His Body

....
They found Brian's body today, it was staked to..to a tree...in the forest. Blood everywhere, the papers say that his organs were cut out of his stomach. It was staked high up in a tree...higher than a human could climb, but..the cuts..they say that it couldn't have been done by an animal.
I've been talking to Robbie over it, in order to try to calm myself down. Brian's family is probably doing worse than I am..I wonder if I'll be able to attend the funeral....I just..
I can't...why would anyone do this?
Why the week after Christmas? Why...

.....

...I checked the newspaper today. There was an article about Brian in it, he's been kidnapped. His house was ransacked, papers, books, and other things were thrown everywhere but only Brian is missing. No doors were unlocked and no windows were broken, and his family say they didn't hear anything. He was making so much progress..and now he's gone. Just..just gone.

The police found only two odd things at the crime scene. Things that were added amongst the books and papers. One was a pair of twelve inch..tailor scissors, the blades doused in blood. Then..then there was this picture that was posted in the paper. I can't..say anything about it.
I don't understand..

Merry Christmas

Well, I ended up spending most of the day with Robbie. He made a small meal for the both of us, which was pretty good. I felt bad not having much to give him, as I could tell just by walking into his house that he had more puppets than he had room for. I decided to get him something simple, a box of chocolates. He loved them, and we ended up spending the day just talking about what we do. His house was filled with the different puppets he had, each of them lining shelves on the walls. He apparently got into the hobby of being a puppeteer from his father, and has kept all of the puppets his father had. I talked to him about my bird watching, and he seemed eager to go watching with me. I didn't want to tell him too much about the police and everything, so I simply told him to wait until it got warmer. He seemed to believe me, but looked a bit down after I told him this. I plan on visiting him more when I have the time.

Christmas Plans

I've been rather bored and lonely recently. I don't want to waste money flying back home to family; and since I have been avoiding the forest, it's leaving me very little to do except visit the day care. I decided, since he doesn't have much to do this Christmas either, to ask Robbie if it would be alright for me to spend Christmas with him. I hope he will say it is alright, if he doesn't I'll just be spending the holiday with Roc. Although there's nothing wrong with that.

Brian noticed how sad I was, probably better than I realized myself. He told me he was going to draw something for me, but he wouldn't tell me or let me see whatever he was working on. I bet it's going to be a card, and I can't wait to see what he thinks up.

Roc and Raven

Since I'm now on Winter Break, I decided to take some pictures of Roc and the Raven puppet. The first picture I had to tone down a little because I have a lot of distracting decorations in the background, hence the sloppy editing. Roc wasn't really afraid of the puppet, or at least she didn't hiss at it.

After The Show

As a continuation of yesterday. I spoke to Robbie after the show to ask about his career in being a puppeteer and such. He didn't have a website, mainly because he is a local around this town and doesn't need a website. He's been doing these shows for a few years professionally now, but he told me he's always made puppets ever since he was little. I asked him about the kinds he had, and among the ones he eagerly showed me was a raven puppet. He said he didn't make it, as sometimes it was harder to make some puppets rather than find them. Amazingly, he also found it fitting to give me the puppet. (Although I think he did so out of desperation, the day care didn't talk to him at all after the show. He seems lonely). It's rather cute, I think I'll dress it up a little for the holidays, like giving him a Santa hat or Antlers. As a final note, even though he didn't have a website he does have an e-mail. I'll be keeping in contact with him, mainly because it seems like he doesn't have anyone else to talk to.

Robbie's Random Shenanigans

I finally was able to get home, and I'm very tired. I'll explain more tomorrow, but the puppeteer's show was called 'Robbie's Random Shenanigans'. His name was of course, Robbie. It was very unique, as he used more than one or two kinds of puppets, and as far as I could tell, only a few of them weren't home made. He was very entertaining, and it was easy to see how much he loved doing his job. The children all loved the show, Brian especially. It was worth staying at the day care late, even though I'm so tired now. I'll tell more about the show itself and Robbie tomorrow.

Something Exciting

When I went to leave for home from the day care today, one of the older employees stopped me and told me that for the Christmas holiday, they're having a professional puppeteer come in to do a show for everyone this Friday. Obviously because of all the preparations they have to make, I was asked if I could stay late on Thursday and Friday. Seeing as I don't have anything to do besides take care of Roc and decorate for Christmas, I accepted. I'll have to get more information on him tomorrow, but as of now I'm very excited to see this show. It's not often one sees a puppeteer much anymore.

