New Year’s Special: Florida For New Years

 Florida For New Years

Disclaimer: The Paige that I refer to in this installment is my cousin, not my girlfriend. Also, she has a brother named Austin, and her husband's name is Austin. Her husband will be referred to as Naughstin.

Growing up, my family would go down to Orlando, Florida, for two weeks every summer to visit Dad’s side of the family. However, in more recent years, we have been going to other places for our family's summer vacation. To make up for this, in December 2019, we went to Florida for New Year's. We obviously didn't go in 2020, but we went there twice in 2021. Once to make up for 2020 and once for Paige’s wedding. We were going to go for New Year’s last year, but Dad hurt his back, so we couldn't make the drive.

On December 27th, 2023, my family drove down to my Aunt Eva and Uncle Zach’s house. The next day, we spent time at my grandma’s house. Then, at 5:30, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Eva, Zach, Pop-pop, his friend Sara, and I got on the SunRail, which is the local train system, and went to a minor league hockey game. The team was called The Solar Bears. When we got there, we met up with my cousin's family, the Spears (Aunt Alicia, Uncle Paul, Alexander, his girlfriend Alexa, Austin, Paige and Naughstin). It was a really fun night, and the Solar Bears won!

On Friday the 29th, my family went to Paige and Naughstin’s house to meet their son Bentley, and he's one of the cutest little babies I've ever met! The next day we went to Titusville, which is about an hour from Eva and Zach's house, and saw my great-grandma Biba, and went to Dad’s cousin's family Christmas party.

New Year's Eve was a very packed day. Bentley’s baptism was after the 12:30 Mass, and then Paige and Naughstin had a reception at their house. From there, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Pop-pop, Sara, Eva, Zach, and I went to a memorial for my friend Elizabeth that her family has every year. It was a really nice event, and I got to see Elizabeth’s parents and grandparents, her sisters Madison and Blinne, and Madison’s new husband!

But the best part of the trip was the Spear’s New Year's Eve party. Mom, Dad, Ryan, Luke, Josh, and I got there first, and Alexander, Alexa, Grandma, and her husband Joe showed up about an hour later. We spent the night watching football, hanging out in the hot tub with Austin, and setting off fireworks!

Now, Alexa’s family has a New Year’s tradition that I have never heard of before. 12 grapes (one for each month of the year) are put into champagne glasses. Right when the ball drops, everyone starts eating the grapes, making a wish for the New Year with each one. If you don’t finish your grapes by 12:01, you will have bad luck for the whole year.

As soon as the ball dropped, we all started eating our grapes, and Alexander set off the biggest fireworks pack we had! As people began finishing their grapes, we began blowing on party horns. Alicia was practically screaming into hers, and that encouraged everyone else to scream into theirs. We spent the first 10 minutes of 2024 trying to be the loudest person and inadvertently sounding like a flock of dying geese! It was random, epic, and a little disturbing, honestly.

I always hear people say that New Year’s is always a letdown. I understand the sentiment, but I think people feel that way because it’s billed as one of the biggest nights of the year, but it all leads up to a disco ball exploding on TV! I’ve learned that if you lower your expectations just a smidge, your New Year will be more entertaining than it would be otherwise!

Hope you all have a Greattastic and safe 2024!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Rules for a Greattastic Life will return with the 5-Year Anniversary Special soon!

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Finale: Man I Want To Be

 Man I Want To Be

There's a musician named Jake Scott. My “sisters” introduced me to him, and I'm pretty sure that they found him through their friends in Canada. He has a lot of good songs, but my favorite is one called, The Man I Want to Be. My favorite part is the bridge. It goes, “If I got everything I’ve wanted and stood beneath the lights up on the stage, would the boy when I was young love the man that I've become or would he even recognize my face?”

This is a very weird season finale. In all the previous ones there's been something dramatic that happened. In Season 1, I lied to my other three “sisters” and Marshall to surprise them when Arden returned from Colorado for Christmas. In Season 2, Covid hit, and in Season 3… Well, admittedly, Season 3 wasn't super dramatic, but I did learn a very valuable lesson during that event. Season 4 was me moving out, and season 5, was my ex-girlfriend Gabby, returning for a final time. This installment is more of a reflection of what has happened between the Season 5 finale, and now.

I started writing books first, and that kind of snowballed into me starting this blog and, eventually, the podcast. Knowing that the books were coming, I sort of structured this series as if it were a series of books, too. Seasons 1 to 3 were one book; in my head it's called The Coronapocalypse. And Seasons 4-6 are one; I call this one The Mitchell Project.

