The Christianville Spirit: Lynee Day Newsletter

Photo Credit to The Watson Family 

The Christianville Spirit

The Sprit that Sparkles

May 20, 2015-TCS # 451

So, My Readers, In A Few Days will be a Bittersweet Remembrance Time for Me.  You See, Back in 2008, A Friend from Childhood named Lynee Watson passed away. Newsletters in The Past have mentioned how she passed but, I think I should use a Lighter Way of Saying It. It was a Very Sad Time for All. I knew Lynee back in Elementary School, like back in 4th Grade and Part of the 5th Grade. Then, I met back up with Her in 10th Grade. We instantly recognized each other and It was an Awesome Reunion! Lynee and I were actually very good friends even though I was not as Social as I am now. Funny Enough, She understood what I was saying to Her. I had the Biggest Crush on Her, so much so that I would blush when Her Name was mentioned. So, I am sure You are asking as well as I often wonder about, Why are You celebrating Someone’s Life that You JUST had a Crush on? Well, Actually, I believe that It was not JUST a Crush, I think that We had a Connection, an Understanding of Each Other. That and When I found out, 2 Years too Late, Just How Much She meant to Me. After I found out that She passed away, I had first thought it was a Joke. People do that sometimes, as Crazy as it sounds. But, I found out it was Legit. So, After a Year of Digesting It, I made a Day in Her Honor, I called It “Lynee Day”. With that, I should announce that I came up with a More Official Name, Lynee Remembrance Day along with an Observance at 2:22PM Central/3:33PM Eastern. Anyway, Every now and then, I think back to The Day She past wondering what was I doing during That Time and Also, What was I writing about in My Newsletter when it happened and That is What I am about to Show You. Before I do, A Little Background. Shortly before My Mom’s Dad, My Grandpa “Popi” passed away in April 2008, I had started a “Playlist of Your Life” Series in My Newsletter and The One I wrote on The First “Lynee Day” was about Me. In My Life, Personally, I was working at the Frisco Roughriders as a “Playball Attendant” (Someone who hands out Programs) and as well as Me and Madison were dating on and off at The Time. One More Note, At This Time in My Life, I was still into Disney Channel. So, as Part Celebration of The Christianville Spirit’s 10th Year and Lynee Remembrance Day, Here is My “Playlist of Your Life” Newsletter which was written on May 21st, 2008 (Reference Newsletter 102). Happy Lynee Remembrance Day, Everyone!

“Welcome back, everyone. It’s time for another installment of The Christianville Spirit Series, “Playlist of Your Life”. For this installment, we’re going to venture into someone’s life that has been a shine on others with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. This person is the writer of The Christianville Spirit and if you haven’t guessed who it is, it’s me. So, let’s see my life from the beginning. I was born on August 11, 1987 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas and according to My Mom, which was the most wonderful day of her life. For this we’ll play, “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits. Later, My Mom, Michael and, I moved to Plano, TX. For this we’ll play “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts. When I was 9 or so, I was diagnosed with a Duplication of Chromosome 17(which is now Potocki-Lupski Syndrome) which My Mom was happy about it because she didn’t want to settle for a special need like autism which I was pretty close to being diagnosed that. When I was in a repeat of 10th Grade which my friend Steven called 10.5 Grade I had my first girlfriend who was Ali. She was the first girl I had really loved and everyone knew it too because everyday I would look for her name in everything like Signs, Cities, and More. For we’ll play “True to Your Heart” by Raven; In my senior year of high school, I went to the homecoming dance with my friend, Madison and I stayed to the whole time. Which back in middle school, I went to a social and I thought it was too much for me. And, on May 29, 2007 I graduated from Plano Senior High School. And, for this we’ll play “Graduation (Friends Forever)” by Vitamin C. but, all in all I know that I am and will be the best role model for parents and children with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome and leave a legacy never to be forgotten.

Thanks for reading The Christianville Spirit.”

I Hope that You enjoyed that! The Point here is that, No Matter how You feel about Someone, whether You Love or Hate them. You should always Spread Love because Hate will get you Nowhere. All in all, Don’t Forget to tell those that You Love that You Love Them as a Standard Rule because You don’t know if It is The Last Chance that You see them. This applies to Friends and Family. In Case I haven’t said it in a while, I Love You Guys, My Readers. You Guys mean The World to Me, whether You are a PTLS Family Member, Friend, or Curious Reader. 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Spread Love to Everyone and The World will be a Better Place!

The Christianville Spirit: Review of PTLS Questions

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

May 13, 2015-TCS # 450

Buonasera, My Readers. By The Way, “Buonasera” is Italian for “Good Evening”. Thought that I would try a Different Greeting than what I normally do. So, as Joan Rivers would say, “Let’s Talk” and This is a “Let’s Talk” Newsletter indeed. As My Veterans know, I often cover the Same Thing about PTLS In Introduction but, As I say, There are always New PTLS Family Members that are “Admitted into The Union” per se. But, I am sure that There are Those who have been reading a while, or Started Reading, and are Curious about PTLS. You See, When A New PTLS Member is Admitted into The PTLS Family, To be fair, They are a Bit Scared when They come in and See what PTLS has to offer. They worry about Many Simple Things that Most People would not; PTLS is Unique! Haven’t You Heard? (breaking out in Song) The, The, The Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird Is The Word! Just Kidding about The Bird, It is Family Guy Reference. Aaaannnnnyway, So I, The Caring Guy that I am, is going to try and Help both New Members and Refresh for The Standing PTLS Members. So, I’m going to take this in sort of a Political Candidate/Interview kind of Way. So, Here We Go.

First Off, I would to like Welcome You to The PTLS Family! My Name is Christian Smith-Centeno (also known as “Christian Centeno”) I am currently 27 Years Old and I have PTLS. I have had PTLS my Whole Life, Diagnosed at 3 Years Old. So, now that We have done the Introduction, Time to go for The Deep Stuff!

So, With New Members, They have Different Priorities when It comes to The First Question, The Leap of Faith, We’ll call it. Are You Okay?/Is My Child Going to be Okay?/ Are You at Least “Close to Typical”?: To Answer That Question. Yes, I am Okay. I am a Happy Person and Most PTLSers are Generally Happy. In Fact, They say that PTLSers have “The Happy Gene”. Second Question, This and VERY Important! Yes, Your Child Will Be Okay (Capitalized for Emphasis). Am I at least “Close to Typical”, As Good as I can be. I see Myself as “Unique”, In Other Words, I am Me, Simply Put.

What on Earth is PTLS?!

