Luke, Control your fear!

I think the most interesting thing about this experience is how quickly Stephyn seems to be adapting to his situation. I fully expected to spend most of my time making sure he was comfortable or wasn't bored (to what extent possible for the latter). Surprisingly, he seems to be pretty much self contained. If he needs something, he is quick to tell me, but most of the time he is content to explore his surroundings or simply just relax with whoever seems to be around him.

Of course, we stay pretty busy all day. For instance, yesterday we were up by 9:30 and done with all of the morning ritual cleansing by 10:30. From then on we did our blogs, went to lunch, went to the lab, spent an hour talking to people who approached us, ate dinner, went to a movie, relaxed a bit afterward, and went to bed. The key, I guess, to staving off boredom is simply surrounding yourself with people you are comfortable with. At least that is what it seems like from my perspective. I haven't asked him.

On a side note, for the first time during this experience I relinquished overwatch of Stephyn to other trustworthy people (our fraternity buddies Zach and David). Of course we were always in radio contact (our radios can connect all the way across campus!) and cell phone contact if need be. It was a double edged experience for me. On the one side, it was nice to have some time where I didn't have to be minding Stephyn. I could relax a bit more. On the other hand, I feel that I am fairly comfortable with communicating and expressing danger. We have worked out how to do this efficiently and safely. Putting him with someone else carries a level of unfamiliarity with our system that left me a bit uneasy. Of course, I trust Stephyn, David, and Zach well enough that it wasn't a real problem for me to back off. Those guys did fine anyway. I watched them carefully from a distance to see how even walking around would be, and they both jumped in and followed Stephyn's instructions carefully. Nothing to worry about, and it is a blessing to know that if he wants to do something with them, I can be sure that he will have the same level of safety awareness around him.