Pictures

As promised, here are the pictures that Brian showed me. (I'm sorry for the poor quality, I blame my phone. They were a lot better in person). I wonder where or when he took these; I guess he took them in the forest nearby, but as far as I can tell from a distance all of the trees have lost their leaves.

Dang Phone

Today was a very good day for Brian; he seemed just as happy as he when he did on Thanksgiving. His arms look much better, and I've been watching the pictures he's drawing. They're slowly becoming less abstract and seem much more bright, a lot less grim then before all this.
In fact, he even told me that he had some pictures he wanted to show me; pictures that he apparently took over his Thanksgiving break. I took pictures of them with my phone (with his permission) and wanted to post them; but it seems the stupid phone has gone dead on me. It's such a fickle thing anymore, I really should look into getting another one, but I'll have to post those pictures tomorrow, then.

A Boring Week

Not much has been going on here, really. I go back to school tomorrow as Thanksgiving break is over, I didn't think to mention my days off as I had no way to spend them. I don't have enough money to make a trip back home to family, and as I know it isn't safe for me to go into the forest, I spent my days off at home talking to Roc. I sometimes wish Roc was male; maybe she would pick some words up. It would be entertaining at least.

As for Brian; I actually got a call from him on Thanksgiving. He wished me a happy thanksgiving, and seemed so happy, like his old self. I don't know how he got my number, but it cheered me up to hear him so happy and enthusiastic. I wonder if I'll be able to buy him something for Christmas.

Researching Day Four

Not much has been going on lately; I've been so very bored. I know it's been awhile since I've done this researching, but because I can't go Bird Watching now this is really all I have to amuse myself. I've decided to post a small bit about another Disorder, I hope you don't mind.

Dissociative Identity Disorder
(Formerly Multiple Personality Disorder)

- Is often random and unpredictable.
- Often involves a phobia of some sort.
- Mood Swings
- Insomnia
- Can involve alcohol or drug addiction
- Characterized by at least two personalities that take control of the body, and the inability to recall personal infomation that isn't normal forgetfulness.
- Not a disorder that can be brought on by a drug.
- Often isn't diagnosed until adulthood; but usually comes from repetitive abuse in childhood.
- Many people who suffer from this suffer from other disorders (OCD, Anxiety, Depression, etc.).
- They also are easily affected by Dissociation, which is when an aspect of the affected person's self/environment become disconnected from each other. 
- They are highly intelligent and highly creative. 
- The alternate personalities come in a few main types. There are host personalities which appear most often, opposite gender personalities, self-helper personalities, and persecutory personalities. The latter may harm themselves or others.


Sources:
http://www.dissociativeidentitydisorder.net/
http://www.gospelassemblyfree.com/facts/mpd.htm

Police

I was called in to have my questioning session with the police today, it was all very sudden so I didn't have time to say when I was going. The questions started out normal enough, asking me when I had started working at the day care, as well as what I was doing in school. However, it wasn't long into the interview that the questions became more personal than I had expected. They asked me things like; what were my hobbies? Did I like birds? Did I have any pets? What kind? I was very confused by this, until they handed me a disc. They said that on the disc was a recording they had taken on scene, and they were quite worried for me. I listened to it at the station, and I have to say I am just as worried about it. They also let slip that Brian's scars seemed to be caused by a bird; not a bird like Roc, but a larger kind. I have the feeling they think I'm a strong suspect in this kidnapping. But the following video I made, with the audio recording, proves that I couldn't (and have not even thought of) doing such a thing.



That strange distorted voice that cuts into the sound of birds says; Mary, the trees. Look towards the trees, Mary. It had to have been from the forest, but why or how it was created..I just don't know.

Meeting Brian

I saw Brian at the Day Care today. I was so relieved to see him, so glad to know he wasn't really gone. No one paid much attention to him much except me, and I talked to him a bit. I didn't ask anything about the indecent, he didn't seem up to it (and really, I don't think I did either). When I spoke to him, I saw he was shaking. He was afraid, and he drew very abstract drawings. They weren't of trees, or of strange symbols. He even picked colors at random. I also noticed his arms. His arms were lacerated with scars, but they weren't like blades. I don't know how to describe them, but they couldn't be natural.