PTLS is shorthand of “Potocki-Lupski Syndrome”. Potocki-Lupski Syndrome is named after Two Doctors in Houston named Doctor Potocki and Doctor Lupski. and While we are at it, PTLS is NOT a Disease, It just happens. It is also worth Mentioning that Potocki-Lupski Syndrome has Autism-like Behaviors. Oh My Lord, What do I do about Potty Training?! Okay, now This is My Bias Story, So it may or may not work for You. One Day, It was Raining and My Mom had a Frustrating Moment and Told Me that “The Baby down the Street needed My Diapers and I could not go in My Pants” Long Story, Short. I looked at Her like She had Two Heads and I eventually went to The Bathroom, by My Self. Needless to Say, Us PTLSers are Very Stubborn! By The Way, New Members, Please Take Your Time reading this, You don’t have to Digest It at all at Once! Important Stuff, The Stuff I feel that You should know about us. We are Detail Oriented, Routine Oriented ( as in Getting Up at Same Time and Going to Bed at The Same Time, Predictability at life helps us focus!), We do get Overwhelmed at Too Much Noise or Activity. In Other Words, VERY Sensitive Hearing when We are Young, It does go down as We get Older. We are a bit OCD and Obsessive about Things. and, Most Importantly, We are Rule Followers, If You tell us a Rule that We will Follow It and Expect Others to Follow It. We (or at least, Myself) have an Issue with Gooey Textures or Things that Look like that. Eating, That They will do at Their Own Time. I personally Ate nothing but Macaroni and Cheese, Yogurt, Apple Sauce, and Pasta most of My Childhood. PTLSers these Days, Love Fruit and Veggies. More so Fruit. So, The Next Part gets a bit split in The PTLS Family. Walking and Talking (Plain and Simple) Usually, Anywhere around 3 Years Old, They start Walking (some earlier) and, around 4 to 5 Years Old is when PTLSers start trying to Talk(Some Earlier, Some Later, and Some Non-Verbal). It should have a Disclaimer here that, PTLSers have a range, so Those Stats are Give or Take. But, One Thing that I want you to Know in This Segment is that PTLSers are Smarter than You realize. They soak in Everything and In Turn, They end up Mimicking What They are around. Schooling. Oh The Complication: So, This is My View, so Do with It What You Will. Throughout School, My Mom made sure that I had a Good Mix of Special Ed and Regular Classrooms. The Special Ed was more for The Subjects that I needed extra help in, like Math, Writing (With an Aide), English (With An Aide), and finally Reading. Now I should mention that We are Very Literal. So, Spacial Learning is The Best Way to Go. Now, I did Regular Classrooms like Geography(With An Aide), Environmental Science (With An Aide), Aqua Science, and Art (Both Regular and Sculpture Art, without an Aide). I Will mention that Back in High School, I did a little “Job Crew” Class and I got to do something, I referred to as “Parking Lot Duty”. My Job was to Check the Big Staff Parking Lot (about 100 or so Cars) and Make Sure that Everyone was parked in the right place. I had to write The License Plate Number if They weren’t. I had 100% Compliance that Year. College, So This One is a bit hard for Me. I really don’t like People who are Not Understanding asking Me if I go to College. Disclaimer Here, Your Child CAN go to College if They are Ready or Want to. Me, Personally, I did not go to College because My Math and Writing Levels were not at College Level. However, In A Way, I attempted a College Class. See, I tried to take one Online. I took a “Globalization Class” because after all, I am interested in how Geography, History, and Politics all mix together. As Crazy as it sounds, I used to think that History was boring, It had Nothing to do with Geography. But, Anyway, in Said Class, I had Read from a Text Book (on The Computer), Checked out Websites They told me to Check Out, Watch The Video Lecture, and then A Knowledge Check Test. I tried One Week of It and It was a Bit Overwhelming in learning about Things that I probably should not. I did pass Two Knowledge Checks without Reading the Whole Chapter It told me to read. Dating. Oh Boy! Okay, Those of You are wondering if I have Ever Dated, The Answer is Yes. I have had Two Girlfriends and I have been to a Homecoming Dance. By The Way, Homecoming in Texas is The Autumn Equivalent to Prom. Now, as For Future Dating, I plan on Finding The Woman of My Dreams and Dating Her, and Eventually, Marrying Her. Do I Plan on Getting Married?! Now, This is Not a Common Question of New PTLS Members, but I know it is One of Those Curious Questions that People are a bit afraid to ask. The Answer to This Question is Yes. Well, I think I pretty much answered that one at The End of The Last Question I answered, funny how that happens. Now, Although I do plan on Getting Married, I pray that it is goes off really well. The Thought of It, I have to say, makes me Anxious. As For The Other Stuff, I do plan on that too and I hope that My Texture Issues will not flip on me. And, Final Question, The Future, Hard to Answer but, I know I plan on Getting Married, I plan on a Job that has Structure and Predictability in a Field that I Love, and Probably Most of All, I plan on Traveling The World to see It’s Great Beauty. All in all, With all The Questions I answered, I want you to know Most Importantly that with All The Craziness of Figuring Out PTLS along “The PTLS Highway”, I Want You to know that Your Child WILL be Okay!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Give Us Opportunity and We will Meet Those Expectations

The Christianville Spirit: The Conversion of Google Maps' Street View

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

May 6, 2015-TCS # 449

So, My Readers! I Am Very Happy to say to You, Happy May! If I have not gotten the Chance to Thank You for all Your Responses to Last Week’s Newsletter about April and The God Cafe; From The Bottom of My Heart, I thank you for All Your Input as well as Being Open and Telling Me when Your “Bad Luck Month” is. Before I Move On, Please Remember that when “Ordering” from God, Remember that it is Not An Order that You yell at Him, as in, “I ORDER YOU TO DO XYZ!” and It goes without saying that Sometimes God’s 10-Star Meal ends up not necessarily what you ordered per se, but The Meal that You have is actually Bigger and Better than What You ordered Off The Menu. Anyway, Moving On. So, I’m going to throw a little Joan Rivers quote in here, “Let’s Talk” She would say. Not that I watched Fashion Police but, I know that was One of Her Trademark sayings as well as One She Said when She messed up, (Look that one up, I would rather not repeat it but It is Funny!) So, Let’s Talk. About Changes. Now, Okay, In Life, there are bound to be Changes, it is a Fact. But, I’m not talking about Life Changes, I am talking about Changes to things on Computers. Now, Before I sound like a Computer Nerd, which in The Context of This Newsletter, I am; There are Certain Things in Everyday Life on the Computer that You do not change. I call them My Lifelines. Over The Past Few Years, Websites like YouTube, Facebook, and Email change a lot. Facebook adds this Feature, YouTube and Google Plus merged (No Biggie! For Some It is a Biggie, still). It goes without mentioning Mapquest updated too and that took some adjusting. More Recently, My Favorite Site, AARoads revamped it’s site for The 15th Anniversary and State-Ends.com ended too (that one was a Little Hard to Deal with!) So, What are My Lifelines You ask? Email, This Newsletter, Facebook, Maps on The Web, and Of Course, The Major One, Google Maps’ Street View. So, With all that Said, of All the Changes and Conversions all the sites listed above did, It was Okay with Me; It flies over My Head, Make a Note, It was Five Minutes Ago (quoting Grandma Honey here) but, The Conversion of Google Street View is not really sitting well with Me. See, Google Maps’ Street View, unlike Facebook, I can not deal without. Now, as Overly Attached to My Computer as This Sounds, Google Maps with Street View for Traveling helps me learn! It helps me learn Positive Things, like How to Say a City’s Name in Said Country’s Native Language. like Roma (Rome) or Göteburg (Gothenburg) Italy and Sweden, respectively. So, What did Google Maps do? Well, See back in 2013 They, in Computer Terms, rolled out a “New Google Maps Total Program” that runs on a Different Type of Server. It used to run on Flash Player and New Maps runs on JavaScript. Anyway, One Day I got on Google Maps’ Street View like I normally do and It was a New Google Maps. I thought, “Wait, What happened to The Old Street View?!” The New One had a Full Screen Map instead of a White Search Bar, Logo, and Google Plus stuff. Now, Okay, I did check it out and gave it the once-over, it does have cool features like “PhotoSpheres” anywhere in The World, Street View was Full Screen (Hard to get used to) BUT, It did have a Feature where You can see Past Street Views, all the way back to The First Time they drove through Each Place. Okay, Now how do We get back? After Freaking Out trying to figure out How to get back, I click on the little “Help” Marker and at The Bottom it said “Return to Classic Maps?” YES! Click It, It asked Me Why I wanted to re-convert to “Classic Google Maps” and I found the option “Prefer Classic Google Maps” and Then, re-converted and asked me I wanted to go back to New Maps or Stay Comfy here on Classic. Yep! Got It! On My Cybertrips that I was too lazy to Cyber-Fly from Said Country back to My “Headquarters” in Atlanta, In My Mind, I made a Headquarters there. So, I would go to Google Maps’ Street View using the National Domain Code, .no (Norway);.au (Australia); .se (Sweden); .ca (Canada), and .mx (Mexico). Now, You will think This is Funny, but, I taught Myself how to read “Return to Classic Maps?” and “Prefer Classic Maps” in different Languages. I have to say, Swedish and Norwegian Ones were hard to Translate at First. I just learned to Find where it says “Google Maps” twice in said Language. A Bit of Advice, Thank God for Words that Translate from Each Language into English. In Other Words, It is sounds like a bunch of words I don’t understand and then a Word that I do understand thrown in there. Okay I can try to figure out what You are saying with those English Words in there. Anyway, so on The Last Day of April, I couldn’t re-convert back to Classic Google Maps, I even tried the Trick that I taught Myself. Of Course, I did have warning that The Maps that I had saved on Google Maps were Converting, Okay, that’s fine, The Maps I have saved are actually cooler on The New Maps. Another Warning Email comes a Couple Weeks Ago, “Google Maps (The Whole Thing. Street View and Everything) is fully converting to New Google Maps, You will not be able to Access The Classic Maps anymore”. I thought, “I will find my way around that!” on April 30th, That was that, There was No Re-Convertion to Classic Maps!”, So I looked it up and It gave me the same trick only with the Link to The Classic, It worked for A Day, Literally. Okay, This is It, I Guess, We have to get used to The New Maps, I told Myself. On May 1st, I tried it and I got increasingly Frustrated noticing Small Things that are Missing or that is Different. The New Maps is Slower, I can’t skip across Several Miles. Before, I took a Cybertrip from Atlanta to Grand Isle, Louisiana and I was able to see The Parts of Alabama and Mississippi that I wanted to see along the way, I could make it across Alabama in An Hour and Across Mississippi in about an Hour. I made it almost to Grand Isle before It was Bed Time. With The New Street View, It would take me much Longer! So, What do We Do Now?! Well, I looked up the same site that gave me the Link that worked for a Day. It was at a Site called “Tech for Luddites”, The Host of The Site posted a Blog about The Google Maps Program Conversion and It was a Hit on that site. Well, The Leader of The Site decided to take action the way we do now, a Change.org Petition, now I have to say, I normally don’t sign petitions unless It is something that Is absolutely necessary. But, At The Time, I was so frustrated that I just went ahead and Signed It. Said Leader (Her Name is Elizabeth) says that Google does accept feedback but, She says that Google does not listen to it’s Fan Base, if You will. Now, I am just a CyberTraveler, with a Very Interested, Curious Mind. However, I was shocked to find that Everyday Americans (and, I am sure, those Around The World as well) are effected by This New Convertion as well. Now, If I was in control, I would keep The New Maps for those that want it or need it, But I would absolutely not Kill the Classic Google Maps like They are doing. Change is Good, People will say; It is Part of Growth but, This Change is NOT a Good Change because It has Affected More than Just One Person. All in All, Let People choose Whether They want to use Classic Maps or The New Maps. If They want to use just Classic, that’s fine; Just New, That’s Fine too; If You want to use both, like I would, then I believe that is Fair. By The Way, The Petition has been signed by 3 Thousand People so far. I invite you all the Sign it!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Change can be Painful, But It can also be Good

