Thanks to all who have made the socks with sandals discussion so interesting. It's fun and funny!

I love that friend Shannon revealed to me that she turned on Vanilla Sky for the same exact part I did and ended up watching for about as long as I did. Trippy cool. We are twins 'til the end!

School is over, projects and papers done. I slept and slept and slept last night to catch up. I've been going so much the past few weeks with school, volunteering, busyness at work, and other plans, but now it's stopped mostly. Suddenly I have lots of free time, and instead of just feeling relieved, I feel a bit lost and out of sorts at the moment. Like, I'm not sure what to do and I'm grumpy about it! It's disconcerting. But, this is my way, periods of light and dark...light and dark...The light will return. I've noticed that, even though I tend to perform well under short terms of pressure, I'm not so great with prolonged stress. I'm just not. It takes me a while to recover, leaving me feeling squirmy, annoyed, and uncomfortable in my skin for a period of time. I crave and need solitude, yet I want connection while feeling so disconnected. I want to hide away, and I want to be social. I want to be productive around the house, catching up on all the things that have gone a bit by the wayside, and I just want to hide under the covers like a lump with a book and sleep more. I want, and I don't know what I want.

Argh.

The one thing I know for sure at the moment is that in less than two weeks I'm going to be in Paris! Paris! Paris! Paris! Paris! Paris! Paris! There is no question about my feelings on that one. I'm so freakin excited about that I could burst! I'm in the process of shopping for things to bring on the trip. I'm looking at my books, and I'm realizing that even though I keep thinking of this as a laid back trip to just enjoy being in Paris, there are too many things to show Molly, who has never been and is coming along for part of this trip. So now I'm creating a (very full) itinerary for us. It's Paris. Our day trip out to Reims (Veuve!) is set, and we've booked an evening boat trip on the Seine. I can't wait to spend more time in the Louvre and hopefully visit it at night. The list goes on and on. After the talk last Saturday, I just realized missing anything would be totally unacceptable. Of course, we'll never fit in all of Paris, but I want to make the most of it!

With all this free time, I can also read whatever I want. I have a lot. Shannon gave me Look Me in the Eye for my birthday, which I've started on, and Elizabeth gave me Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, as well as a collection of Emily Dickinson poems. I'm really looking forward to Unaccustomed Earth. I still have the latest David Sedaris to devour. I've been saving it, because I know I'll enjoy it so much, and now may be the perfect time. It's calling to me from the shelf. Just the other day I ordered my books for my upcoming Autism grad class (Autism's False Prophets by Paul Offit and Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Theory to Practice by Laura Hall). I added a couple of other books to my order on Asperger Syndrome (AS) and social relationships/interactions to the mix, because that's a topic I'm finding particularly interesting right now. These will probably comprise my vacation reading. Woohoo. I'm a party girl!

Another topic that I'm fascinated in that I've recently read about on blog posts of a couple of people who have AS is their perception of energy from other people. Dealing with energy alone comes up as a subject. One person describes walking into a room and being bombarded by the mish-mash of energy there and absorbing it, even though she couldn't really differentiate what was there, or where or who it was coming from. She was just hit by the force. As a person who tends to be very sensitive to and aware of the energy of people or situations, I could relate to this kind of experience. It's overwhelming, especially if you can't make any sense of it. Usually I can identify the emotions contact with energy is invoking within me, and how to respond, but I'm not consistent in acknowledging it or detaching myself from the it when needed. I may automatically tune in or out or, depending on how grounded I am, I may make a conscious effort to do so. Sometimes I know something is bugging me, but I figure it out after it's already made an impact. Sometimes it's an enjoyable thing to feel, and sometimes I need to remove myself from the situation. Like described in the blog posts, I too can easily become overloaded. I'm wondering if energy sensitivity is a common experience for people who have AS, but I'm not sure how to go about finding out more about that. It's sort of one of those woo-woo topics, but I foresee more Megan research ahead. I may just start asking questions to the people who are talking about it.

There has been a lot of talk about Jon Stewart's interview of Jim Cramer on the Daily Show. If you didn't catch it Thursday night, you should check it out online. Jon Stewart is awesome. I have to wonder why a comedian is the one holding people accountable with hard-hitting interviews? His intelligence, quick wit, and honesty says a lot to me. He has no problem pointing out that, "this is not a f*cking game," and he's right. He asks tough questions, expects satisfactory answers, AND makes people laugh. It's the perfect combination. I like that he cuts through the bs, and even admits after it's over that "I hope that was as uncomfortable to watch as it was do." Go Jon!