I'm so curious over what happened to him, but I know it isn't right to just go out and ask him. I just don't want it happening to him again, and with how he is...I doubt he'll want to go outside much anymore.

First Day..Again

Today was the reopening of the Day Care. About half the children altogether had left the day care, and I could see why. The police had given out small, vague details about the whole indecent and I guess parents weren't too happy to hear such things. Brian wasn't among the kids there, which I thought was strange until I realized it was Wednesday.

When the children went out to play, we had most of the staff (including myself) out there with them. I noticed the scenery changed around the day care. None of the day care itself was harmed, but the forest near the day care was. The trees nearest the day care looked partly destroyed, their limbs were torn off as if lightning had hit them, or something had crashed into them.  It wasn't like that the day Brian vanished, but I hadn't been near the day care until today. If Brian is at the day care tomorrow, I'll talk to him (but I'll try not to ask too many questions about it all).

Hallowe'en

I spent the night giving out candy. It was lonely, even though I did see some of the children. I was still a little cut up about what happened with Alice (if you don't know..well just look at some comments, I don't need to go into it), but something made it a lot better. I saw Brian, I don't know what he went as because he stayed away from me, but I saw him. I'm sure of it.

Escape Artist

I woke up today to find Roc missing, with the cage door open. The way her cage is, it can't be opened from the inside as it works something like a draw bridge. I spent the morning looking for her, and eventually found her sleeping while perched on top of my dresser's mirror. I had to look away to get her down, but thank goodness I eventually did.

I kept a good eye on her the rest of the day, and caught her wedging her beak between the bars of the cage and door, trying to push it open. I startled her by saying her name, and hopefully this won't be a common occurrence. I might just have to go buy a lock to make sure.

Almost Hallowe'en

Well this is the last week of October, really, and I've been noticing my class work is now slowing down. Even college-age students are quite excited about Hallowe'en, I know at least I am. Even though I don't plan on partying or anything like that, I do plan on giving out candy at least. Maybe I'll be able to say hello to some of the children, I haven't seen them since Brian's vanishing...

Speaking of which, the Day Care called yesterday; they'll be re-opening  on November 3rd, so that means I'll be heading back to work soon. I tried to ask if they found Brian, but they hung up immediately after telling me when they were opening. I won't be mentioning Brian to them, or to anyone really as it  has become a touchy subject. It being so makes me think the worst, I'm afraid.

School Work

I missed more then I thought I did when I was off that week from school. I've been spending more time on homework and school projects, so much so I haven't had much time to do anything. Not that it changes much, it has been horribly cold and rainy lately. Still, I've been growing more and more worried about Brian when I do have my free time (which is spent talking to Roc for the most part, she's a good listener even if she doesn't understand a word I say, lol). I haven't gotten any calls from police, or calls from the Day Care itself saying when or if it will reopen.

I'm beginning to think Brian's parents are keeping this all hush-hush, out of the newspaper and general media. Not that I can blame them, seeing as that would mean more questioning and more interviews, plus making those drawings of Brian's more public than they already are (so many of them I wasn't allowed to post as I said). I really hope they find something about his whereabouts soon.

Researching Day Three

Instead of rambling on about what I researched, I think it is best if I just link it. http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Slender+Man
Just..oh god.
My reaction when I stumbled upon him was horrified, and if it weren't for the fact it says he is a fabrication I would still be so.
Which wouldn't be a good way to start the week, as I'm going back to school tomorrow so I don't fall too far behind.

Researching Day Two

Today I decided to look up something a little different. I looked up birds, but to be more specific, Paranormal Birds or Mythological Birds. I don't know what I was looking for, really, but I'd thought I'd share some things.

Before I knew what I was really looking for, I found a story about a bird called, Mareli Chidiya, or 'Death Bird' that inhabits India and Indian Lore. According to the story, the bird is a mixture of an eagle and vulture, and is a normal bird in all other aspects. In fact, it hardly ever makes a sound except for on certain occasions. When it does screech it signals death, and that anyone who hears it will either die or someone near will die. The article wasn't exact on who dies, as more then one person heard the screech and not all of them died.
I also found an article relating to ghost birds. I wasn't in favor of reading the whole story, but it related to a boy seeing a pet bird around the house whom had died weeks before.