  

The Christianville Spirit: My Feelings about April and God

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 29, 2015-TCS # 448

So, My Readers. I am sure that All of You have That One Time of The Year when If Any Anything Bad is going to Happen, It is going to be in That Month. In Other Words, In Everyone’s Family, There is always that One Month of The Year that You dread it coming because You believe something crazy is going to Happen. For Some, It is a Months like September (for those of 9/11), October, May, or  (Hopefully Not) December. For Our Family, It seems to be April. Nearing The End of March, We see April coming and We think “Oh No! Not Again!”, Every April, I can’t WAIT for April to be over with and Come Out of It Unharmed. So, Why Exactly do I Hate April? It seems that April is The Month that if Someone is going Pass Away or Something Bad is going to Happen, It will be in That Month and Believe Me, It has happened before. You See, Several Members of The Smith Family have passed away within Days of Each Other in Different Years, The First was Uncle Doc on April 14th, 2007,(on Our Birthday Calendar, We put “Homecoming”), The Next Year, 2008, on April 17th, My Mom’s Dad, Popi passed away and finally, on April 11th, 2010 My Grandma Honey’s Mom, “Grandma Mimi” as We called her, passed too. That is also not to Mention that My Grandma Honey’s Dog, Sugar passed away on April 30th, 2010. So, Since Popi past away back in 2008, April has been sort of a “Bad Luck Month” for Our Family. April of This Year, of course, was No Exception, Both Personally and In The News, It has just been a Bad Month; The Napal Earthquake, Baltimore Riots, The Crazy Weather as well, and If You watch The Show Gray’s Anatomy (Spoiler Alert!) They killed off Derek Shepard (aka McDreamy). Not to Mention, The Scary Newsletters (at least for Me) Newsletters 444 and 446, because Those aren’t Good Numbers and They came in The “Bad Luck” Month of April, How Fitting. Now, I will say that There is Some Light that did Come Out of April, Don’t Worry This Newsletter is not going to be that Depressing, I promise You! It seems like When Things are Crazy in Our Family, That is When The Best Conversations between My Mom and I show up. Some are Me educating Her about Geography and History, and Some are Extremely Inspirational. There was One Conversation We had about God and His Blessings. A Talk about How God, Our Prayers, and His Blessings work. It is at a Time when We are both waiting patiently for The Big Blessings and “Breaks”. After I was Done Talking to My Mom about it, I posted about it on Facebook. It Read The Following, “So, My Mom and I have the most interesting Dinner Conversations! This Evening, We talked about God's Blessings, Praying for a Request for Something, and How They all Work! So, This is How I see it. I believe that God runs a Restaurant, like a 10-Star Restaurant, The Best there is. The "God Cafe" I call it. So, You come in and sit down, God's Servers (Angels) give you a Menu. You Say, "Dear God, Please give me XYZ". A New Break, The Right Person, The List goes on. Then, God starts Cooking it. Well, because We are sitting at a 10-star Restaurant, it takes a Very Long Time to wait for Your Food (Wish) to be served to You. People not for God, are Outside protesting for Whatever Reason. While You Wait, Minor Blessings (Appetizers) come to You. This is going to be a Good Meal, You Think. Each Year passing by You wonder if it will come. (Great Blessings equal Great Worthy Waiting Time) You Yell, "Hurry Up God!", "I AM WORKING ON IT says God!!!!!" in a Loving Way. We are at a 10 Star restaurant, it must be Really Good. When You finally get The Meal, It is THE Best Meal You have ever had! Some People order small meals like Never-Ending Appetizers or something you can cook at Home. Others tho, Like Me, Order Big Meals and although we have to wait for them, They will be So Worth It! Until Then, God is back there working Very Hard with His Special Touch with Your Meal. So, For Now, Enjoy The Appetizers and Drinks until Your Meal comes! Oh, and Don't listen to those Protesters, They don't know what They are missing.”

So, I Pretty much explained that When You ask for Something Big, God has to Cook It. Now, I forgot to Mention that There are Many Other People who are sitting along with You at God’s Restaurant (The God Cafe) and They may get Their Meal before You do, but Naturally, That happens at a Restaurant. Also, If You ordered the Best Meal on The Menu, It takes a Long Time for God to get what He needs for The Meal and to whip up the Ingredients. Some People, I should mention, are More Helpful than Others. Most wait while The Appetizers are Served, Others, They help Serve The Appetizers. One Other Talk about God that We had, was Yesterday, This Time I told My Mom how I believe God sees all the Craziness happening around The World, from ISIS to Baltimore. I believe that The Bible talking about things like The Rapture, makes God seem like a Very Unforgiving, Merciless God and Yeah, I know, The Universe is God’s Creation, so It is His Universe to Control. I, personally refuse to believe that The Rapture is going to happen in My Lifetime because The God that I know, Does not want to Make The Call. And, I am Sure, There are Days when Even God Himself has a Bad Day and He is like “THAT IS IT! I’M MAKING THE CALL!” and Jesus says, “God, Calm Down! It is Alright!” Call Averted. But, I believe that, We as Humans can stop it and Create Peace around The World. We are Part of God’s Universe, right? So, Why can’t We try and Make Peace. Now, Okay, If It happens, it happens, It is not in My Control. But, The Earth is Very Beautiful and I would not want to Leave it without Seeing The World that He created. I Believe that God is more Peaceful than People make it seem like. All in all, This is All What I Believe with All This. I hope that You are Inspired as much as My Mom was when I told her both Stories. I think, The Biggest Point that I want You to Get is Go to God’s Cafe and Pray (Order) for Something Big, and Imagine How Great of a Meal that You are going to Get when Your Plate finally touches The Table. My Order has been to have The Chance to see The World and Marvel at All The Great Sites and Write about It. My Payment for My Order is with Love for All. 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. I hope to see You all as I travel around The World!

