The Mike Lake Event
Hello everybody! Boy! Am I exhausted but feeling great. Waking up this morning I kind of had a "pity me" moment. The big event was over and the next thought was "So, what's next? Pottery, perhaps?" I always get like this after a major event: a kind of malaise and melancholy. But it didn't last long. No, I then decided that now is the time to get going. I think part of that stems from the anger and disappointment I am feeling that I have been ignored by a couple of organizations here. I have been reaching out and trying to create a community and I have been shunned. I specifically wrote one organization that we are members of to let them know about last night's event. They never responded. Then Mike Lake's assistant in Canada wrote them around the same time and they immediately responded. And I am, well I am pretty pissed.
So with my anger, I decided to contact the person I have been waiting to hear from about possible funding for the autism center this morning. She wrote back immediately, sent me a form to fill out and now I am waiting for a coaching session about business and finance which will then hopefully lead to getting funding. SO YAAY! Don't poke the beast. I like that my rage propels me to work harder and smarter. I don't think that is healthy, though. So enough about that and onto the fantastic presentation last night. I was stressed. So very stressed. I had no idea how many people were going to attend and I had visions of grabbing random students walking by and being like "Psst. Kid..pssst.. want some candy?" just to fill up the seats.
At 4:45, I arrived at the Technical University and waited nervously. Luckily Mike and his assistant showed up so I knew we were half way there. We stopped first at the office of a professor at the Technical University who is working on a project regarding autism. We met last Fall and he was kind enough to secure us the lecture hall for the presentation. Mike had to make a call so we left him behind and headed to the lecture hall to set up the presentation. I was nervous about turn out and nervous about my speech that I had prepared. At 6, some people started filtering in. I also got some sweary text messages from friends who couldn't find the room. Love my friends. And I totally showed the sweary messages to Mike because ha. ha. At 6:15 we had close to 30 people and that to me was a success in itself. There were a couple of no-shows which was definitely disheartening but I know that life gets in the way. First the professor introduced the project he has been spearheading and then it was my turn to get up and make a speech. And it was TERRIBLE! I decided to wing it last minute and I was just allover the place. After about 30 seconds of talking, I decided enough was enough and I went ahead and introduced the Honourable Mike Lake.
One friend said that when I ended my speech, it looked like my feet had decided to take off with me still talking. Ugh. Face palm. At least I didn't make any inappropriate jokes. Mike got up and started his presentation and it was incredible. It was heartwarming and passionate and he showed videos of his son and I definitely had to hold back tears. He talked about the therapy his son had received as a toddler (36 hours a week. We are at 3, currently. Wow.) and his son's school and different programmes and it was EVERYTHING! I think some of the ladies also thought he wasn't bad to look at either. Yes I wrote that. That's what you guys get for sending me sweary text messages. Ha.Ha. After about 45 minutes, there was a question and answer period. It was amazing to see how engaged everybody was and I have to say that the intimate setting was perfect. I walked away feeling buoyed and more determined to get as much help for my son and the community as I can. And the people trying to ignore me.. yeah. no.
After the event, Mike, a son of his friend and I walked back into the center. I was wearing heels and I managed to keep getting stuck in the cobblestones. I am usually pretty good at this but talking and being hopped up on all the feels were messing with my skillz. We decided to hit up Hawelka again because I have a problem. But don't worry, the grandson wasn't there so no stalking was done that evening.
We ate and I had wine and we talked and at one point Mike called me a pitbull. I think he was saying that because I am tenacious and not because I look like one. That's my story and I am sticking to it. He told me about great organizations abroad and he mentioned that he would most likely be back. I really hope so because I know that next time I would have more time to guilt trip my friends into going. Also, hopefully by that time, I will have set up my center and then I could have the talk there. I am incredibly grateful to Mike Lake for taking the time to give a talk. It meant the world to me and even though there wasn't a huge turn out, it still was a major coup for Autism in Vienna. So besides my new found dread of public speaking, I am chalking this up as a major success.