After looking up those stories, I decided to look up Roc's namesake; a roc, of course. I didn't find much of any interest on Rocs other than them being great, big birds. However, I did find a few stories on a Thunder Bird, one such story being in the book 'Pet Ghosts' by Joshua Warren. The Thunder Bird was said to be a very large creature, something like a pterodactyl. One story told of a group of the birds trying to take a boy, Marlon Lowe, but because he fought against being picked up that he was dropped. What I found disturbing, however, was another story that took place in 1890. As the story goes, men killed the Thunder Bird, and pictures were taken of it to be posted in the 'Tombstone Epitaph'. For some reason, though, the archives of the newspaper show no bird picture. People claimed to have seen the picture, but it seemed to have vanished. The only evidence of the article was about a dead bird being found with a 16 foot wingspan.


That's all I have to say, really. I plan on posting some pictures of Roc up soon, it's been raining here a lot so I haven't been able to even attempt bird watching, sadly.

Reseaching Day One

I'm going to post these in days because I bet I'll end up doing a lot of these in the future. I haven't been able to go back to work since the incident, as the police are very hush-hush about it all. I suspect they'll be calling me any day now, but that's besides the point. I've also not been going to class since the incident. In order to keep my mind off of anything that might make me think about it, I've been spending hours simply in the bookstore and library researching.

I decided to spent most of my day researching about hallucinations. A lot of the books were very, very vague on the subject, and internet text even more so. However, I was able to collect a few facts about the hallucinations. These came from various sources, both internet and text that I collected general notes on.

- Capgras syndrome which is common in those with schizophrenia causes the person afflicted to see a familiar person's 'replica' which looks similar to the familiar person.
- I also came upon Frégoli syndrome, which is the confusion of an individual as a familiar person in disguise.
- Hallucinations can start as simply as being shapes, faces, or torsos. As threatening as the Faceless man sounds..it sounds like something that could easily happen to anyone who hallucinated.
- There are also fairly basic Visual Hallucinations, which seem to include human, or human-like figures and is triggered by a false perception of sight. These hallucinations can also be very basic, or even take on forms of notable or religious figures, such as the devil.

The last thing I came about really caught my attention, it was mood triggering the hallucination. That a hallucination might be brought on being either following one's emotion (such as death, gloom, or general negative things), or not following one's emotion. Such has being in a happy mood triggering a not so happy hallucination.
As to be expected, I also checked out a few bird books to help me pass the time. I really miss bird watching, but it's getting colder and harder to find them out in the forest. I still plan to look for them though, the book really takes my mind off of everything.

Gone

He's. He's just gone.
Brian is gone.

I'm crying so hard right now, but I have to explain.

It was sunny out today, and as I said on Tuesday, Brian was looking forward to recess. The children were let out with one of the permanent staff to watch them, while I stayed indoors and cleaned up. When they came back, I waited eagerly for Brian to come and tell me what a good time he had. But he didn't come back.
I asked the children, and the one who watched them. Not only had they not seen Brian, but they acted like 'Brian' had never existed. I checked with the other staff, they remembered him, but could not find him. We keep files on each of the children so we know basic details about them, but not even a file existed for him.

The police were called, and an investigation will be held. We're all suspects, but I was told to go home early because of how broken up I was. If this gets too much out of hand the day-care might be closed down for further investigation. And who knows where it will go from there.
But..I..I just don't understand. Why would someone kidnap Brian, with so many witnesses? In broad daylight? Brian wasn't an idiot, he wouldn't run to a stranger. And..how do they not remember him?

I need to go lay down, or talk to Roc..I..just don't know what to do.

A Sudden Calm

Brian has showed improvement over the last two days. He hasn't been drawing the pictures as often, and neither has he been drawing them with the same urgency. I've not mentioned the dream, pictures, the faceless man, or tailor to him because I fear a relapse.

It was raining today so the children didn't get to play outside. Brian had been ignoring this recess, I think I neglected to mention this. He was very sad about it raining, he told me he wants to go out in play on Thursday. I'm so glad everything is blowing over, maybe things will go back to normal? For his sake, I hope so.

Brian's Art

I was able to get some pictures off of Brian, even one he made for me. I wasn't allowed to post ones that had his name on, so I only took the ones I was allowed to have. They are strange, and very disturbing for me. I hope he gets through his nightmares.