The Christianville Spirit: The IKEA Ride

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 22, 2015-TCS # 447

So, My Readers! Happy Earth Day! Let’s Celebrate The Earth, Keep It Clean, and Marvel at All that God has created. If You can go, do it. If Not, Look at a Site on Reddit called “EarthPorn”, The Places that They show on there are Real! So, on to My Newsletter. There was An Exciting Event that happened This Week, It will sound boring at First but, Then, Gets Exciting! So, This Past Saturday, My Mom and I were just going to go to The Grocery Store and then, Come Home. That is all that We were going to do, I was a little tired that day so It was Okay with Me But, After We did Our First Errand, I thought, “We can’t JUST go to The Store, I know I am tired but, We Have to do Something Today!”. I perked up when I thought, “Well, There is a New Water Tower that was built, Let’s Check that Out”, So, We did. Well, In a City like Our Neighbor to The North, Frisco, It grows VERY Fast with New Roads, New Neighborhoods, and New Road Signs! Oh, The Life of Me! So, One Sight to see turns into Two, and then Three. It is the 3rd Sight that holds a Surprise, but The Exciting part is Coming! The 3rd Place was Downtown Frisco, The Old Downtown Frisco where not as much happens compared to New Downtown Frisco. We drove past a little Festival called “Frisco StrEATS & Music Festival”, something like that. Wow! What a Surprise! My Mom and I find the oddest things on Our Drives. So, on the way to What I thought was going to The Grocery Store, My Mom said “Why don’t we walk around IKEA!?” I thought, Okay. Now, We are at The Exciting Part. So, As I mentioned back when I wrote the Newsletter about Nebraska Furniture Mart, I had never been to IKEA. So, Why not Visit while We were out and sort of Compare in Our Heads versus Nebraska. So, We walked in and It was as if We hopped on a Roller Coaster, A Roller Coaster that meets The “It’s a Small World” Ride at Disney. I have to say, in respect to IKEA, that it is a Very Structured Store, One that You have to Walk all the way through, It is a Different Type of Store than I have usually been in. But, Hey! We are Here, It is pretty much the Closest to Sweden as We can get, right now, and Our Friend, Monica would be Very Proud; On The Ride, We go! Click-Click-Click-Click Up the Escalator and Down a Small Hill. Wa hooo!!  Then, The “It’s a Small Room after All” starts. And, Believe Me, By American Standards, It is a Small Room. It makes You realize that Americans (and, Yes, Texans especially!) have Big Houses. The Rooms were anywhere from 1,000 Square Feet to 275 Square Feet, the Average Size of a House in Sweden (and, Elsewhere in The World), We saw the 375 Square Feet House that would be a Good Size if I have to Live by Myself. The 275 Square Feet, was Getting a Little Cramped. You could easily Get out of Bed, be within a Few Feet of The Kitchen and Table. You would Never leave Your Bed because The TV is right near Your Bed. It was amazing to see a Model of what Some of My PTLS Family Members live in. It makes us realize that us Americans and Texans, Love Our Stuff. The More Stuff, The Better. In Fact, In Plano, It is the More Stuff, The Happier You are; At Least, That is What They say. I don’t believe them! More Stuff, Does not make You make you have. But, I have heard that Not having so much Stuff is actually Freeing. Now, Do keep those small comforts like a Pillow (at least for Me) or a Toy or a Stuffed Animal. Most Definitely keep Your Clothes! The Rest can be replaceable. A Bonus is that, in the event of a Move, You don’t have to move so much stuff! Anyway,  We found some cute “Gifties” as My Mom would say, along with some cushions for some of Our Chairs. Now, At The End of the Showroom Segment of The Ride, Structure tells us to stop at The Restaurant but, We figured that We would save that for Last. Now, We get a Little Excitement and Go down a Longer Hill with a Wave or two. Our Hands in The Air, We say Yay! Yeah! Then, We move on The Marketplace Segment of The Ride. This is where The Ride goes on a Conveyor Belt so, You can get off and get on when You need to. The Marketplace is to get the little items that you need, Things for Your Room’s Organization, and other things. I saw the Room Organization Section and I got off The Ride to see it. I need a New Organization for My Map Collection! Funny how walking through a Store can do that to You. I said that we would think about it, just thought I would check. Back on The Ride. Then, We get to The End of Marketplace Segment and We come into The Warehouse Part. Now, at Nebraska, You do not set foot into The Warehouse, so This is New to Me. That Warehouse, I have to say was Huge! Back in The Showroom Segment, You were supposed to grab a Shopping List and Write down what You wanted along with a Bin Number. Then, You come to The Warehouse Segment and You find the Bin Number, Voila! You have your Build-Your-Own Furniture. With Visiting IKEA, You have to mention that Yes, You do have to Put Said Item Together, from an Easy Bed to The Much-Harder Shelf. Or at least, that is what I have heard anyway. So, Then We come to The Finale of The Ride, The Check-Out. Now, again The Structure claims that You visit The Restaurant and hop on The Ride, Marketplace, and then The End of The Ride, You try the Cinnamon Bun for Dessert or Visit the “Swedish Food Market”. Well, We visited The “Swedish Food Market” and then, We walked to The End. Now, I have to say that After Check-Out, The Way that The Signs are and The People, it feels like leaving customs in an International Airport. After We hit The End, We dropped our stuff in Our Car and headed to The Restaurant. Now, IKEA has plenty of Shortcuts but, You have to know about them. Now, We hit The Restaurant and I have a Helping of Authentic Swedish Meatballs along with Mashed Potatoes, and Lingonberries, Oh how Monica and My Swedish PTLS Family would be Proud. Now, I will say that They also served French Fries and Mac n’ Cheese as Sides, so American! I did not have either. I did however try Lingonberry Juice which was really good. I noticed while walking through here that I saw Jars of Lingonberries Everywhere! It was Funny to see all The Swedish Words for Things and Try to Pronounce them. They ought to have an Audio Tour with How to pronounce those, it would help immerse you in The Swedish Culture and Try to Understand It. My Meatball Meal, by the way was Really Good. My Mom, of course, tried to Vegetarian Version of it and She really liked it. And, That was Our Little Trip to Sweden via IKEA. So, Thank You IKEA! So, Those of You still wondering if We ever made it to The Grocery Store, Yes We Did! After Words, My Mom wanted to take a Picture of us at The Bluebonnets that she passed every day coming and going to Work. I realized that we had not done that in a Very Long Time, The Last Time We did was when We were Kids. So, I think I owed her that one, The Picture came out Great! All in All, That was Our Fun Adventure. Funny what My Mom and I find on Our Drives, even if We are just going down The Street. By The Way, IKEA really does not have a Ride, although I kinda wished that It did. I would ride it! I would call it “The IKEA Experience”, Make Note, IKEA, It’s a Good Idea!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Take a Drive! You never what You might find! Bluebonnets and Lingonberries. 