For those of you who don't remember, The Mitchell Project was a plan that my “sisters” and I came up with on my 25th birthday to better my mental and physical health before my 26th. It was a direct result of my breakup with Gabby because I had immediately tried to fill the void of not having a girlfriend, and I had gotten myself hurt. There was a list of five things that I was supposed to do to complete The Mitchell Project. There was sort of an unspoken sixth rule, though: don't go looking for a girlfriend while doing The Mitchell Project. I planned, as a result, not to get a girlfriend until after my 26th birthday… Oops.

The reason that I wasn't supposed to get a girlfriend during that time was because my “sisters” and I knew that if I got a girlfriend, I would put my self-esteem into whatever girl I was dating, and it would all be for nothing. And I will admit, The Mitchell Project itself did fade away as soon as I started dating Paige, but not because I stopped using it. It faded because it wasn't needed in its current form; in other words, it evolved!

Paige herself is a major part of that evolution. I’m not going to lie to you; I did start to put my self-esteem into Paige and my relationship, as my “sisters” and had I feared. I'm not going to go into too many details, but basically, I became a little insecure. Insecurities are a natural thing in any relationship, but I'm so confident as a person that when I do get insecure, I’m not really good at handling it. The girls and Marshall have been helping me manage these insecurities, and Paige has continued to push me to have a life outside of our relationship.

On that note, this season, I've done a ton of great things myself! Firstly, I was a keynote speaker at an Ohio conference, and I was offered a spot on the CEC of Ohio Board! I also spoke at OCALICONLINE for a second time with my parents and some big names in the special ed world! On top of that, I have an idea for my next steps as an Autism advocate! I can't say anything right now, but just trust me, I'm really excited! In my non-romantic personal life, I saw Taylor Swift live, climbed a 14er, published my second book, finished writing my 3rd and 4th, became an “uncle” to August’s daughter, and spoke at my aunt and new uncle's wedding!

My essential question for this season was, “What’s the dream?” This was my essential question because my goal for the season was to figure out what my dream life looks like. I realized that looking for my “dream life” might have been setting me up for failure just because reality tends to get in the way. Despite this, I think I figured out what I want my life to realistically look like, and as a result, I am on the cusp of becoming the man I want to be!

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 30: Out Of My Mind

 Out Of My Mind

On Thursday, November 30th, 2023, I got up early, recorded and posted the previous blog and podcast, grabbed some extra clothes, and returned to my parents' house. Paige had stayed the night, so when I got back, we spent the last few hours before we had to go to the surgery center watching TV. We got to the surgery center at 10:15 am. I got signed in, put on a hospital gown, and crawled into my hospital bed. Mom and Paige were allowed to stay with me the entire time, except when I was actually in surgery.

Almost as soon as I was in bed, a nurse, whose name I'm pretty sure was Tegan, came into my room. She introduced herself to me, Mom, and Paige and then put an IV in my left hand. “I'm going to give you a little something to help you relax,” nurse Tegan said. “You should start to feel it almost immediately.” I didn't believe her at first, but after 15 seconds, I was feeling tired. I remember singing a song from the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and sort of having a conversation with Mom and Paige. Eventually, Dr. Blaze came in, and I was moved to the operating table. With the assistance of whatever Nurse Tegan had given me, I think I was out before they even put the anesthesia mask over my face. 

Dr. Blaze and his team took a piece of cartilage from the inside of my ear, used it to cover up the hole in my right eardrum, and then put some biodegradable padding in my ear so that my eardrum has protection while it's healing. The first thing I remember when I woke up was Nurse Tegan trying to get me to drink water out of a plastic cup. Because I wasn't stable enough to hold the cup, she was holding it, and there was a bendy straw in it. I thought the straw was a cigarette, and all I could think was, why are doctors trying to give me a cigarette? That seems counterproductive.

From this point onward, I don’t have a very clear memory of what happened or any sense of time, so everything is based on my vague memories and what Mom and Paige told me later. We left the surgery center around 3:00, and apparently, we went to CVS to get some goldfish, apple juice, and pain meds. Side note: I have been very fortunate, and I have not needed to take any medication for pain in the last week!

My parents had an event with friends that night, so Paige was going to watch me until they got back. Mom and Paige laid me down in the TV room for the night, and Mom asked me, “Do you want anything to eat?”

“Grilled cheese,” I replied.