 This was the first one he did; he made many of these over and over again. Same symbol, same colors. He was very urgent about them, and nearly screamed when he showed them to me, telling me they were important. How, I do not know. However, I recognize this symbol from the snake hallucination Alice had about a month ago.

 He drew this when I asked him to show me what the Tailor looked like in his dream. I asked him to draw a face, or some hair on him but Brian seemed set on him remaining faceless. He added the blood in last, I'm not sure if it was a mistake on his part or not, but its definitely like the dream he told me about.

Lastly, is this. It seems even though the nightmare scared him, he was still able to draw some birds for me. Apparently my love of birds rubs off on others. They are rather cute, aren't they?

Lights Out

I'm on here so early because both my classes and my job were canceled today. A nasty storm hit, and knocked out the power at my house, the school, and the day care. I was sent home early from work only to come home to a darkened house with a storm raging. I checked on Roc and found her to be very joyful even with the storm raging. The power came back around 2 am last night, and I got calls from the school and work saying not to come in. When I looked outside, it was mysteriously foggy (more so then I've ever seen after a storm like that), which faded around lunchtime.

Oh, I should also note, in the little time I was at work yesterday was strange. Brian was there, but I didn't have much time to talk to him or see why he was there on a Wednesday. He seemed to be coloring, I'll have to ask him what he was coloring tomorrow.

Nightmares

Life has been normal for the most part, it's been uninteresting even in terms of Bird Watching. However, today something rather disturbing was brought to my attention by Brian. He told me that he had a bad dream last night, and the night before last night. I know this is usual for children, but it is what he told me the dream was about. He said, "a tall tailor with scissors for hands." It's not hard to figure out where his brain dug this nightmare up from. I then asked him what the tailor did in his dreams, thinking it had to do with the poem.

Instead, he told me that the tailor did nothing to him. The dream he had two nights ago was simply him looking out a window at the tailor, and last night it was the same only this time the tailor was closer. He was very shaken by telling me this, and even started crying. Of course, I felt very guilty as it's my doing he knew the poem anyway. When his parents came to get him, I explained to them about the dream after some difficulty and they blew me off. I'm very concerned for Brian, even though I know it's simply a dream that comes with childhood I couldn't help but beat myself up about it.


What was such a story doing in a day care, anyway?

Sleepwalking Research (Somnambulism)

Although I don't think my normal studies go deeply into the realms of sleepwalking (also known as Somnambulism), I found some time over the last few days to do some research for the benefit of Alice. I wasn't able to find many exact descriptions of what one does while sleepwalking, but I have found three key facts which may or may not lead to an answer.

1.) Sleepwalking is thought to be genetic; if your parents sleepwalked then it is likely you would as well.


2.) It is also linked to various disorders; I wasn't able to find Schizophrenia among them but it's very possible that the disorder was a link in the chain. It may have even strengthened it.

3.) People who sleepwalk do not usually remember it. Which explains just why one wouldn't remember writing the Morse Code down, and even more so the actions done while sleepwalking are said to be rather odd. I'm sure this varies amongst the people, and the person who spends less time outside will have less episodes of going outside than a person who does spend a lot of time outside.




Before I simply leave this off there, I decided to go a little bit into the odder realms of dreams. I wanted to find a meaning to the Morse Code being written. I don't normally trust this stuff, but maybe your memory will be jogged, right Alice? It certainty couldn't hurt to post some explanations of what the dream may have been, and will at least  give a good laugh.

Trees: I found various things on specific trees, but I took it to mean a generic tree. Like a forest, so I followed a generic description. It was, among other things; new hopes, desires, dreams, knowledge, protection, and stability. As a side note, as I think it's worth mentioning, if there were crows in the trees, it represents death. Such a grim outlook on a beautiful bird, another reason why I really can't take these things seriously.

Morse Code: It seems that something in your dream while you sleep walked showed that you had to express something. Or something was hidden, and you had to quickly figure it out. I admit this doesn't fit with the trees, and as I can't look up 'SEEYOU', I'm not sure what to make of the Morse Code other than it being a side effect of your sleepwalking.


Eyes: I had trouble trying to find ones for Eyes, as it's the closest I can come to 'SEEYOU'. Everything I found was about the eyes being closed, but since they were obviously open, I'm going to put down the opposite of what it says. It means to accept the truth of something, which in a way conflicts with the Morse Code altogether.

