It's been a while since I've contributed... sorry about that for any of my regular readers.

It has been a crazy week. The first program this week was for a group of 35 four-year-old autistic kids. Now I LOVE having special needs kids in there, usually, but I really think that this was not an appropriate group for the Planetarium.

As they were coming into the room, a few kids threw themselves to the floor screaming, "NoNoNoNoNo...No...No....NOOOOO!" The parents just basically dragged them in.

As the lights started to go down, there was a bunch of muttering and humming. There was a kid right next to me whose wail had a volume was in opposite proportion to the amount of light in the room -- the light dimming exactly matched his getting louder and louder. And it was a steady yell. I figured, "Hey, he can't keep this up for much longer. He'll pass out." I was so wrong. He had a steady, "AOOOOOUUUUUUuuuuuu" howl going on for at least 5 minutes. I leaned down to the parent whose lap he was sitting on and said, "You can take him outside. It's unlocked. You can come back in if he calms down."

She told, "Oh, no, he's fine."

He doesn't sound 'fine'!!!!

A bunch of other kids joined the screaming meemie chorus.

I tried to talk over it, but it was pretty futile. I basically just showed a bunch of slides. It made no sense for me to talk.

Through the screaming, I did hear some comments of adults to the kids... and I jotted a couple of them down.

One parent said, "Eddie!! Just because it's dark in here doesn't mean your supposed to be naked!"

...and about one second later...

"And, Timmy, no tickling Eddie!"

And, in what I believe to be a completely unrelated incident, "Rachel, that's not for eating."


I limped through the rest of the program. People wandered in and out of the room, so the darkness was destroyed by lights from the hallway on a regular basis. My headache was building the whole time... after what seemed like 3 weeks, I turned the lights up and dismissed the group. I was sitting at the control panel, forehead on my hands, a beaten man. One of the adults came up to me: "Excuse me?" she said. I looked up, bloodshot eyes blinking, ready for some suggestion on how I should have handled this differently and waiting for her to wonder why I stopped talking at times, or possibly yelling at me for letting all the screaming happen.

What she actually said was: "That was a wonderful show! Thank you so much!"

Say what? Good show? Was she in the same room?! I just sort of blinked at her. She smiled and moved on.

After her, a bunch of other parents came up to me with a level of gratitude and adoration that made it seem as if I had given each of them a million dollars. It was so strange.

I wonder what a BAD day is like.

Mynah boy.

I had a group of 5 to 8 year olds yesterday afternoon. It was a small group, only about 15 kids. There was one boy, on the younger end of the range, who seemed really excited. He was sitting in his chair bouncing, as he was waiting for me to begin. Just bouncing.

He seemed like a "normal" kid to me -- just rather excited. I wouldn't have thought he had any diagnosed mental condition, but as the show proceeded, I think he might. (I'm not belittling the kid -- if you know me at all, you know the kids/adults with disabilities are my favorites.)

During the program, whenever anyone would make a comment he would repeat the end of it, almost with the exact tone as the person who said it.

At one point, one kid mentioned, "That's pretty awesome."

"...awesome," this kid said, one second later, like an echo. Or perhaps more like a parrot, or a mynah bird.


A little later somebody muttered, "that was so cool."

"...so cool," the Mynah Boy repeated.


It was actually kind of a cool effect in the Planetarium. There's an echo in there anyway, and he just added on to it. It didn't bother me at all, which is a little surprising, since I hadn't been having the best day.


At the end of the show, I asked if he liked the show. He just sat there, still bouncing in his chair, staring at me with what was the most sincere smile I ever saw.

"Did you like it?" I asked again.

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

"What was your favorite part?"

Bounce. Bouncebouncebounce. Grin. Smile. Bounce.


I decided a different tactic: "I liked doing the show. I think that stuff is pretty awesome."

"Awesome!" he agreed.


So, he wasn't going to answer questions, but I could say a statement and he would agree. My ego, for a moment, thought it might be a good idea to just give myself a rave review of my own show and hear him repeat it back to me. I decided that it would be mean to use the kid for my own butt-kissing yes-man.


"Did everybody have fun?" I asked the group right before they left. Everyone answered "YEAH!". Except for Mynah Boy.

I went over and leaned down and said, "Wow. I sure had fun."

"Fun!" he told me. Bounce.Bounce.Bounce.


Even though it was my own word, it was one of the best reviews I ever had.