Mom made two sandwiches and cut them up into little squares. I ate two bites before I fell asleep, and Paige thought that I had swallowed, but I had not. Some hours later, I woke up and thought that I had a huge clump of gum in my mouth. I stood up to spit it out. Paige asked me what I was doing, and I explained what was going on.

“Mitchell,” she said calmly, “you're not allowed to have gum. You've been asleep for hours, and I wouldn't have let you have any even if you had been up.” I didn't know how else to communicate the situation, so I apparently opened my mouth. I can’t imagine how gross what Paige saw was, but to her credit, she was very professional and helped me to the bathroom.

 Yesterday, Friday, December 8th, 2023, I had my one-week check-up. I have another appointment in six weeks, so I don't want to speak too soon, but as of right now, everything looks like it's supposed to. Honestly, the biggest hassle I've had this week is showering because I had to put a cotton ball in my ear with Vaseline covering the outside, and I embarrassingly haven't quite figured out how to do that on my own. The cotton ball is too sticky if I put the vaseline on first, and it won't stay on if I do it after I put the cotton ball in my ear. But if that minor nuisance is the worst thing that has happened to me this week, I’d say I'm doing pretty good! I'd like to thank Dr. Blaze and his team for doing such a good job, and I'd like to thank my family and Paige for helping me through this last week!

Have a Greattastic day, and be safe

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 29: Swimmer’s Ear Update

 Swimmer’s Ear Update

Growing up, I was notorious for getting ear infections. I probably had one every couple of months, and it got so bad that I needed to get tubes put in 3 times. In 2019, my immediate family and my cousin’s family, the Mitreys (Aunt Melissa, Uncle Andy, Alex/his girlfriend Emma, Maci, Nicholas, and Ellie), went on a vacation to Hatteras, North Carolina. At one point, Ryan, Nicholas, Josh, and I had a chicken fight. Nicholas and I were the tops, and as we were roughhousing, Nicholas grabbed my head and slammed it into the water, right ear first. Ever since then, I've been having complications with my right ear whenever I go into the water.

Last Summer (2022), my family went on a trip to the Mitrey's Lake House in Norris Lake, Tennessee. On the first day, I went tubing and fell off the tube. A wave crashed on the right side of my head, and you guessed it, my ear filled up with water. I ended up getting an ear infection, and I was miserable the entire week. Everything I have just explained was in the original Swimmer's Ear installment (in fact, the first paragraph is copied and pasted from that).

Now the thing that I focused on in the series from that 2022 Norris Lake trip was my break up with my ex-girlfriend, Gabby. But because of how bad that ear infection was, and since I've had trouble since the Hatteras trip, I knew I wanted to get my ear checked out when it was not infected at some point. At the beginning of this summer (2023), I knew that my family was going to Colorado, and we would be going white water rafting, and then we would be returning to Norris Lake a couple weeks later. Not wanting to repeat the events of “Swimmer's Ear,” I went to the doctor who gave me my tubes when I was a kid.

It was at the beginning of June when I had my ENT appointment. Dr. Blaze didn't recognize me, as I had been so young when he put in my tubes, but I did vaguely remember him. I explained to him what had been ailing me, and when I reminded him that I had had tubes, he explained everything to me.

“There are three layers of the eardrum,” he explained. “The top layer is naturally comparable to packing paper, but after healing from tubes, it's like saran wrap.”

That painted the picture for me. As soon as Nicholas had dunked my head…Pop. He suggested that I get surgery in the fall so I could go swimming and gave me ear drops to survive the summer. At the beginning of the school year, I had a follow-up appointment and scheduled the surgery for November 30th, 2023. For those of you who are following me live, you know that that is today.

Literally, all I am doing before the surgery is uploading this installment and releasing it on social media. I'm mostly making this installment as exposition for the next one. I hate to admit it, but I'm honestly a little nervous. The only thing that's getting me through it, besides praying, is knowing that next week, assuming that I've recovered enough to write and record, I can post an installment that is completely centered on my actions when I'm coming off of the anesthesia! See you then!

Season 6: Thanksgiving Special: Here’s To The Next 5 Years

 Here’s To The Next 5 Years

The day before Thanksgiving, November 22nd, my Aunt Eva, Grandpa (Pop-pop), his friend Sara, my brothers Ryan, Luke, and Josh, Mom, Dad, and I, had lunch at the North Market in downtown Columbus. Once we had finished eating, I pulled my phone out and I had a Facebook notification. It was a Facebook memory from Thanksgiving five years ago. My Aunt Cyndi had posted three photos from our Thanksgiving party that year.