It's.........interesting. I don't remember the source sites, but I used at least three of them, they all basically told the same things.

Nothing to Report

I didn't do much today at work, Brian wasn't there today as it seems he doesn't come on Wednesdays. I'll update these on days something interesting happens; until then just assume it was a normal, natural day. I'm not as tired as I've been the last few days, at least.

Reading

Well, I was able to leave a little bit earlier than yesterday. As I said, my shift isn't exact, so expect variations in when I post these updates. Today was the day I was to read to the kids, and they let me pick a book out of a little bookshelf they had. I decided to pick the oldest book they had sitting on the shelf, it looked worn and unused for some time. The book I chose was 'Der Struwwelpeter', and the title itself was vaguely in my memory. I looked through the table of contents and read the only narrative poem that looked familiar. I'll share it with you.

The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb

One day, Mamma said, "Conrad dear,
I must go out and leave you here.
But mind now, Conrad, what I say,
Don't suck your thumb while I'm away.
The great tall tailor always comes
To little boys that suck their thumbs.
And ere they dream what he's about
He takes his great sharp scissors
And cuts their thumbs clean off, - and then
You know, they never grow again."

Mamma had scarcely turn'd her back, The thumb was in, alack! alack!

The door flew open, in he ran, The great, long, red-legged scissorman. Oh! children, see! the tailor's come And caught our little Suck-a-Thumb.

Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go; And Conrad cries out - Oh! Oh! Oh! Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast; That both his thumbs are off at last. Mamma comes home; there Conrad stands, And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;- "Ah!" said Mamma "I knew he'd come To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb." Afterward, I was able to talk to some of the kids as they were doing various little projects. I was able to meet Brian, who was drawing some sort of picture. He didn't seem out of the ordinary at all, just a little shy. He told me he liked the poem, and added with a smile, 'I think I've met that Tailor,' and he showed me his fist with his thumb hidden. It was amusing, and when I looked at the picture it didn't seem out of the ordinary at all. Whatever the tour guide said about him being strange, I certainly don't see. (But then again aren't we all a little strange?)

First Day

I'm quite worn out from the first day. Not that much happened, I got a tour of the place (as much as a tour can be, it's a six room building with a small attic and half-finished basement, along with a playground outside), along with some information on the children that go there. I'm going to change their names for their privacy's sake, as I bet you can guess I'm going to talk about them.

One child in particular, Brian, was said to be different than the others as the guide told me. He's 7, and is quite bright but they just say something is "wrong" with him. I'm not sure what to expect as I won't be able to meet or interact with any of the kids until tomorrow. If it is what I think it is, he probably has some 'morbid' outlook on the world, or some disorder that isn't natural in a child his age. I think I'm a little too excited to meet him and see what exactly is wrong with him. I do know he is a human, and I'm not going to treat him as some sort of experiment (although it will seem that way dlks bad habit of mine).

The children, after being told I was going to be working there voted on what I was to do with them. There's about ten of them in the group that will be there when I work, and they decided I should read to them. I'll look forward to that tomorrow.

I got the job

I was going to wait to post this tomorrow after my first day of work, but I was so excited I couldn't wait. They called me back about half an hour ago to tell me I got the job, and that I was to start tomorrow. I can't wait to see how everything goes, and they seem fine with me working with the older kids. Classes are usually over by noon, so they told me to come in by one, and I'll work until the kids are picked up, or enough of the permanent staff can handle the children who are still there after their dinner/snack time.
Wish me luck~

Job Hunting

I've decided to look into getting a job, as much as I'd love to simply keep my mind focused on my studies, bird watching, and Roc none of those generate any sort of income. I've been looking around at a few places, and already I've ruled out working at some fast food place. Even though I don't mind people there is a lot of pressure and stress with working with a lot of people over the course of the day.

There is however, a Day Care center that is near the forest where I bird watch. This place interests me as it would help me with my studies (after all there is a lot of psychological study in children), and give me some experience with simply working with them. I say children because I really don't do well with babies, I think 6 years and up will be the age range I'll work the best with. After I work up the courage to go and fill out a résumé, we can hope for the best. Roc certainly approves of me getting a job (I've been talking to her, she's the only other creature I really talk to besides family), and seems very excited about being able to be in a quiet room all day without me walking around.

