Friday 24 February 2012

Now it's time to do the ISEB, now it's time to keep active!

This week has seen me step into the unknown at Autism Works in starting working towards the ISEB Foundation Certificate. As an industry-recognised qualification for software testing, the ISEB Foundation Certificate could be of great help in my future if I can attain it. Elsewhere, I am continuing with my training for the Bupa Great North Run and have also been to the cinema this week to see The Muppets, which brought back so many magical moments and wonderful memories!

Both starting the ISEB Foundation Certificate and participating in a major half marathon, albeit the latter isn't until  September, represent to me stepping into the unknown, as they are both new territory for me. Stepping into unknown territory has become very much a feature of my time at Autism Works as I seem to have found myself doing it on a regular basis. The biggest change for me to adjust to when I was first appointed as Operational Manager at Autism Works was the working culture in that the working arrangements are so much more flexible than they were at my previous employers where the set-up was much more rigid. With the post being a new post, I understood that the duties and responsibilities were still subject to development. Being able to anticipate such changes in my role though has really helped.

Readers of this blog will be familiar with the concept of unlearning old or conventional methods and practices, which can also mean unlearning habits. Something that I find though with learning new skills, such as learning software testing techniques, is that it is as much about changing the way you think as it is about memorizing jargon as well as various processes. Though it is early days into my ISEB Foundation Certificate (I have only just started), something that I am slowly beginning to pick up is that there are many processes that are complicated by jargon, rather like how the game of cricket can appear to an outsider. Hopefully, the more I become used to the jargon, the more I will be able to familiarise myself with the processes and before long, I may be able to understand what my software-orientated colleagues are talking about!

I was able to take a break from my Great North Run training and my duties at Autism Works earlier in the week to see The Muppets perform their first show together for many years, made possible by Walter, their biggest fan, who got to perform with them. The literal humour and running gags that often featured in the show used to have me in hysterics that I struggled to get out of, as well as Fozzie Bear's jokes being so bad that they were hilarious! I was so delighted to see that they were all just as good and as hilarious this time around, not to mention that they have all aged well, especially Kermit!

I guess in relation to how I am in relation to Asperger's Syndrome, literal humour appeals to me. Comedy is often the world seen through different eyes, including Asperger eyes, but what makes the English language so advantageous to comedy is that there are so many words that sound the same but mean different things. There were one or two parts though in the film that if you have so many affectionate memories of growing up with the show are difficult to watch without shedding a tear, especially when they all joined in to sing 'The Rainbow Connection' together.

Haven't they aged well!
Regarding my half-marathon objective, if anyone is interested in making a donation towards Daisy Chain, the charity I will be running for, my donations page has now gone live on JustGiving. To visit this page, click on the following link- http://www.justgiving.com/Chris-MitchellGNR

Stay tuned to see how this progresses!

 

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