Workers taking down a Part of My Fence to cut out a Part of One Our Trees and as I walking, My Neighbor’s Child, “Dom” ran across The Street to Hug Me and I thought to myself, “You have No Idea how much that helped me!”. All in all, Sometimes, Destiny has a Funny Way of working itself through. Gratis Destino! (Thank You Destiny in Italian). Of All Words in Italian, That is My Favorite Phrase!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. It is Good to feel loved and accepted.  

The Christianville Spirit: The Good Doctor

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Makes You Wonder

October 4th, 2017-TCS # 564

Happy October, My Readers! Yes, Some People just love October. It means Autumn, Pumpkins, Pumpkin-spice Lattes, and Of Course, Halloween. Me? I only like it because It is My Brother’s Birth-Month and for Fall Foliage but, Halloween is in Not My Favorite Holiday. So, on to This Week’s Newsletter and Happy 11th Year of Writing to Me! So, This Week’s Newsletter is about something that has been Unconventional for The Longest Time. Don’t Worry, Folks! It is not going to get real like Last Week’s Newsletter. So, There is a New Medical Drama in TV and It is actually better than Grey’s Anatomy, Better than Grey’s Anatomy?! No Way! That is Crazy! It is actually from Writer of The Former-Medical Drama, House. This Show takes on The Medical World with a Huge Twist, The Doctor has Autism. Yes, Really, Autism. So, The Show is called The Good Doctor and contrary to belief, There are a Ton of what They call “Good Doctors” or Basically, Doctors that have Special Needs out there. As Long as They are Morally Right, Can Speak as Clearly as Possible, and Have a Passion to Save Lives, then You can become a Doctor! Anyway, This Show stars a Doctor named Dr. Shaun Murphy, who has Autism, but is Extremely Smart and Can Sense Things that Most People can not. My Mom and I started watching this show Two Weeks Ago, Once to give it a Trial Run to see if We like it or not, and Move on from There. Well, Long Story, Short, It opened My Mom’s Eyes up to the Mind of Someone with Autism, as well as Myself. 

Like, The First Thing, He can Imagine the Medical Anatomy of Particular Region of The Body, has it Pictured in His Head, and then can figure out What is Wrong with The Patient. It is something that I can do, only with Maps. I can Image a Part of The World while explaining about a Country or Explaining History of When something happened. 

The Next Thing, Opened My Eyes, with an Issue of Communication and (At Least for Me) The Distress of Someone in The Hospital, How do You explain what You are seeing to Another Doctor that needs to hear it? Well, First Off, The Distress did not bother him because His passion is to Save Lives! Anyway, The Way They animate this Show, They show on a Screen what He is Seeing as to What is Wrong with Said Patient, but trying to Explain to another Doctor along with The Hardness of Communication and The Doctor’s sometimes don’t listen because They believe that, “He doesn’t Know Anything! He has Autism!” and, that can’t be farther from The Truth. Sometimes, even though I have PTLS and I can Communicate well, I sometimes have trouble conveying certain things as well. Because so many things are going on in My Mind that I want to say, that My Mind gets ahead of Me. One Thing that I connected with was that He listened to Each Order that The Doctors (who did not understand him) said and Took it in Every Literal sense of The Word. Regardless, of Whether They were being Sarcastic or Just Plain Mean! Sometimes, Doctors can be that way. Not Our PTLS Doctors Though!

Another Thing that He did that amazed me was His Intuition! Whereas I have Intuition about People’s Emotions, Dr. Shaun Murphy had Intuition about People’s Health. For Example, There was a Little Girl with a Stomach Ache and Shaun thought it was Something other than a Stomach Ache. One of The Doctors mentioned about The Girl’s Parents arguing, and Shaun was told to send The Girl home because They thought that It was Only a Stomach Ache caused by Stress. Later, Dr. Shaun did one of Images in His Head and Figured out what was Truly Wrong with Her. He then went to The Girl’s House and try to help Her and The Arguing Parents did not believe him. Shaun used his Power of Obsession by knocking on The Door repeatedly, and Finally, got in to see that Shaun was Right about The Little Girl, Her Intestines were Twisted, making her Stomach Ache. I can relate to that because Us PTLSers have that Stubborn/Determined/Obsessive Streak. She went into Surgery and came out Okay. But, What amazed me was that He sensed it, He broke a Few Rules trying to care for Her, and He was Completely Right. Had Shaun not been there and so determined, She would have Died. Who says that Stubbornness and Obsessing never got you anywhere! In This Case, It actually has gotten Him results for what He thinks is going on. If a Mean Doctor says No, He will Obsess and Find a Way to get it Done! Just like Dr. Shaun has another Doctor to support and fight for Him because The other Doctors don’t want him there, I have Someone to Support and Fight for Me to get a Job that I can do that Others think I can’t. After Watching This, I noticed the Discrimination of People with Special Needs, it does not matter what Special Needs they have. All in all, Just like Dr. Shaun Murphy is Smart in The Medical World, I am Smart in the Geography World like People will not give me an Opportunity in the Job World! I just need an Opportunity!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. See A Person Abilities, Not Disabilities. It Might save your Life!