The first picture was of my brothers, me, my cousins, Alex, Maci, Nicholas, Ellie, and Cyndi's son Cameron, eating Thanksgiving dinner. The second was of Ryan, Josh, Cameron, and me. The third picture was a group shot of everyone who had come. In addition to those who were already mentioned, Mom, Dad, Pop-pop, Eva, my Mom's mom (Nimba), her husband (Papa) and his mom, Aunt  Melissa and Uncle Andy, and Cyndi's daughter Caitlynn were in the picture.

The fact that these pictures were from five years ago was very significant. At that time, I was writing a book about my life called Rules for a Greattastic Life. It was basically a diary written in chapter form. I was struggling to write it because I didn't know what parts would be important for the climax and resolution. My “sister,” August, had recently started a blog called Wild Aster. Inspired by her, I deleted the manuscript of the book and started writing The Greattastic Adventures series about my childhood. In January 2019, I started Rules for a Greattastic Life as a blog!

While I briefly referenced Wild Aster in my first blog, I didn't mention what happened to it in real-time. In the summer of 2019, August worked at a summer camp and didn't have internet access, so Wild Aster died. After that happened, I was a little paranoid that this series would have the same fate, but obviously, it hasn't. In fact, I would not be where I am today if it were not for this blog/podcast!

Firstly, this series led me to do public speaking at my old school, Haugland. That led me to get a job working with kids on the spectrum, both with that company and the company that bought them out, New Story. Secondly, I started public speaking in her class once my family friend, Dr. Brooks, discovered this series. This led me to speak at OCALICONLINE twice, join the Council for Exceptional Children of Ohio’s board, and be a keynote speaker. I have big plans for my advocacy career that I will be announcing soon!

As I looked at those three pictures, I thought about my life over the course of these last five years. Not just the professional part of it but also all of the amazing times I have had in the past five years! I am so thankful for all of the people who have allowed me to spread my message, and I am also thankful for all the people who have helped me live a… well, Greattastic life!

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 28: OCALICONLINE 2023- How Far I've Come

 OCALICONLINE 2023- How Far I've Come

As you may recall, last year I spoke at OCALICONLINE. It was a goal that I had been trying to reach since I started public speaking with Dr. Brooks in 2019. This led to me being a keynote speaker this past June (Keynote). While I was selling books at the Keynote conference, I met a woman named Jo Hannah. Jo Hannah is the Director of the Office for Exceptional Children at the Ohio Department of Education, and it just so happens that she went to high school with my mom. Jo Hannah introduced me to her coworker, Joe… I know it's confusing… and they had a proposition for me.

“So for OCALICONLINE, we always have a leaders session,” Joe explained.

“We have someone come in and talk to everybody about their experiences, and we think it would be cool if you and your parents spoke at it this year,” Jo Hannah continued. “What do you think?”

I'm not going to lie to you. I was a little bit hesitant. I did public speaking online through the pandemic, but it wasn't my best work. I kind of need my entire body to convey my message when I'm public speaking. On top of that, the name of the installment that I wrote about speaking at OCALICONLINE 2022 was called “OCALICONLINE- Only One Place I Can Go.” That title is indicative of my thought process. After speaking at OCALICONLINE, the only place I could go was up. I thought doing it again might be a bit of a step back. I thought that it would be more or less the same people coming to hear me speak, and by extension, I would not be helping anyone new. But Jo Hannah and Joe are the most influential people that actually know my name. At the very least, from a networking standpoint, it was only logical for me to say yes.

On August 21st, I had an online meeting with Jo Hannah, Joe, and their other coworker, Monica. Just for a little context, the presentation that I always give is about my education as a kid and then my adult life as someone who works with autistic kids. The plan was for me to change the presentation a little bit. I would insert places for my parents to add their input during my education portion, and Joe wanted me to summarize my adult life, not just the working with autistic kids part. It's lucky that I have a blog and podcast that completely depicts my adult life; I just made a slide to summarize each season.

Last Tuesday, November 14th, I got up early, looked over my presentation one more time, got ready for the day, and drove to Dad's studio, Kobolt. I got to the studio at 9:00 a.m., which was right when we were supposed to be logging on. Mom and Dad were on a laptop in Mom's office, and I set up in the conference room upstairs. Jo Hannah, Joe, my parents, and I ran through all the technical stuff with the audio-visual specialist, and then, at 9:30, people entered the meeting.