Bird Watching

Today I found some time to do some bird watching. I had both my cell phone and my regular camera, but even so it was hard to get good pictures. A lot of the trees hid the birds from view, and they were being very skittish as always (I don't blame them, really). After cropping and messing around with some of the pictures so the birds are in better view, I only had a couple pictures, but I like them so I'll share them.

The gold finches, as promised. I was lucky to get these three, I didn't notice there were three until I zoomed in more on the picture.

I believe those are Sparrows, if they don't look like them I blame my camera (or my horrible photo editing, haha).

I don't know exactly why I took this picture, but something told me too when I saw all the trees. I like the picture, even though there aren't any birds in it (which really surprised me, you'd think there would be).

Facts About Various Disorders

For my own reference, and for the greater good of others researching the subject, I've decided to make some little fact lists about some Disorders. I've chosen OCD, Schizophrenia, and ADD/ADHD.

OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

- People who suffer from OCD suffer from both Obsessions and Compulsions. 

- The Obsessions include: reoccurring, unwanted thoughts, or images. They are often disturbing and cause anxiety and disstress.

- Compulsions include: Repetitive acts that are in response to the Obsessions. They can be mental or physical, and are meant to prevent certain situations from happening.

- OCD Affects men and woman equally.

- People with OCD have different brain patterns compared to others with mental disorders or no disorder at all when looked with a PET (positron emission tomography).

- 2% of the US Population has OCD; one third of that was diagnosed in childhood.

Source:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/287681-overview
http://www.anxietypanic.com/ocdfacts.html

Schizophrenia

- As devastating a disorder as Schizophrenia is, it is highly treatable. If more research were done on the disease, it could be cured by 2013.

- The leading theories for why Schizophrenia occurs are mainly that it is genetic, along with certain enviromental factors.

- Schizophrenia usually occurs between ages 15-25, and is generally slightly younger in development in women.

- Hardly anyone under the age of 10 or above the age of 40 is diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

-  Schizophrenia occurs in all races, genders, religion, or culture.

- At least 51 Million people worldwide suffer from Schizophrenia.

Source:

http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm 

ADD/ADHD

Attention Deficit Disorder

- Affects between 5 and 12 percent of children worldwide.

- Children with ADD/ADHD are not all alike, as there are different severances of the disorder (Mild, Moderate or Severe).

- Often occurs along with other disorders such as; Learning Disabilities, Tourette Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, Bipolar, Substance Abuse, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Conduct Disorder.

- Affects more males than females.

- Depending on the person, ADD/ADHD may only last through childhood and they learn to cope with it, others suffer through it the rest of their lives.

- There are two distinct types of ADD/ADHD: Hyperactivity and Impulsive or Inattentiveness without Hyperactivity.

Source:
http://www.chrisdendy.com/keyfacts.htm

I plan on doing more of these when I decide it is needed. I decided to name my pet cockatiel Roc, as Alice suggested. She seems to be okay with the name, and I think it will fit her.

Welcome Home

I decided today to do something a little different than usual. Instead of going out bird watching, I checked around at a few shelters and pet stores looking for a bird of my own that wouldn't fly away before I could take a picture. To my amazement, I was able to get one, a female cockatiel whose about 6 or 7 years old. I know a lot more about birds, than you would think, so I'm quite glad to have gotten her. She even warmed up to me fairly easily, as the shelter told me they had found her out in the wild and she had trouble warming up to anyone. She's very quiet though, and there is something about her that is different. I guess I'll have to figure that out as I get to know her better.

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Here's a picture; like I said she's different. There's a mirror in her cage but she hardly ever looks into it, and when I put my phone into her cage in order to take this picture she became aggressive when she was calm only moments before.

Let's Start This

 I finally was able to convince Alice to create a blog along with me. She doesn't see its use yet, but these things are very well-intended both for her health and the health of others like her. I will be also posting updates on my life that I figure will be of interest, my life is not busy or exciting but I do have many adventures when it comes to my hobby of bird watching. The birds around where I live are curious creatures, not like other birds I've seen.

As for Alice, because of her schizophrenia, I will be monitoring her posts as well as lending support as much as I can. She needs a friend or two, it would do her good. The information I receive from my friendship with her will help me in my studies, and possibly even others like her. I'm sorry if I sound too cold in this, we really are friends, in spite of what Alice might imply.