The Christianville Spirit: My Funny Names for Things

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 15, 2015-TCS # 446

So, My Readers, I present you with Another Way to Get to Know Me, As If You don’t already know Me. As If! Sorry, Had to add a Little 90’s Joke there for You! Anyway, To Know Me, You have to know that I often come up with Nicknames for those I am close to like, Aunt Joey, Aunt Angie, “My Kristin”, H.J Angel and”My Dear Deb” just to Name a Few, Shoutout! As Well as Acronyms and What I call “Funny Names for Things”. Now, the Funny Names that I have for Things usually is Inside My Head and I only Mumble them to Myself when I am near them, and Some of Them I use constantly. So, The First Funny Name I use is for The City of Atlanta and Fulton County, Georgia. You See, As I have mentioned before My Mom’s Side of The Family lives in Atlanta, including My Grandma Honey. So, This Name is for Several Reasons. In My Head, I call Atlanta, “The Mother City” and Fulton County (The County surrounds Atlanta) “The Mother County”. This is for Two Reasons, One because All Roads Lead to Atlanta, All The Highways Signs in Georgia and as far away as Virginia point to Atlanta. It might also point to The Fact that I have been wanting to move there to be closer to Family. The Second Reason, is because because Atlanta is The Capitol of Georgia, It makes it The Mother of The State of Georgia. Normal Georgians would tell you that “The Real Georgia” is Outside of Atlanta but, that is not The Point. So, The Next Few Funny Names have to do with PTLS. You See, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome (or PTLS for Short) was named after Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski from Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine to whom we owe all credits; Therefore, In My Head, It makes Houston, Texas; Texas Children’s Hospital & Baylor, the Capitol of PTLS. In Other Words, Where PTLS Started. But, Here is where My Names for Things gets a Little Crazy. You See, As You know, I come up with Made-Up Cities (like Christianville) and States. So, Why Not come up with a European Union-style setup for My PTLS Family, known The PTLS Union or Known by It’s Official Name of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome Union of Families. So, that Comes from The Belief that We are all a PTLS Family or Union of Family Nations. With All This Put Together, Houston is “The PTLS Union Capitol”, The Heart of All Things PTLS. The Conference is held there, The Doctors are there, and PTLS was founded there. It might also show That I Love how The European Union works, as well as My Love of Geography, History, and Politics. So, With that, The PTLS Union Capitol City is Houston and The Capitol Building is Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. So, Before We move on from The PTLS Union Capitol, I have a Funny Name for The Road that surrounds it. You See, There is Road that surrounds Houston that They call “The Loop”, It is Interstate 610 or Loop 610/”The Loop” locally. In My Head, It is called “The PTLS Perimeter”, A Reference to Atlanta’s I-285 (The Perimeter). I hope of the Day Where The City of Houston renames Loop 610 as “PTLS Perimeter” in honor of Dr. Potocki and Dr. Lupski. For now I call it that, after all Houston is “The PTLS Union Capitol”. So, The Next Funny Name is something I use a lot, “PTLS Family Members” and “PTLS Members”. You See, Families with Kids that have PTLS, are considered Family to Me, They have been for quite some time. So, With that said, “Families with PTLS” (We used to call them that) makes it sound like We are Strangers. It just does not sound right! So, I Believe Now that “These People” are My Literal Family, My PTLS Family. If Said Person is Part of Your Family, You refer to them as a “Member of Your Family” so Same Thing with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome, If You or Your Child have PTLS, Welcome to The Family! You are Now part of My Family. Now, to be fair, You may or may not like some of Your Family Members, that is Okay, No Family is Perfect. Because You are a Member of My PTLS Family, then You are a “PTLS Family Member” or “PTLS Member”. I think, “PTLS Family Member” is more for People I am close to and “PTLS Member” is a General Family Term. Now, Finally, My Last Funny Term is What I refer to as The Made-Up Company I work for, WTSOC Communications & The Christianville Spirit. I write for My Newsletter, The Christianville Spirit and In Christianville, It is tied with One of The Local Channels, WTSOC-TV & AM. WTSOC is not a Real TV Station, It’s call letters mean “The Spirit Of Christianville”, however I am working on making it a Real Company and My Job that I will get paid for. All in all, I hope that explains All My Funny Terms for Things. Now, You know me in a Better Way.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Find Something that You are Passionate about and Do It!

The Christianville Spirit: The Story of Lost in Dallas Hills

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 8, 2015-TCS # 445

So, My Readers, I have an Interesting Story to tell you. You See, If You have been reading My Newsletters, You would see that I write some really good Stories, some Examples include, The Untold Story of Lynee and My Story about H.J Angel among many other Stories that I have written on Here. But, Did You Know that My Story Telling Skills go further back than The Beginning of My Newsletter? Yes, That is Right! You See, Every Now and Then, I look through what I call My “History Box”. I made This “History Box” way back in 7th Grade in Middle School, It was to Collect Old Things from School and Other Past Memories, most of them were School-Related. I have Pictures of Old Friends; My Graduation Diploma, both from Senior High School and Elementary School; and, A Couple of Artifacts from Years Back like as far back in Kindergarten (around that time, I wrote that My Favorite Holiday was Mother’s Day). Then, I found a Book, If You will, that tells a Story called “Lost in Dallas Hills”. I re-read it and wondered What some parts I was referencing as well as Remembered some other parts.. Now, The Reason behind Why I am such a Good Storyteller is because of My Teachers, Mrs. James and Mrs. Bachman. They helped in Many Ways because They knew that I had the potential in write a Good Story. Problem was that My Mind was running faster than My Little Hands could Write. As A Kid, You have to remember how to Spell Words and Make Sure that You use correct Grammar, among other things, which is a Little Struggle today. So, Mrs. James and Mrs. Bachman came up a Genius Idea to have Me Dictate What I wanted The Story to Say. So, I am going to Read This Story to You and Then, I will “Translate It” Afterwords. This Story, by the way is called “Lost in Dallas Hills”. It was Dictated and Written when I was in 4th Grade, in 1997, when I was 10 Years Old. Enjoy!

Christian and Michael were Brothers. Christian was a nine year old boy who had curly, brown hair that turned black when it got wet. He had big, brown eyes and he was tall and thin although he loved to eat and eat and eat. Christian loved to study maps and international geographic information. In fact, he was an expert on roads in the United States. Michael was seven years old and he had reddish orange, straight hair and brown eyes. He was short and skinny like Christian. Michael liked to talk a lot to his friends and often got in trouble at school. Sometimes Michael was mean to Christian and Christian would cry, but they still loved each other. Christian, Michael, and their family went for a drive. They saw a beautiful canyon that they wanted to go to. Too late, they passed it. Then, Christian saw a sign that said Welcome to Dallas Hills. Mom said, “Wow! What a beautiful country.” They drove through the country side. Christian started getting hungry.  He wanted to eat at the country club. They stopped and ate dinner. On the way home, Christian said, “Can we go for a walk?” Mom said “ok, but don’t get lost.” Christian and Michael walked about 15 Minutes. They looked around and couldn’t see the car. They saw a coyote and were afraid. They started to run very fast. It started to get dark and Christian was very sleepy. Michael saw a house and lights were on inside. No one was home but they still went inside and fell asleep. Christian woke up when a black dog started licking his face. He woke up Michael. They were so hungry they looked in the refrigerator. There was nothing to eat. Suddenly, a ghost flew out of a closet. Christian and Michael ran from the house. The coyote started chasing them. Then they heard a voice calling “Christian, Michael, where are you?” It was Mom. Christian yelled “Mommy, watch out!” Christian and Michael fell on Mommy. “Ugh” said Mom. We saw our dad and we all got on skate boards and went down the hill, crossed a bridge and jumped in our car. We drove out of the Dallas Hills complex. Then Christian asked a question. “Can we go to the beautiful canyon?”  Mom said, “yes” They ran half way into the canyon and back into the car. Then, they ate lunch at Harvey’s in Dallas County. Finally, they went home and they never got lost again. The End. 

