Seeing Someone Else with Tics out and About!

I came back a little while ago from a Sushi dinner with my family which we had together as a celebration of everyone's hard work during the school year. While waiting for our table, my brother and I sat down on a bench facing some tables. I immediately noticed a very pretty young lady in her mid 20's probably who was ticcing!!! She was doing some of the exact same eye tics that I do. Hard squinting and eye rolling. At first I thought maybe she just got something in her eye but as a I sat there for about 15 minutes waiting for a table, I noticed that she did it repetitively and frequently. She was definitely ticcing!

She was out to dinner with a friend and they were talking and looked like they were having a great time! I wanted to go up to her so bad and say "I have tics too!!!" and strike up a conversation with her but I of course held myself back, lol. She looked so sophisticated, looked like she was having a great time, and of course the friend who she was out with seemed totally used to her tics and okay with them. I admired her self-confidence and self-assurance from a far. It always encourages me so much to see this! To see someone who is sophisticated, mature, and out for a special night with a friend having a great time, tics and all. Just wanted to share this moment with you all 

Tourette's Syndrome Awareness Pictures Made by Others!

So you guys have seen lots of tourettes syndrome awareness pictures/posters on this blog that I have made and I figured I should also feature awareness pictures on here that others have made as well. So these awareness pictures were made by others across the web and they are ones that I definitely like and ones that I think do a good job at spreading TS awareness!

Meeting someone new and the City Museum!

This weekend one of my closest friends (who I will call Gally for this blog) had her roommate/close friend from college visit her. Our plan for Friday was to go see The Bling Ring together and our plan today was to go to the City Museum. I was nervous about meeting the roommate because I always tend to be a little nervous when meeting someone new. When meeting a friend of a friend there is always the issue of, "did my friend give this person a heads up that I have Tourette's"?" and "how is this new person going to react to my noises and twitches?". So I tend to worry at least to some extent when meeting someone new who may or may not already know that I have Tourette's.

I met Gally's roommate (who I will call Bunny) for the first time in person last night. Before the movie we met briefly and then walked in and sat down. My first impression of her was that she seemed really nice and she didn't seem like the kind of person who would give me any trouble about my tics. Gally sat between me and Bunny during the movie and of course Gally is very used to my tics so during the movie my tics didn't bother her. I did some vocal tics and a fair amount of motor tics during the movie, but Bunny didn't react at all. I wondered if this was because Gally told her about my tics in advance or because maybe she couldn't see/hear my tics from where she was sitting. Either way, the movie went smoothly. 

After the movie we talked a little bit in the lobby and when I did my vocal tics it didn't seem to phase Gally's roommate at all. She didn't give me any weird looks or react in the slightest to even my louder tics which is pretty impressive because most people, even when given a heads up about my tics, will react to some extent even if its just a startle response. I was doing more pretty decently loud vocal tics in the parking lot when Gally and her roommate walked me to my car and still no reaction from Bunny! She just had a really comforting way of looking at you and making you feel like you don't have to worry or be self conscious. So I didn't feel worried about my tics at all around her even though I had just met her and even though we had never personally had a conversation about my TS. Also part of it was that Gally was there making me feel conformable as well which of course helped! 

The next day (which was today), I hung out with Gally and her roommate again because we had plans to get a group of friends together and go to the city museum. On the way to the city museum in the car I mentioned something about camp. Gally's roommate asked me about camp and asked what camp I was going to be a counselor at. I enthusiastically told her I am going to be a counselor at camp Twitch and shout, a camp for kids with Tourette's. She then said "Cool! I actually got these earrings from an old boy friend who had Tourettte's. He kind of grew out of his tics though". Gally and I kind of started laughing a bit and Gally responded with "Cool story, hahah". Anyway Its always nice to hear that someone has known someone with TS before knowing me! Makes me feel like I am not the only one who has to go though this and also makes the person more used to TS and gives them to background knowledge about it which helps them better understand me when they meet me :) 

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The Perfect Shoes for the Camp Twitch and Shout Dance!

