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#1: Teresa K (fasstar) on Apr 22, 2009 [SPOILER]

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Thank you - I've enjoyed solving these a lot!

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I've been enjoying these. I'm sad to see them ending. Thanks for the fun and education. :)

Thanks, Telly. They were fun to make. I'll be looking for some other easy little series to work on, so you will have some "quickies" to solve during your brief baby-nap free time. :-)

Thank you for bringing thses to our attention. I knew they existed (from some Law and Order or CSI episode or one of those shows) but did not know what they looked like.

I've had friends who have "couch-surfed" for awhile when they were between apartments, and gosh knows there were months when I couldn't afford both rent and food so I would keep turning up at friend's houses right around dinner time. ;-) But to actually end up camping on the street?

The only person I knew well who did that was bipolar, and he seemed to think he was "living off the land", despite having *many* friends who would have given him a couch to sleep on. I never understood him, either.

Thanks, Georgia.

Meg, I know lots of kids who have grown up to be "couch surfers." Your friend sounds like the young adults I work with.

Many people who are chronically homeless and not capable of functioning well in life may have unrecognized Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Not all, but many. The prenatal alcohol damages the frontal lobes that affect judgment, risk taking, relationships, and emotional maturity. They seem to have little common sense and have trouble making wise decisions. And there is a high degree of substance abuse. About 20% of the FASD population has bipolar disorder. Peole with FASD who have a normal IQ and normal appearance tend to not ever get a diagnosis, so they wander through life clueless about their disability. They have enough trouble in school that they may drop out, have a hard time keeing a job, can't maintain healthy relationships, and so they drift from friend to friend, from job to job to job, with no stable roots, no viable life goals. They are friendly and sociable, but they don't know how to keep friends. After a while they run out of "friends" to stay with. They get kicked out, evicted, disowned, and burn their bridges without realizing how important those relationships are for survival.

Well, that was a long rant, and not a really pleasant one to read. I just can't help myself, I'm compulsive about raising awareness about the danger of alcohol during pregnancy. More and more kids are being affected because more and more women are binge drinking in early pregnancy before they realize they are pregnant. (50% of all pregnancies are unplanned.)

Sorry this was such a downer. But if one young lady reading this decides to not drink because she could be pregnant, and that baby is spared the life-long effects, then it is worth it.

I promise to make the next series a fun one. :-)

Aw... this WAS a fun series. Really! I liked learning the different signs - it's like a secret language.

My friend did not have FAS or FAE, so far as I know. He came from a fairly wealthy family. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and later I heard that he'd also been diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder. That made sense to me, because while I hung out with him a lot when I was in college and we got along very well, the last time I saw him he scared me enough that I refused to tell him where I lived. I'd just had my first baby, and all I could think was that I didn't feel safe having him around my kid.

Sadly, I haven't seen him since. He's dropped out of sight. I hope he's okay, where ever he is. :-/

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another great installment in this series. my brother, who has been homeless since the 80's, is a documented "genius", having skipped two grades in school and possessing an extremely high IQ. he doesn't like to live in shelters because "they steal your stuff". he is a self-taught artist, poet, writer, cook, musician, and chess player. he never could stand authority figures and has been in and out of prison, and once did some time in a mental institution. he's also been all over the u.s. his intelligence has allowed him to survive on the streets, but i could never figure out why he didn't choose a more "regular" existence. but i guess for him this is regular.

I loved this series. I also found the thing on alcohol interesting. I so don't believe in alcohol for anyone but try not to fault those who do as long as they don't get drunk and/or drive in an unsafe condition. I think it is sad that what a mother does during pregnancy can affect her baby in a negative way. My mother was very big on nutrition (in the 50's before it was popular) and I sort of inherited that tendency. My kids were all identified as gifted although I've always felt they weren't really born at all advanced from anyone else. I believe in giving a kid tons of attention and introducing them to anything they are willing to learn as young as possible. I believe in limiting TV and now videos, CD's, whatever. I think imagination is an awesome thing and happens naturally if given the chance. Shucks--too long. I didn't mean to write this much. :(

Not a problem. I enjoy reading discussions like this. Especially when I am in agreement. :-)

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