So, As You Could Imagine, Some Parts were Easy to Translate and Remember, but Other Parts weren’t. The First Part of The Story is Describing The Characters of The Story, Christian and Michael (aka My Brother and I). At The Time, I had been Eating a lot but, Not Gaining Weight, that was until in Middle School but, I digress. Anyway, The Main Part of The Story, The “Dallas Hills” part is a Story behind The Story. You See, My Mom was dating a Guy named Mr. Jeff and He had 3 Kids, Jeffery, Alex, and Elizabeth (known as “Izzy”). So, Every Summer and in between, We could go up to Our Lake House in a Place called Nocona Hills which was Out in The Country where There is Nothing Around. The Part that mentions The Country Club, The Hill, The House, and Walking around Freely is all Referencing all The Fun that We had up at The Lake House. We would go to Dinner at The Cafe called The Country’s Club, There were Times we even walked back to The Lake House from The Cafe. The Hill,. of Course, was My Favorite Part about going there. The Hill (Which was a Big Hill) felt like a Roller Coaster going down it. The Coyotes, That is a Texas Thing. The Canyon Part, I think, references Enchanted Rock; A Place that We went to visit when We went down to My Dad’s House in San Antonio. And, then, The Most Important, The Mention of Harvey’s. Funny Thing, I do not Remember going to a Place called Harvey’s. I finally figured it out, It translates to “Arby’s” like The Sandwich Place. At The Time, as My Mom pointed out to Me, My Speech wasn’t that Clear so The “Ar” part in “Arby’s” came out as “Har”. The “By’s” came out as “Vey’s”. The Skateboard part always makes me laugh when I re-read it. To Me, It sounds Heroic and At The Time, My Brother loved Skateboarding. The Black Dog part of The Story, I don’t remember having a Black Dog, but It may refer to Izzy’s Dog who she named “Nocona”. All in all, It is Funny to re-read things of Your Past, to Remember, and To wonder, “What was going on in Your Head at that Time?”. Fortunately, For Me, I also had a Wild Imagination and I still do.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit.  Thank those who Inspired You when You were Little to become What You are when You are Older. 

The Christianville Spirit: Me and My Numbers

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

April 1, 2015-TCS # 444

So, My Readers, If You have been here a while or not, and I know that Some of You have been around since The Beginning (aka My Veterans) and Some of You are New. In which in Case, if I have not welcomed you, Welcome to The Christianville Spirit! I have always numbered Every Newsletter since the Late 100 Series Newsletters. So, With Someone who not only likes Numbers but, Studies them in something called Numerology, Each Number means Something. Now, Funny Enough, I did not like Math when I was Younger and to a Literal Mind, Math is a Nightmare. But, Now that I have gotten older, applying Math and Numbers to means more because I apply them to Things that Interest Me like Watching The Miles (or Kilometers) count down to The Next City, Doing Math to Figure Out Number Meanings, or Figuring Out Time Differences between Different Places, I have PTLS Family Members around The World after all. But, Certain Numbers, both Good and Bad stand out. I’ll do the Bad Ones first, then The Good ones. Bad ones are 444, 464, 446, 466, and Of Course 666. Good ones on The Other Hand are 111(and, My Favorite 11), 222 (and 22), 333, 555, 777, 888, and 999. Also I should mention My Confirmation Numbers 2 and 11. So, What do These Numbers mean Exactly? Well, Numbers Individually mean one thing (or Sometimes, The Same Thing) and Sequential  Numbers (which are The Ones that I pay close attention to, mean something else.) I can tell you what each of these numbers means Something. For Example, 111 Means Alignment with Your Spirit Guides (meaning God, The Universe, or Destiny, depending on what You believe), 222 (which is My Favorite) means that You are going in The Right Direction, 333 (Another Favorite of Mine) is as My Friend, Jeremiah, whose Mom (a Pastor) taught me, means God’s Phone Number and Cosmic “YES” to a Question You are Asking, 444 (This Newsletter Number) meaning Cosmic “NO” and Spirit Guides don’t recommend doing What You are Thinking, 555 Means a Life Changing Thought Just Occurred (Funny How I remember that one, Because that is not an Easy One to Remember), 666 means Your Thoughts or Intentions are NOT Aligned with The Universe, 777 Means that a Lesson has been learned, 888 means that A Segment of Your Life (Emotional, Career, or Relationship) is Ending, and Finally 999 means Completion. Now, How do I find these Signs? In The Time on A Clock, Phone Numbers, Highway Numbers, and Even Newsletter Numbers; Pretty Much any thing that has a Number in It. Sometimes, You will be thinking in Your Head, “Should I Do XYZ? (Get That Job, Move, or Other Life Changes, sometimes Simple) and then You look over at the Time or a Phone Number on a Billboard and It says 333 (Meaning “Yes”) or 444 (Meaning “No”) as well as any other pair of Sequences. So, Back to My Point here, Being Attentive to Numbers can make you Happy (like 333 and 222) or “Number Sensitive” as I now call it. Sometimes Though, You see or Hear a Sequential Number and wonder what You just asked or thought of When You saw it. As For This Newsletter, Number 444, I think it turned out well and I kicked It’s Butt! Even though, I was a little “Number Sensitive” about The Arrival of It. All in all, It all  is in What You Believe, but It also shows that Your Destiny can be happening as You see Those Sequential Numbers, both Good and Bad, They are Your Guide to It.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Happy Counting!

The Christianville Spirit: Christian Visits Nebraska (NFM)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 25, 2015-TCS # 443

So, My Readers, I have an Exciting and Adventurous Story to Tell You. I went to Nebraska! That’s Right, I went to Nebraska! Okay, I am just kidding, I went to Something else called “Nebraska” not The State of Nebraska. You See, There is a Massive Furniture Store in a Town, West of Plano called The Colony. It is called Nebraska Furniture Mart. To Explain it’s size is that it is 36 Football Fields and 150,000 Square Foot Showroom. Now, That doesn’t even include The Huge Parking Lot and an Even Bigger Warehouse. If You were to look at it all together, It would look like a Mall or a Stadium. So, We would drive by and watch it as it was being built. “What in The World is THAT?!” I would think, each time that We drove by it. As we kept driving by it, It would get bigger and bigger. So, One Day We found out that it was Open, finally, and It was a Nebraska Furniture Mart. I was curious about driving by it and It was really crowded, like the Parking Lot was packed, so we figured that we would go during The Week when There weren’t a lot of People there. So, We went Last Thursday to check it out. We walked in and It was Overwhelmingly Huge! There was a Cop and a Greeter saying, “Do You want a Map?” after My Mom said, “Wow! This Place is Huge!”. The First Stop, There was See’s Candies and As One of the YouTubers that I watch says, “When You see a See’s Candies, always ask for a Sample” Unfortunately, They were not doing Samples just yet. It was a “Soft Opening” to let people come and check it out. The Grand Opening will be Next Month. This Place is Very Different in comparison to other furniture stores because it has a Much Wider Layout than others and The Prices are even better too! The Next Stop, Which is a Must in a Furniture Store, The Recliners! Oh My Lord, My Readers! You should have seen some of these Recliners! There were Soft Ones, Hard Ones, and Then We get to The Massaging Recliners! Now, The Massaging Recliners had various types of Massages. One, It had a Whole List of Buttons saying “Where do You feel Pain?” You could do Upper Back, Middle Back, and Lower Back along with How Intense You want it. There were So Many Buttons, I didn’t know which one to Push. I will say, A Few of Them were a bit too intense for Me but, I found some better ones. One Chair had the Back Massager and The Reclining Part where You put your Feet in and It Vibrates as well as Massages your Feet, And Finally, The Most Awesome Chair that I have sat in. My Mom tried it first and It made her go “Woah!” Not Sure if It was My Mom’s kind of Chair. But, It felt REALLY GOOD to Me. The “It” I am referring to is a Zero Gravity Chair, It leans You to where You are Flat on Your Back and You have Your Legs in The Air, Your Legs are Above Your Heart and According to Doctors, It is The Healthiest Way of Sitting. Well, It certainly would help with People (Like Me) that have “Text Neck”. I could just sit in The Zero Gravity Chair and Read on My IPad without Hurting My Neck. Now, I will answer that Question and Everyone is Curious about, Does anyone else fall asleep in Those Recliners? and The Answer is Yes! Just put on Some Tropical Music and Put Me in The Zero Gravity Chair, I would be Relaxed in Seconds! And, Probably, asleep in Maybe 30 Minutes or an Hour of It. Ahhhhhhh! I got to keep going with This Newsletter! Let’s get up slowly and Keep Checking Out The Store. After We leave The Recliner Section, We passed the Bed Section, just to check them out. After That, We went downstairs and passed Subway (We did not Eat there). Then, Of Course, Being a Guy, You have to check out the Big Televisions and Boy, were They huge. The First TV I saw was (You are Not going to Believe This!) a 90 Inch Television. That is Right, A Ninety Inch Television! I have never seen a TV that Big outside of a Movie Theater in My Life. “They are probably for ‘Media Rooms’ in Houses”, My Mom says. While I was in Big Television Heaven, My Mom went over to the Clearance Section of The Store. I heard a Guy behind me shout obscenities about How Big that 90 Inch TV was, just as My Mom walked away. To Give You a Taste of This Large TV Heaven, Listen Up Guys! A 90 Inch, 80 Inch, and 70 Inch Television. And, Let’s not Forget the New Curved TV. Now, Normally I would not recommend getting more stuff, Because Spending Money on a Trip in Much Better Money Spent, but Just The Idea of a TV that Big and Add in The Zero Gravity Chair, and I don’t think I would ever leave My House. Now, I do have to say that because of My Lack of Depth Perception, The Curved TV bothered My Eyes as well as The Big TVs. But, Hey! One can Dream, can’t they? So, after I leave The Big Television Heaven, I even watched The News on a 60 Inch, I walked over where My Mom was and I could show her all the cool TVs that I found. We were talking to a Guy who worked there and He told My Mom about what it is like to Work there. He said it takes 30 Minutes to get from His Car, Out of The Parking Garage, Downstairs ,and Most Halfway across The “Showroom Floor”. Like I said, This Place is Huge! After I showed My Mom the TVs, We walked through The Computer Section (another Heaven for Me) and Then, We checked out The Texas Section. It was The Kind of Stuff that You would put in a Log Cabin or Rustic Cabin. I sat in a few Animal Fur Chair including a Buffalo Fur Chair. It was Very Weird, I will say. But, Some People are into that kind of stuff. I would rather be near The Computers, The Televisions, or The Recliners Please! After that, We have checked out the Whole Store. According to Many of The Employees that worked there, said that They really enjoyed working there and Even They, Themselves are a bit shocked at How Big This Place is Every Time they go to Work. One Person told me that They are going to build a Venetian “Lifestyle Center” around the Furniture Mart as well as 3 Others within a 2 Mile Radius, They are bringing Toyota here, after all. All in all, I really hope You enjoyed Our Adventure and a Little Tour of This Place. I would really recommend that You check it out. Just Beware of The Those Sections I told you about!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Keep Your Heart as Texas or Nebraska Furniture Mart.

