Quetzalcoatlus

Bless you! ;o)

Do you know what a Quetzalcoatlus is?

Ask any kid who studies dinosaurs and he/she'll be able to tell you right off the bat what it is.

Here's a picture:

Adapted from image by Big Bend National Park

(U.S. National Park Service),

U.S. Department of the Interior

So, next question…

Do you know what hospital and doctor waiting rooms, and the Quetzalcoatlus dinosaur, and a Yu-Gi-Oh card have in common?

… Hangman … !!

Much of my son Cameron's life has been spent in doctor and hospital waiting rooms with me being the only constant. Sometimes Shelby was along and sometimes dad was but mom was the one who was there every single time.

We used to play Hangman while in those waiting rooms - all.the.time - and I loved it (as did Cameron). It was 'old school', on a piece of paper with a pen/pencil and drawing the stick figure as 'bad' letters were guessed.

I used it as an opportunity to help him to increase his vocabulary. I still didn't know at the time that he was on the spectrum, just that something was 'wrong', but I knew that he needed help with his words.

So that's what we did - and even as recent as 3 or 4 days ago we played (that was a very pleasant surprise for me). :o)

Anyhow, apparently Cameron is playing Hangman at work with his co-workers when there aren't any customers and no cleaning to do, etc.

Cameron's vocabulary has improved so much over the years that his opponent actually told him that it was nice to play against someone who has the same level of vocabulary that he does.

So, his co-worker writes out 14 lines for a 14 letter word.

Cameron guessed and guessed and finally got it down to one letter left to guess - the 'Q'.

He had one chance left before his 'man would be hanged'.

He studied the word with the missing first letter and then later when his coworker asked if he was ready to make his final guess Cameron replied with 'Q'.

Of course his co-worker responded with a startled "bleep", totally not expecting Cameron to get it.

But I still haven't tied in the Yu-Gi-Oh card…

Cameron had a little help with finally figuring out the word Quetzalcoatlus - help from something you'd least expect.

He remembered that one of his 4000+ (!!) Yu-Gi-Oh cards

… (he has them all memorized) has a character that is named Quetzal and that solved the puzzle for him!

So anyone who says that these kids/young adults are spending too much time with these Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I say do some research into it and you might be surprised as to what you find out about them.

For example did you know that the creator of the Pokemon cards is a Japanese gentlemen and that he based the first round of Pokemon on bugs? 

If I remember the story correctly he used to play as a young boy in an empty field close to his home. He has Asperger's Syndrome (now known simply as Autism) and one of his obsessions was/is bugs.

Sadly the field where he used to play and find his various bugs was buried a parking structure or some other such cement monstrosity.

The man who lost out on his bugs didn't like the idea that other kids in his area, and like areas elsewhere, would never have the chance to get to know bugs 'personally' - so he created Pokemon (which as already mentioned were very much modeled around current creatures/bugs).

Would you have ever known that there was a dinosaur called a Quetzalcoatlus? I sure didn't.

But I'll bet if anyone has a dinosaur lover that person will be able to tell you exactly what it is!

Okay, I am exhausted for some reason. Have been wanting to write for a couple days now and just haven't had the energy.

But even so I couldn't wait any longer. :o)

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Diane