Thursday, July 23, 2020

Quarantine Diaries - Part 13: The Couch, YouTube and Deep Space 9



As you may or may not know; we watch a lot of Star Trek around here but lately in-between the Star Trek re-watches, I have been watching a lot of those reunion panels, like Stars in the House, Reunited Apart and The 7th Rule's Virtual Trek Con (links at the end of this post) on You Tube.

All are not Star Trek Related (The 7th Rule is of course), but I have seen reunions of some of my favorite shows, such as the China Beach reunion.

They are fun and I am sort of in awe of the people on these panels who come and do these things daily for free to raise money for virus-related charities and just to give us all something new to watch during this pandemic.

DC is normally on his Ipad in his "spot" in the kitchen while I am watching these.

Last night, he decided to pack it in early and went to get his pillows, blankets and books to bring to the couch (yes, we are still sleeping on the couch. This may be the longest stretch to date. See: The Couch: Another Round from 2019)

I was watching Reunited Apart - The Lord of the Rings Reunion. I could see that DC was getting anxious. I asked him more than once what was bothering him.

"Nothing wrong!"

But he made a big production of announcing when it was over.

I moved on to Stars in the House - RENT with Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp and he became more anxious.

Me: Please tell me what is bothering you.
DC: Nothing bothering you.
Me: (re-wording my question) Please tell Mom what is bothering DC.
DC: Watch "Space Nine"
Me: You want to watch Deep Space Nine?
DC: Yes!

So I put on Deep Space 9 and DC happily took his glasses off, rolled over and went to sleep!?!?

After thinking about it for a little while (because you know that's what I do); I could see that there were one of two possibilities for his anxiety here.

1. You Tube is his domain. He may not have ever realized that I was watching HIS You Tube on the TV and you know how protective he is about what's his.
or
2. Deep Space 9 comforts him when he is going to sleep.

I hadn't thought about that.

I may just be watching Deep Space 9 often when he is ready for bed. Because it is my favorite of the franchise, I watch it and pay attention. 

I use TOS and TNG  as a distraction from my "mind race" so I can fall asleep. I need something to distract me, but not distract me enough to keep me awake and since these are far from my favorites, it doesn't matter if I fall asleep and miss the four episodes that play until Nextfix shuts down. He is not awake for that. He falls asleep to the one I am awake and paying attention to.

I don't know which possibility was the cause of his anxiety, but I am thinking it was a little of both.


Links:
Josh Gad - Reunited Apart


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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"
It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."
This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 






 

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