I'm done. It's finished.

My manuscript is complete and I just mailed it to a publisher TODAY. Hopefully I'll find out in one to three months if they want to publish it . . . my fingers and toes are crossed.

Tonight I bouldered at Rockreation!

So several months ago I practiced indoor rock climbing THREE times with the National Ability Center - I learned about the harness, the gear, and Kim Millikan at the NAC was my belay. It was difficult but invigorating to be on the wall. Tonight I tried it again with Denise Druce at Rockreation in SLC. This time I bouldered - no ropes, just my strength. Denise suggested I put this photo up - - to compare with the photos of me in the hospital, also on this blog.

Where did I get my blog and book title?

Once my niece pointed to the scar at left (can you see it?) and said, "You have a smile on your forehead."

View me on Daily Documentary!

See photographs and listen to me discuss my injury on The Daily Documentary Project: http://montage-creative.blogspot.com/

(photographer Dallas Graham shoots and interviews everyday people in this project)

The photographs are nice - but admitedly I cringed after hearing the sound of my voice on the Podcast . . .

Brain Rules

The following is a list of 12 principles to boost your brain power (taken from the book Brain Rules by John Medina). Every singole one is applicable to TBI Survivors -- especially Rule #1

EXERCISE Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEMORY Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
SLEEP Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.
STRESS Rule #8: Stressed brains don't learn the same way.
SENSORY INTEGRATION Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.
VISION Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.
GENDER Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.
EXPLORATION Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.

How will this aggravate my Brain Injury?

The following thoughts have been on my mind for some time now and I decided to blog about it:

Pre-accident/pre-injury, I spent hours (no exaggeration) planning my future, beginning with what classes I should take each semester to achieve my academic goals. I'd beg my friends to let me do the same for them (actually, no begging was involved- - they were pleased to let me do it).
Lucky for me, I enjoy this stuff because post-injury I need to plan how I am going to execute my daily activities or the pressure of remembering what I'm supposed to do causes me such fatigue that I feel like collapsing.
Whenever I do most anything, I need to ask myself two critcal questions:

1. How will this aggravate my brain injury?
2. Will I have time to recover from the activity?

For example, last night I was out kind of late (11 pm). However, I pre-panned this and knew I'd be okay staying out that late because I didn't have to work until later today. I slept in, then practiced Yoga at the gym (Denise counted 5 seconds on my Crow Pose!) and I'm home now, taking a break, before work.

Many people schedule their daily activities, but a Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor must also schedule recovery time from their daily activities.