Now if you have noticed the oddness of the past 4 gifs, I have to tell you that I was dared to use all 4 successfully in a blog post. I now get a free coffee. Booyah, S.R.! Did it! And we now need to talk about your obsession with Tom Hardy. There's obsession...and then there is OBSESSION. I wish you all a fantastic day and evening! And a big thank you to everybody who helped out and attended last night's event. I couldn't have done it without you!
So with my anger, I decided to contact the person I have been waiting to hear from about possible funding for the autism center this morning. She wrote back immediately, sent me a form to fill out and now I am waiting for a coaching session about business and finance which will then hopefully lead to getting funding. SO YAAY! Don't poke the beast. I like that my rage propels me to work harder and smarter. I don't think that is healthy, though. So enough about that and onto the fantastic presentation last night. I was stressed. So very stressed. I had no idea how many people were going to attend and I had visions of grabbing random students walking by and being like "Psst. Kid..pssst.. want some candy?" just to fill up the seats.
At 4:45, I arrived at the Technical University and waited nervously. Luckily Mike and his assistant showed up so I knew we were half way there. We stopped first at the office of a professor at the Technical University who is working on a project regarding autism. We met last Fall and he was kind enough to secure us the lecture hall for the presentation. Mike had to make a call so we left him behind and headed to the lecture hall to set up the presentation. I was nervous about turn out and nervous about my speech that I had prepared. At 6, some people started filtering in. I also got some sweary text messages from friends who couldn't find the room. Love my friends. And I totally showed the sweary messages to Mike because ha. ha. At 6:15 we had close to 30 people and that to me was a success in itself. There were a couple of no-shows which was definitely disheartening but I know that life gets in the way. First the professor introduced the project he has been spearheading and then it was my turn to get up and make a speech. And it was TERRIBLE! I decided to wing it last minute and I was just allover the place. After about 30 seconds of talking, I decided enough was enough and I went ahead and introduced the Honourable Mike Lake.
One friend said that when I ended my speech, it looked like my feet had decided to take off with me still talking. Ugh. Face palm. At least I didn't make any inappropriate jokes. Mike got up and started his presentation and it was incredible. It was heartwarming and passionate and he showed videos of his son and I definitely had to hold back tears. He talked about the therapy his son had received as a toddler (36 hours a week. We are at 3, currently. Wow.) and his son's school and different programmes and it was EVERYTHING! I think some of the ladies also thought he wasn't bad to look at either. Yes I wrote that. That's what you guys get for sending me sweary text messages. Ha.Ha. After about 45 minutes, there was a question and answer period. It was amazing to see how engaged everybody was and I have to say that the intimate setting was perfect. I walked away feeling buoyed and more determined to get as much help for my son and the community as I can. And the people trying to ignore me.. yeah. no.
After the event, Mike, a son of his friend and I walked back into the center. I was wearing heels and I managed to keep getting stuck in the cobblestones. I am usually pretty good at this but talking and being hopped up on all the feels were messing with my skillz. We decided to hit up Hawelka again because I have a problem. But don't worry, the grandson wasn't there so no stalking was done that evening.
We ate and I had wine and we talked and at one point Mike called me a pitbull. I think he was saying that because I am tenacious and not because I look like one. That's my story and I am sticking to it. He told me about great organizations abroad and he mentioned that he would most likely be back. I really hope so because I know that next time I would have more time to guilt trip my friends into going. Also, hopefully by that time, I will have set up my center and then I could have the talk there. I am incredibly grateful to Mike Lake for taking the time to give a talk. It meant the world to me and even though there wasn't a huge turn out, it still was a major coup for Autism in Vienna. So besides my new found dread of public speaking, I am chalking this up as a major success.
Now if you have noticed the oddness of the past 4 gifs, I have to tell you that I was dared to use all 4 successfully in a blog post. I now get a free coffee. Booyah, S.R.! Did it! And we now need to talk about your obsession with Tom Hardy. There's obsession...and then there is OBSESSION. I wish you all a fantastic day and evening! And a big thank you to everybody who helped out and attended last night's event. I couldn't have done it without you!
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