Autism Thoughts

Today I did a talk at Lynchburg College. I did something I very rarely do anymore, I agreed to speak on a panel. I did it because I hadn't done it in a while, and I like to do things like this every once in a while to remind myself why I don't do them more often.

It got off to a bad start, or at least I thought it did? I was under the impression that the class I was speaking to started at 9:00am and I got there at 9:14am. (ACK!) But then when I got there I found they start at 9:30am, so I was okay. The teacher welcomed me to the class and I left to wait for the class to begin.

I was walking around the floor when it soon became time for the talk. I was walking back to the class when I came upon a mens room. Now anyone who has ever done any kind of public speaking will tell you the first rule of speaking is to go before you speak. Since the door was right there, I decided to go on in.

So I walk in and I am "getting ready" to ... yeah ... and out of the stall walks this lady from the class! (I really want to tell you who it was, because that makes the story all the more interesting, but I don't want to get anyone into trouble...)

She went on to tell me there "was no toilet paper anywhere in the ladies room" and proceeded to leave the stall with tons of TP in hand. That was fine with me, I wasn't going to make use of the stalls anyway.

So then we did the talk. Us panelists talked a bit about our lives and then we answered questions for a while. I sold four books after. There were 27 people in the class, so the sale of four books tops the 10% average sales that are common with this kind of thing.

I also noticed that the 27 people in the class were all female, which is why I don't want to get anyone into trouble. I have had this happen before at conferences, where there is average of 85% female attendance. I am used to women walking in on me and sometimes maybe "seeing something." (UGH) But I have to say it was the last thing I expected to happen at Lynchburg College!

I had a good time all in all, even doing the panel. Glad I decided to accept the offer.