Blog Number 75

Here is blog number 75. Counting down my 15 biggest achievements from 5 different categories. I know I've done this before, but since it's a 75th blog, I figure I might as well give it a whirl:
Academics:
1. Getting an A- in Environmental Studies
2. Getting an A in Math
3. Getting an A- in Research Methods
4. Getting a B+ in my two Senior Seminar classes
5. Getting a B+ in Gender Studies
6. Getting an A in Non-Profit Management, a 3-week Summer Class
7. Getting an A in Listening, a 5-week summer class
8. Getting straight A+s the semester after getting hit by the car the first time
9. Getting on the honor roll the 1st quarter of my Senior year in High School
10. Getting an A+ in Applied Leadership
11. Being 4 classes away from graduation after this semester
12. Getting close to a B average in college despite all my extracurricular activities
13. Getting honors grade in my Major despite all my extracurricular activities as of right now
14. Graduating high school with a 3.22 despite living in the group home at that time
15. Getting an A in Conflict Management when that was an aptly useful class
Social:
1. Making friends at a whim at Boise State
2. Being involved in several activities of several types for as long as I have
3. Having a set of friends I can hang out with every month at Boise State
4. Having a great Special Olympics community in all of its forms
5. Having a great roommate that I can trust
6. Going everywhere and knowing someone
7. Being the unofficial mascot at Southminster and at Boise State
8. Donating 50 pints of blood
9. International travel to Jamaica and Brazil
10. Volunteering at the Rescue Mission and Boise Samaritan Village
11. The community at work where I've been for eight years
12. My friends I meet at the coffee shops and how many of them know me by name
13. My time at the gym and the friendships I've made there
14. Being in a few different relationships
15. Coming out as bisexual (meaning that I am attracted to both men and women, nothing more)
Physical:
1. Going down from 215 a year and a half ago to around 200 and a half-marathon in a couple weeks
2. My basketball career lasting as long as it had
3. My softball career lasting as long as it had
4. All the variations of the hikes I've been on (and still see new stuff close to every time)
5. Trying new things all the time
6. Taking up dancing as a 230-pound 26 year old
7. Taking up yoga and pilates as a 230-pound 26 year old
8. Always being game for new classes even when I have zero idea what I'm doing
9. Taking up tricycling at age 30
10. Taking up running at age 25
11. Walking over 10,000 miles and swimming over 10,000 laps the last several years (and counting)
12. Being in a super-elite REC club of epic proportions
13. Being in 3 gyms right now and getting max benefit
14. Trying to eat clean and most days succeeding lately
15. Averaging around 95 this year in bowling despite only going once a month
Emotional:
1. Almost making bipolar to where it isn't noticeable even by pros
2. Making autism barely noticeable
3. Keeping anxiety below a 6 all year (except part of the Spring semester)
4. Finding a great counselor
5. Finding an excellent support group
6. Listening to impulses
7. Creating boundaries with friends
8. Constant work on voice modulation
9. Continued work on social cues
10. Not getting as angry when things go wrong
11. Not creating as much disappointment when things go wrong
12. My can-do attitude
13. Creating good ways of dealing with professors in time of need
14. Creating better speaking up skills to help with anxiety
15. Being optimistic and happy with who I am- every day is a great day because we're alive
Spiritual:
1. Trying different churches out
2. Being at Southminster and sticking it out in the tough times and in the good
3. Being a member of a church and having other duties there
4. Being a deacon of a church
5. Being an usher of multiple churches
6. Supporting the church at Pride
7. Supporting the church at Vacation Bible School
8. Being a youth leader in a church
9. Doing prayer groups and Bible Studies and checking them out to see a different view
10. Stepping down from Engage Truth when the time was right
11. Stepping down from CRU and Synergy when my views changed on how I was treated
12. Stepping down from Intervarsity and Young Life on my own terms
13. Creating a great sense of belonging at Intervarsity and Engage Truth despite differences for a long time
14. Helping out with other volunteer things, being in a New Beginnings class, and being in a committee while in college
15. Going to Camp Sawtooth over 10 times in 6 years and then going back in 2015 in a completely different capacity than ever before
So these are some of my accomplishments that I've made- most in the past little bit but also some in the last bit before that. I will be including other categories on the hot Bott 100 but that is 25 blogs from now. Until that time, I will be writing more reflective blogs and a few of my poems I've been working on the past several months and some musings on things that I've learned recently. Good luck to all of you and keep remembering- I am the AutBott

A Vision

I vision a day when people are brought together with hope, dreams, love, and fulfillment no matter their orientation, gender, ethnicity, faith, education, challenges, abilities, and social status. I dream of a time when people can look at each other because of who they are, not what they are. I dream of a day when there can be a woman president, a secular president, and most definitely a LGBT or Hispanic president- someone that further breaks the norms that Obama broke for the last two terms. I dream of a place where people can continue to be on an even field despite theological differences and can talk civilly about their churches' attitudes and about what they want to achieve with their faith without being totally judgmental (that goes for me too). I dream of an age where people don't get stereotyped by what they are in to and listen to but rather what they decide to do with their lives whether good or bad strangers can see their mistakes and triumphs in what they are doing to continually change and grow. I dream of a place where people can no longer speak for those without a voice because everyone will have one. I am hoping to picture myself sitting next to a like-minded activist 40 years from now and have people compare this activism to the civil rights movement because we will continue to see positive social change for LGBT people and people who are queer, questioning, intersex, inquiring, allies, and asexual. I dream of a world where people who fit outside of the gender norm whether androgynous-gender, bi-gender, transgender, agender, or otherwise don't have to come out as a big spectacle and LGBT people don't either. I dream of a world where people can come out in team sports and not be ostracized for their orientation. But I know that this world is a long way off and it makes me sad. I know that this probably will not be accomplished in my lifetime even if I live to be 101 years old. So I'm hoping that the future generations can continue to strive towards happiness, love, life, and the hope and dreams for all. Because I feel like when I'm in heaven at the end of the day and this happens even if it's 777 years from now or way sooner I can so "well done world."