For the camp twitch and shout dance, most of the counselors are going to dress up as Disney princesses since the theme this year is Disney. I am going to dress up as Snow White. So yesterday I went to the mall in search for some of my costume. I'm not going to buy a full Snow White costume online or anything but instead I figured I would put together my own. All I really need is a yellow skirt, a blue shirt, and a red bow. 

First I went into the Disney store, but unfortunately they didn't have much for my snow white costume. They had a snow white themed headband, but it wasn't a bow. It was more of a red feathery headband that didn't look much like something snow white would wear. So I didn't get that. 

Then I went over to the shoe department and found lots of shoes on sale! I figured since they were on sale I would look and see if I could find anything. Sure enough I found the perfect shoes for my snow white costume and they were super cheep because they were on sale! So I bought them and I now have the first piece of my snow white outfit! Tell me these are not the perfect snow white shoes! 

So now I just have to get the rest of the outfit! I'm going to costco today with my mom to buy a new TV so maybe they will have a red bow there or something else I could make a part of my costume :) 

TED Talk: The Game that Can Give you an Extra 10 Years of Life (AKA Post-traumatic growth)

I highly suggest that you watch this TED talk if you have TS and if you have ever gone though or are currently going though a rough time with it. It is titled "The game that can give you an extra 10 years of life" and it's all about helping you get though a rough patch in life by playing a mental game.

Several years ago she suffered a serious concussion, and she created a multiplayer game to get through it, opening it up to anyone to play. In “Superbetter,” players set a goal (health or wellness) and invite others to play with them--and to keep them on track. While most games, and most videogames, have traditionally been about winning, we are now seeing increasing collaboration and games played together to solve problems.

It also talks about something called post-traumatic growth. Here is a quote from the talk: "It seems that somehow a traumatic event can unlock our ability to lead a life with fewer regrets".

Just watch it, trust me!!! You will be able to better cope with any struggle in your life after watching this :)

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html

Anticipating Being a Counselor at Camp Twitch and Shout!

Hey guys! So my last blog post about camp twitch and shout was about making the decision to apply to the camp. This blog post is about what happened after that!

After I sent in my application, I had a phone interview. I was nervous during the phone interview and I was worried that it didn't go well but it turns out it really did go well! The nervousness and worrying apparently didn't come out too much in the actual interview. I was glad about that!

After the phone interview, the waiting set in! I've never been a very patient person when it comes to waiting for good news or hearing about something i'm really looking forward to! But I was patient as there was really no alternative. I just had to wait to hear back from them!

After a lot of waiting, I got an e-mail from the new director of the camp, Mandy. The e-mail told me that the camp was offering me  a counselor position for Camp Twitch and Shout this summer. Of course I e-mailed her back as soon as I read the e-mail and accepted!!! I was soooo excited and I don't think I could really put my excitement into words. 

Now means more waiting though! Waiting to find out who my co-counselors are, waiting to find out what age and gender the kids in my cabin are, and waiting to actually go to camp! I hope that at least one other of my co-counselors has TS like me and I hope that I connect with at least a few of the counselors and form long-lasting relationships with both my fellow counselors and the campers! I requested to be a counselor to a cabin of girls who are either in the younger group or the middle age range group. But really I can't wait to meet my campers no matter what age or gender they are! I think this experience will be amazing no matter what age group or gender my campers are!

So for now, i'm waiting to find out about my cabin and co-counselors and i'm counting down the days until camp (July 20th!). I love checking  the camp twitch and shout facebook groups that i'm a part of to see what   people are talking about and to see updates about camp! I also am gathering cool things to bring! I scoured my basement the other night and found a lot of neat things that could totally be costumes for camp theme days! I also bought these super cool lightweight balls that are fun to bounce around and play with which I will also bring to camp!