The session started with Joe and Jo Hannah giving updates about great things happening in education in Ohio, and once they finished, they introduced Mom, Dad, and me. I'm not going to go over my entire presentation because that would take too long. I will say it was really fun for me to do public speaking with my parents and get their perspective on my childhood. Also, I was sharing my screen, so I couldn't see the Zoom screen, but Mom said that there were 329 people in attendance, and most of them were administrators and principals! After finishing the presentation, we were sent into breakout rooms to discuss and answer questions!

I don't want to undercut my initial OCALICONLINE conference; I would not be where I am today if it were not for that conference. Despite that and my initial hesitancy, OCALICONLINE 2023 was absolutely the superior conference. The first reason is my session during the 2022 conference was a pre-recorded session, and this one was live, which made me feel more involved.

The second reason is more people came! I forget how many people came last year, but I'm pretty sure we didn't break 50. I get that most of that is because of my connection to Jo Hannah and Joe, but whether we're talking about OCALICONLINE or any other public speaking gig, this is the biggest crowd I've ever spoken to! I feel good about how far I’ve come, especially in the last year, and I’m very grateful to all who have shown an interest in my work.

Have a Greattastic day and be safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 Whats The Dream? Blog 27: Runs In The Family

 Runs In The Family

I can't believe I'm writing this. I can't believe this happened. I mean, I’m not upset about it. I've secretly wanted this ever since Box Seats played their first show in October of 2021 (Here We Go Again). The only reason I haven't said it out loud is because it seemed so outlandish up until last month. I bet you're all wondering what I'm talking about. Well, as you probably know, Ryan is the lead guitarist in Cousin Simple, Josh is the drummer in Box Seats, and Luke plays in both bands. He's the frontman in Box Seats and the rhythm guitarist in Cousin Simple. As of last Thursday, November 2nd, Cousin Simple and Box Seats have officially played a show together! Before I continue, I also have to explain that the drummer in Cousin Simple, Dave, is also in a band called Magnolia, and they also played.

I picked Noah up at 6:30, and we drove to Natalie’s in Grandview, Ohio. Half of Natalie’s is a restaurant/bar, and the other half is a music venue. When Noah and I arrived at 6:45, we went to the restaurant/bar area and said hi to my family and the families of the other band members. Paige and her parents arrived around 7:20, and at 7:30, everyone moved to the music venue half.

Box Seats opened the show. It was really surreal to see them on such an actual stage. I'm not saying they haven’t done it before, but this was the biggest show that Box Seats has played so far, and it’s the first that I actually think of as a stage, just because I’ve been to so many Cousin Simple shows. Magnolia played next. I had never heard of them before. I will say that I know another person in the band. The lead singer is a guy named Joey, who I've known through Dad for years, and he, Dave, and the rest of the band put on a really good show.

Then Cousin Simple took the stage, and it was amazing! The show started with a bang, as expected. However, Cousin Simple pulled out all the stops. Three main things stood out to me. Firstly, they played a ton of new songs. Before playing one of the songs, Will announced that the specific song was going to be on their new EP in January! They have not released a “collection” of songs since their first album, And We Would Never End, in 2017.

The second thing needs a little bit of an explanation. In 2018, a local university newspaper called The Lantern published an article about Cousin Simple. Along with that article, they released a video. It's still on YouTube. It's called Columbus' Own: Cousin Simple Band. Early in the video, the band performs an acoustic version of one of their songs, Strangers. That song is from their aforementioned previous album, and it is one of my favorite songs on that album. I have always believed that this acoustic version, however, was slightly superior. Don't ask me why; I’ve just always loved it a little more. They had never performed that version live.

In the middle of the show, Will grabbed an acoustic guitar. The remainder of the band stayed on their electric instruments, but I recognized the slower intro of it immediately. I was in a state of euphoria as they finally played an “acoustic Strangers” live! Finally, on another one of their new songs, they brought out a freaking saxophone player! I don't think anyone was emotionally prepared for that; I know I wasn't!

I know that this installment mostly focuses on Cousin Simple, but that is mostly because they were the headliners. The entire night, people were coming up to me, telling me how good my brothers played. This isn't anything new. It happens at every single Cousin Simple and Box Seats. But I was happy because this was the first time “Your brothers played so well” referred to all three of them!

 “Well, it runs in the family!” I responded whenever someone praised them.

Have a Greattastic day, and be safe,

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Before I end this installment, I would like to congratulate my “sister,” August, and her new husband, Daniel, on the birth of their daughter! I can’t wait to meet her!