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS on The Red Carpet

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 18, 2015-TCS # 442

So, My Readers, I have something really Exciting to Tell You about! You See, as I have mentioned before, It is PTLS Awareness Month and The Motto for it is “Be Seen, Wear Green” or “Be Seen, Wear Green for The Happy PTLS Gene”. So, This is The Background before I get to The Exciting Story and I promise you, it is worth reading this part before The Exciting Story. Anyway, Last Month, My Mom was trying to come up with Ideas about PTLS Awareness Month and How to Celebrate It. Well, My Mom thought that it would be a Good Idea to make shirts for Our “Be Seen, Wear Green” PTLS Awareness Campaign. So, PTLS Family Member, Natalie Hinkin asked My Mom, “Do We have any Shirts in Green?” My Mom said, “No, but that is a Good Idea”. Sure, enough Natalie created a Campaign on a site called Booster.com and started selling Shirts with The PTLS Key on It (Because that is the Logo of PTLS) for 2 weeks. We sold over 100 Shirts in 24 Hours (Not Kidding You!) and, 500 Shirts in Two Weeks. Well, on PTLS Awareness Day, PTLS Members all over The World posted Pictures of Themselves, Family Members, Friends, Teachers, The List goes on! Of them in Their Green PTLS “Key” Shirts. That Campaign is still going on, It is at booster.com/beseenweargreen3, Check it Out, Buy a Shirt, and Help Us Raise Awareness about Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. For Those that have already bought shirts and supported us, I Thank You from The Bottom of My Heart! It is amazes me that So Many People are wearing Green for The PTLS Gene! Remember though, that it is not just March to celebrate PTLS, You can celebrate All Year as Well! So, Let’s Hear about that Exciting Story! I am sure you are Thinking, Get on with It! Okay, Okay, Fine. So, Yesterday, was Saint Patrick’s Day and My Mom and I decided to go out to Dinner with a Friend of Hers. We figured that we would also show off Our Green PTLS “Key” Shirts as well. Well, it just so happened that There was a Hollywood Premiere of The Movie, Home across The Street. Well, The People at Good Morning America did a Contest in which a Non-Profit could Win the Premiere in Their City and Money for Their Non-Profit. Well, a Non-Profit in Plano won and The Premiere was held here. So, My Mom and I figured that we would check it out on our way to Dinner, since Our Dinner-mate was in Traffic anyway. Well, My Mom being The Awesome Mom that She is, figured, “Hey! This is Good Opportunity to Pitch PTLS!” We were wearing our Green anyway. So, We stood and watched for a while before we decided to get up close to the Red Carpet. There were Stars there that I have seen Many Times on TV or Heard about from Radio but, have never seen in person. Among Them, Tony Romo (He walked by and No Knew who he was), Jake Pavelka (From The Bachelor, Took me a second to figure out who He was), Kellie Rasberry (From Kidd Kraddick in The Morning on KISS-FM. Used to Listen to Them Every Morning on the Way to School. But, Didn’t realize who She was), J-Si (from a Show called Dish Nation on FOX, I don’t watch that show), Of Course, I can not forget to Mention the Biggest Stars of The Movie, Rihanna (The Singer) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory”). You should have heard The Screaming Girls when Rihanna walked by! Anyway, in between when Rihanna passed by and Jim Parsons was on His Way, My Mom figured that She would teach J-Si and Kellie Rasberry about PTLS. After Jim Parsons walked by, We talked more closely with J-Si about PTLS, He was really Nice to Me. He shook my hand, saying, “What’s Your Name” I told My Name and My Mom continued with Talking about PTLS. After People settled down, My Mom was looking around at Everyone and seeing who She could talk to about Me when I noticed a Camera Guy walk past with The Microphone saying, “News Fix” which is a Local News Program that is different than the others. I said, “Mom, That Guy is from ‘News Fix!‘“ Mom is probably “What? What did He say?” I don’t speak as Clearly since after My Braces, A Story for Another Time! I said, “News Fix, like Channel 9!” I think if I would have said, That’s The Guy from Channel 9, She would have got it quicker. She did talk to that guy though and She gave him her Card with The PTLS Information on It. Okay, I am Sorry to say but, I have The Coolest Mom in The World, aside from My Uncle Craig, The Coolest Uncle in The World. He probably would have gotten us ON The Red Capet, Uncle Craig is THAT Kind of Guy. Ohh, The Smith Family, I tell ya! Anyway, as We were leaving heading to Dinner (We stayed a bit too long!) My Mom told me “I was a Media Hog” in a clean way. So, To say that We had an Awesome Saint Patrick’s Day would be an Understatement. All in all, Our “Be Seen, Wear Green” Campaign is going strong and I Thank You All for That! Oh, and Happy early Birthday, Mom!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Keep on Supporting Our PTLS Green!

