John Elder Robison

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Admin

You just have to make the transition from weird to eccentric and you’ll be OK.

John  Elder Robison is a good example of a typical Aspie, if there is such a thing. It affected his life both negatively and positively. Watch:

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Writing On My Hand

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Admin

I have always written on my hand to remind me do something. It works really well, because as an Aspy every time I see words I cannot help myself – I have to read them. In others, tying a string around my wrist wouldn’t be as effective.

Also, of course I care less about what other people think – whereas non-Aspys would take into consideration how much of a bad look writing on their hand would be.

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Video: The Positives of Asperger’s

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Admin

As the doctor says, most Aspie info is regarding the disability side of things. But there are major plus sides that should be acknowledged or even celebrated. He also mentions numerous very famous possible Aspies:

I love how he says: “if you have met one Aspie, you have met one Aspie”.

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Justice (and self-righteous-ness)

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Admin

These are observations that are only based on myself and my son.

  • It is important to do things by the letter of the law, whether legal or just the correct way of doing something.
  • Except for when you feel like rebelling….
  • Criminals need to be brought to justice, regardless of the severity of the crime. I feel compelled to do so, even if I have no personal connection to the crime.

So far I have been lucky, I have only ever witnessed three crimes (that I feel are crimes). In each case I have been instrumental in the criminal being arrested.

  1. Witnessed a thief smash a car window and steal a radio-cassette player (yep, a long time ago…). Despite having drunk 1+ litres of wine and being barefoot, I grabbed two mates and we apprehended him and called the cops.
  2. Very drunk in the early AM, almost passed out on the sofa at a backpacker hostel, noticed someone leaving the premises, looking suspicious. Someone ran down the stairs and told me they’d just been robbed. I followed the suspect on foot, called the police from a pay phone (yep, a long time ago…) and directed them to him – then went to the cop shop and gave a statement.
  3. I was (technically) kidnapped by some young drunk psycho English lads. When they released me I called the cops with their licence plate number and they were soon arrested. A year later I was flown back to the U.K to testify and they received prison sentences.

My young son is very interested in the aspects of crime and punishment. More importantly (from an Aspie perspective), he is unable to admit fault, and cannot take criticism without having a meltdown. I’ve learned better over the years, but I still struggle with criticism. It doesn’t fit well with the righteousness and perhaps self-righteousness I have.

EXTRA: I’m watching TV and realizing why I love specific genres of movies and TV: I love watching self-righteous protagonists.

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I Hated Birthdays As A Child

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Admin

Like any kid, I looked forward to and enjoyed receiving presents. And for the most part I learned to disguise any disappointment with the gifts, learned not to point out I already had it, it wasn’t something I liked etc.

Birthday parties were not something I enjoyed. I didn’t even want them. So much so that on one occassion I ran away from my own party and didn’t return until the other kids had gone home.

I guess social awkwardness becomes more of an issue when you are the center of attention, and birthday parties are one of those occassions.

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No Nightmares

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Admin

I have twisted dreams. They are deviant, disgusting and depraved. If made into a movie my dreams would be widely condemned. Note: I am almost never the protagonist, just the observer. It’s a reflection of what I see in the real world, as opposed to desires or fantasies.

As a child I did have repeating nightmares – but since puberty they haven’t lost me any sleep, and I am no longer horrified.

Recurring themes include:

– failure to catch public transport
– cavernous, dripping, filthy public toilets
– flying (more like the Greatest American Hero than anything else)
– labyrinthine used bookstores
– losing control driving a vehicle

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Unable To Finish / Ten Books At Once

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Admin

This is definitely in the category of certainly Aspie.

In business it is the difference between major success and getting by. Although the Internet was my saviour, it makes my inattention far worse. At any one time I have 50+ browser tabs open.

That’s not counting the tabs I have saved under the delusion that I will return to them one day.

Ten is a fair number of books I have currently almost finished. Typically I am reading 2-3 books seriously concurrently, plus there are a handful that I recently read but didn’t quite finish the last chapter or two.

It does bother me the review copies I have received – finishing a book without moving onto another is a major effort. Writing a review even only a paragraph long is not something I should promise.

BTW, I have dozens of blogs, and within each are many half-finished posts. Nests within nests of incompletion.

 

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Memory

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Admin

As an alcoholic I have grown to understand how my brain, when under-powered due to alcohol, makes logical decisions regarding which memories to store.

If it can be deduced later, I tend to not remember. For example, the moment I step into a cab and give my directions home, my memory shuts down. I have no social connection with the driver, so there is less importance to remember the journey.

Unlikely to be just an Aspie thing….

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Songs In My Head

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Admin

It is an acknowledged symptom that Aspies have songs in their head. That’s not a purely Aspie trait though…

For me:

  • the song is often one I don’t consciously like, for example a kids TV show theme
  • I listen to a lot of music, and I’ve never found a reason behind the songs that stick
  • since I’ve been aware of my Aspie traits, I’ve noticed that I often have several concurrent songs in my head, although obviously they don’t play over the top of each other – that would be schizophrenic. Right now I have Rockin Robin and a Depeche Mode song
  • at worst the songs are a little annoying, but for the most part they boost my spirit, and might even be the root cause for my happy nature
  • I sing in the shower. I don’t like my voice (and I’m incapable of singing in public) but I would sing in the shower regardless. I think I understand songs better than I can sing them

Music is numbers, and Aspies seem to be good with numbers. I think some Aspies can be artistic with music, although probably not performers.

Possible candidates:

Roy Orbison

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Sensitive to Hot Objects

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Admin

This is the first entry in the category of Maybe Just Me.

There are many well-known symptoms, but quite likely there are many more that can only be discovered by Aspies sharing notes.

When it comes to picking up hot plates with my bare hands, my heat-pain-threshold is much lower than most people.

That’s it!

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