(no subject)
Today was rather adventurous. I started the day doing something I never thought I'd do voluntarily. I went to church. Now, before you crap your pants and/or demand to know who I am and what I've done with Ade, let me explain. It was a Unitarian Universalist church. They don't really have specific religious beliefs, they're basically a melting pot of people of all religious beliefs (or none whatsoever) who are all about acceptance and stuff. A few days ago, a friend posted something that mentioned UUs, and I started wondering about them. I already knew that they have vaguely-defined belief systems, accept all sorts of people, even GLBTs and pagans, and are generally nice people, but I wanted to find out specifically what they were all about. And apparently they're all about acceptance and being good people. I knew there was a UU church in Murrysville, and something inside me told me to check out their website, so I did. I found out they were discussing autism this Sunday, and I thought, well there's something that interests me. So I decided to go, to see what their services were like and that sort of thing. I was just curious.
I usually feel very uncomfortable in churches and other religious places (almost always Christian places - they just feel wrong to me). And there were strangers. So I was apprehensive, but I made myself go in and hide in the back corner. It was really informal, and it was a fairly small congregation. They didn't do much in the way of religious stuff, just said a few general things about peace and such and shared joys and concerns, and then one lady gave a presentation on autism awareness that was particularly interesting. I really liked this clip on sensory overload using Transformers:
Yeah, that's pretty accurate for me, except when I experience sensory overload, my brain shuts down, and I get really quiet and go into zombie mode. Going to the mall or a large store, walking around a crowded city, and interacting with lots of children tend to trigger sensory overload the most. I can tolerate it for a few minutes, but then everything just bears down on me, and I completely withdraw, don't speak unless someone asks me a question, and can't really function on more than a basic level until I get out of the situation.
Anyway, back to the UU thing. I did know one lady in the congregation who is also in Sustainable Monroeville. So I talked to her for a bit, and I met a few others. They were all friendly and welcoming, and in a genuine way. I know a lot of religious group people will act really friendly and try to draw in outsiders, by inviting them to all sorts of social things and gradually influencing their religious beliefs. That's why fundamentalist groups have been so effective at preying on the lonely, drawing them in, and then brainwashing them (or at least, that's how I see it). But the UU people barely mentioned religion at all, only to say they welcome everyone as long as they follow the basic non-religious principles of acceptance and being nice to each other and that sort of thing. And they said they're basically a group of oddballs, so that's good. One lady was talking about how most of them are geeks, and they've had LAN parties and a Rocky Horror Halloween party and other fun stuff (she totally had me at Rocky Horror Halloween party). So that sounds cool. I'll probably go back next weekend, because they seem like interesting folks with pure intentions. I found the almost lack of religiousness in a church service oddly comforting.
Later on, Katie and my dad were over before we took him to dinner for Father's Day. He was trying to fix my car door (it won't open, I guess there's a broken piece on the handle mechanism he couldn't fix), so Katie and I put the kitty harness on Galahad and brought him outside. He'd only worn the harness once, when I was using him as a guinea pig before I tried it on Hagrid. He basically just got confused and lay down. (Hagrid was better about it, when I put the harness on him, but he eventually wriggled out of it because it was loose.) So we put the leash on and brought him outside, and he got confused and just lay on the porch. He eventually explored the bushes and lawn, but he didn't want to go back in the house. He just lay there and fought us when we tried to pick him up. But we eventually got him back inside. Silly kitty. But he was generally a good sport.
I usually feel very uncomfortable in churches and other religious places (almost always Christian places - they just feel wrong to me). And there were strangers. So I was apprehensive, but I made myself go in and hide in the back corner. It was really informal, and it was a fairly small congregation. They didn't do much in the way of religious stuff, just said a few general things about peace and such and shared joys and concerns, and then one lady gave a presentation on autism awareness that was particularly interesting. I really liked this clip on sensory overload using Transformers:
Click to viewYeah, that's pretty accurate for me, except when I experience sensory overload, my brain shuts down, and I get really quiet and go into zombie mode. Going to the mall or a large store, walking around a crowded city, and interacting with lots of children tend to trigger sensory overload the most. I can tolerate it for a few minutes, but then everything just bears down on me, and I completely withdraw, don't speak unless someone asks me a question, and can't really function on more than a basic level until I get out of the situation.
Anyway, back to the UU thing. I did know one lady in the congregation who is also in Sustainable Monroeville. So I talked to her for a bit, and I met a few others. They were all friendly and welcoming, and in a genuine way. I know a lot of religious group people will act really friendly and try to draw in outsiders, by inviting them to all sorts of social things and gradually influencing their religious beliefs. That's why fundamentalist groups have been so effective at preying on the lonely, drawing them in, and then brainwashing them (or at least, that's how I see it). But the UU people barely mentioned religion at all, only to say they welcome everyone as long as they follow the basic non-religious principles of acceptance and being nice to each other and that sort of thing. And they said they're basically a group of oddballs, so that's good. One lady was talking about how most of them are geeks, and they've had LAN parties and a Rocky Horror Halloween party and other fun stuff (she totally had me at Rocky Horror Halloween party). So that sounds cool. I'll probably go back next weekend, because they seem like interesting folks with pure intentions. I found the almost lack of religiousness in a church service oddly comforting.
Later on, Katie and my dad were over before we took him to dinner for Father's Day. He was trying to fix my car door (it won't open, I guess there's a broken piece on the handle mechanism he couldn't fix), so Katie and I put the kitty harness on Galahad and brought him outside. He'd only worn the harness once, when I was using him as a guinea pig before I tried it on Hagrid. He basically just got confused and lay down. (Hagrid was better about it, when I put the harness on him, but he eventually wriggled out of it because it was loose.) So we put the leash on and brought him outside, and he got confused and just lay on the porch. He eventually explored the bushes and lawn, but he didn't want to go back in the house. He just lay there and fought us when we tried to pick him up. But we eventually got him back inside. Silly kitty. But he was generally a good sport.