The Christianville Spirit: Unseen Newsletter about PTLS

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 11, 2015-TCS # 441

Hello Again, My Readers! I hope that You guys had a Great PTLS Awareness Day like I had. I can tell you that It was An Awesome Day, Lots of PTLS Family Members wore Green, and We got to spend time with a PTLS Family Member on PTLS Day. I Thank All of You PTLS Family Members and Friends from The Bottom of My Heart for Wearing Your Green and Spreading Awareness (as well as Unity) on That Day. So, In Constant Celebration of The Christianville Spirit’s 10th Year and PTLS Awareness Month (Yes, We celebrate The Whole Month, Not Just One Day), I am going to share with you, A Newsletter that You have not seen! You See, There was a Time from October 2006 to October 2008, I wrote My Newsletters to a Few Select People that I now call My Veterans, Before I started writing in Blogger, I wrote on a Site called Yahoo 360! To Explain It, It was Social Media before Facebook. Or at least before I was comfortable posting on Facebook anyway. So, This Unseen Newsletter is not just ANY Newsletter, It is actually One of The First Mentions of The New Name, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. I call it “Unseen Newsletters” that because I deleted them off Yahoo 360! and Have them printed in My Records. Now, The True First Mention was a Newsletter about My Mom but, I am going to do the Second Mention of it because it explains it much better. To Give You a Little Background, I was in The Middle of The First Edition of What is a Now, The Christianville Spirit Series. The First Series was called “Christianville Metro Highlight”. It was a Series to Introduce My Friends, My Mom, Myself, Family, and Family Friends. I wrote this on March 12th, 2007, according to My Records, It would be Newsletter Number 39. At This Time in My Life, I was getting ready to finish High School. I should mention that I wrote completely differently back then. It was, Let’s Just Say, not as Clearly Written as I do now. So, Without further a due, This is The Unseen Newsletter of The First Mention of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. By The Way, One More Note, I did Not Know how to Spell “Potocki-Lupski Syndrome” at the time. Happy PTLS Month and Enjoy!

CHRISTIANVILLE METRO HIGHLIGHT: Meet me, Christian Centeno {or known to some as The Editor/Writer of The Christianville Spirit} I am the sweetest and most sensitive person you’ll know. however, just because your sensitive doesn’t mean your dramatic. but, anyway. I live in Plano, TX and i really wish i could move to Atlanta, GA because that where The Smith Family lives. well, most of them at least. one thing i love to see and do is to Travel. Of course, there’s also my love for Road Signs and other  road-related things. I can tell you how to get places the best i can even if i sort of know the area. other thing about me is that I Love the made up things, especially States and State Capitols. In my mind, every person’s body has a State and State Capitol{that is except for me}. In all cases of States and State Capitols, The State Captiol is in the heart. I base all the Cities, Mountains, Rivers, and Roads after things they like and their friends and a hole bunch of other things but, Likes and Friends are the base of it. The next door States to the East are a Great Friend. the State to the North and South are Family Members. and, of course that leaves The West. The State to The West is The Lover or The One or Current Boy/Girlfriend. finally, apparently everyone’s favorite city. Christianville, TN. Christianville is not a real city in Tennessee but, i made it up to be there. the cities around Christianville or otherwise called “The Christianville Metro Area” are called Mapleton, Brooke, Steven, Karleen, Northchester....just to name a few. of course, there is my newsletter The Christianville Spirit, which i write about my life and friends and family. in real life The Christianville Spirit is a newsletter. but, in The Christianville Metro Area it’s actually a newspaper. Here is something that most people who don’t ask don’t know. I have Special Needs. My Special Needs are what is used to be called just “Duplication of Chromosome 17” but now it’s called Patocky-Lubsky Syndrome. I like that name better even though it’s a tunge twister. if anyone wants to know, i don’t let my Special Needs bug me or let it hold me back. and, some people with Special Needs do bug them or hold them back. also, i don’t consider my Special Needs a “Handicap” or a “Disability” like most people would. I just consider my myself if people have to say i’m something, i’ll tell them i just have Special Needs. but, other than i think of myself as Myself. I am who i am. all in all, i’m a pretty awesome guy. Stay Tuned, YOU could be Next!

 So, As I was re-writing that, I realized how Unclear My Newsletter was. Funny how that Works when You read something that You wrote in the Past. I noticed also that I did not do as many Capitol Letters as I do now. All in all, I hope that You understood Everything that I wrote and Everything that I did write, It still means the Same Thing. If There is Something that You are Curious about in This Newsletter or Any of Them, Don’t Hesitate to Ask!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Sometimes You have to go back in Time to see how far You have Come.

The Christianville Spirit: PTLS Awareness Month Kickoff

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparkles

March 4, 2015-TCS # 440

So, My Readers, I would love to Wish You a Happy PTLS Awareness Month! Yes, That is Right, it is PTLS Awareness Month. If You can believe it, A few years ago, There was No Such Thing as PTLS Awareness Month, The Saying, “Be Seen, Wear Green for The Happy PTLS Gene” (that is The Extension of the “Be Seen, Wear Green” saying), There was No Logo (The Key), and There was No Such Thing as Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. Before March 8th, 2007, Potocki-Lupski Syndrome was just known as “A Duplication of Chromosome 17”. Now, that is technically what Potocki-Lupski Syndrome is, A Duplication of Chromosome 17p11.2. But, Try explaining that to Someone when You want to tell them how Unique You are. It took many years to get where we are today. We are at 1 in 20 Thousand Kids Now. My Unique Syndrome was named for Two Very Down-to-Earth Doctors in Houston, Texas; Doctor Potocki and The World-Renowned Doctor Lupski (although He won’t admit it Outfrontly because He is a Humble Man). My Mom tried many years to get them to Name It. She, Of Course, had kinda settled on “Christian Syndrome” if They were not going to name it. Funny, My Syndrome, could have been named after Me! So, That is The Background of The Story of Potocki-Lupski Syndrome. So, Why I am I so Celebrative about PTLS Month? It is Just a Month after all, with St. Patrick’s Day and My Mom’s Birthday. But, To Most People, It is just a Month, but To Me, It is a Chance to Celebrate My Uniqueness and Celebrate The Fact that, Yes, I am That Unique. I still Remember, The First PTLS Awareness Day, before Anyone knew about it. It is at a Time when My School screwed up My Class Schedule, meaning that I had to go Home early. In Short, I chose The Wrong Class! Anyway, on March 8th, My Mom picked me up and we pulled out on the street, and start driving home when My Mom told me. “Guess What?!” Mom says. “What?” I respond with. “Your Special Needs was Named!”. Now, at the Time, I needed a Minute to absorb what She was saying, “My Special Needs was Named?!” then, She told me, “It was named after The Doctors in Houston, Doctor Potocki & Doctor Lupski”, She continued, “It is called Potocki-Lupski Syndrome or PTLS!”. I was so Thrilled! I finally could say, “I have Potocki-Lupski Syndrome!”. After about a Year of Figuring it all out and Enough PTLS Families (Today known as PTLS Family Members) were around, we started to tell them. It seems though, now that Everyone knows, They are starting to Make It Something that it is not. It is a Time for Unity in support of Having PTLS and For those who Love us. It is a Time for Raising Awareness. We have a PTLS Foundation that working hard to help support us and It is Important to make everything Positive because We PTLSers see Life in a Positive Light.

In Order Words, Show that We PTLSers matter in The World! We are NOT Special, We are Unique! Guys, PTLS is a Big Gift from God to You. We want to be seen and be heard! Now, Yes, Your Child may be behind and Not Progressing the Way You want them to but, We need to Stay Focused on What all of us PTLSers CAN do, But, On Their Own Time! It is Important to Me, and I know All My PTLS Brothers and Sisters, that You believe in Us and All we can do. We are the ones that Have It and We want you to be Proud of Us. We need you to stay positive for us.  No, PTLS is not Bad. It never is Bad, We are Very Happy People. But, There are things like Anxiety, Irrational Fears, and Being Overwhelmed when We want to have Fun but, We need you to understand us so we have time to adjust. So, I will finish with This, I have gotten word that There is Someone, “Mom X”, we will refer to Her as, believes that My Mom writes these newsletters and Anything else that I write. It really hurts me that Someone would ever say something like that about Me. I am Here to Tell You, that This Newsletter that I Write Every Wednesday is 100% Me. It is All Me, Christian Smith-Centeno, writing this. All that My Mom does is help me Edit it for Missed Words I may have skipped over in Excitement. (The “The, And, Is” gets me Every Time!) So, Thank You to My Mom for Helping Edit This Newsletter, even though I may or may not listen! After All, Every Writing, No Matter What it is, needs a Little Editing. All in all, I hope that You enjoy PTLS Awareness Month and Wherever Your Child is in their progress, Celebrate Your Child and How Unique They are.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be Seen, Wear Green and Celebrate Our Happy Gene.