The Personal & Physical Traits of Aspergers Part 5: Can spend hours in the library researching, loves learning and information

   Like most people, I have a thirst for knowledge. For me it depends on the subject. I will either know all about it or nothing at all. While I don't go to the library, I do watch a lot of shows on the History, Travel and Discovery channels. I really enjoy learning about where things came from and how they got to the current level they are at now. Nature documentaries of all types and shows like Modern Marvels, Brain Games, Biography, Inside the Actors Studio, Man vs. Food, American Eats and especially Gem Hunt (which came out at a good time for me given my profession) crowd my DVR; even Buzzfeed can be a huge time-suck. I watch a lot of food/food history shows and if you're ever traveling be sure to ask me where to go, I'll always steer you in the right direction. I actually watch these shows more than once in most cases, but always while I'm eating to avoid having to get in my car and find the nearest substitute. It is a huge thrill for me to visit these places, believe it or not, and I go for the experience even if the food isn't all its cracked up to be.
  I really don't know what it is that makes learning exciting. I mean most people seem like they want to get out of school as fast as possible to avoid it (or maybe its the making money aspect that happens afterward) but for me I enjoyed at least some of it. The history electives I took fascinated me as well as padded my GPA. So how does  all this babble connect to my blog?
  Being someone who chooses to isolate himself in most cases leaves me with a lot of time to kill. I could either sit around and stare at the ceiling or watch/read something that I can perhaps use. I think that being alone most of the time gave me enough time to want to do something constructive, something that didn't strain me like being around people did. I am full of random facts but every time I watch Jeopardy and don't know some answers I feel like I want to know more. It should be noted that the answers in question are subjects I don't have any interest in, so hopefully I get a pass on those. Even if you knowing something isn't true you can make it sound like it is. Now I'm no good at lying to people, ask anyone that knows me they'll tell you the same, but if you throw some random facts around that may stretch the truth you can get people to believe you. I recently told one of the girls working at a local restaurant not to put the steaming hot pasta dish into the thin plastic container because it would release BPA into the food, thus contaminating it. She looked at me with startled eye for a couple of painfully hilarious seconds before I told her I was just joking and it was fine. She said "Really?" in a tone that even I knew meant "Are you sure" not "You're a complete tool". I know this because my mom uses the latter often. I guess I can lie, I just have to believe it to be true, even when its not. 

The Personal & Physical Traits of Aspergers Part 4: Strong sensitivity to sound, touch, taste, sight, and smell (e.g. fabrics—won’t wear certain things, fluorescent lights)

I don't really  know where to begin with this one as I am sort of all over the map here. This might be a long post and hopefully it will all be meaningful. I guess this time I'll start with a real problem area instead of one of my strengths, and that would be scent sensitivity.

Ever since I was little I have hated the scent of womens perfume, girly candles, peppermint/hot cinnamon and those various scented trees people put in their cars. Since I was often with my mom when shopping she expected me to go into each store with her, naturally. The majority I was fine but one in particular I could not stand, Yankee Candle. I could last maybe about a minute in there before I was overcome by a sick feeling and more frequently a pain right in the middle of my forehead. She began to notice this and not force me to go in the store and to this day it is one of the places I try to avoid. That being said, the Christmas Cookie scent they put out is one of my favorites, mainly because it smells real. That being said, I may be over sensitive to artificial scents, but I honestly don't know at this point. Perfume is still a big one for me at this point and that can be problematic as women like to wear it. Am I going to date a woman and tell her she can't wear perfume? On the other hand I don't have too much problem with the deodorant products that I use, mainly because they seem less intense or that I am used to them; once again, I don't really know. I don't really have any strong natural smells that offend me. Food, forget about that one being an issue. I love food and there is nothing that I eat that I don't like the smell of, that is half the battle. I don't eat broccoli, though. I tried it recently and the taste was unbearable, now I know why they try to market it to kids when its covered in cheese sauce. Basically all hot vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, gross me out. How appealing is hot lettuce to anyone? Crispy and cold is the way to go. I always get my sausage at the ballgame without peppers and onions because it just looks slimy to me. The only onions I eat are cold and white, red is also OK. I think scent is more or less mind over matter for me, on some things. I wish I could get over the candles/perfume issues, but I know it could be worse. Let's move onto sound, shall we?

My hearing has always been off the charts. I think it has something to do with the basic animal part of my brain that I went over in "Call Me Captain Caveman". It is all about survival. The better you hear and can therefore earlier assess something trying to sneak up on you, the longer you'll live. Of course, that matter much more long ago. As it is pretty tough to undo evolution I'm stuck with above average hearing, such a shame. I get accused of eavesdropping a lot because I can hear people in the other room. I like to zero in on different conversations in a crowded restaurant which is eavesdropping but its not my fault you decided to talk about something in an open setting. People who know me are aware that I listen to music louder than most, and no, not deafening. This might seem to them that I cannot hear at all. What I am in fact doing is turning the volume up to amplify the back ground noises. I realize this also does the same for the main instrumentals but I can sort of 'listen past' those and 'hear behind' them. I listen for all the little ticks and instrumentals that make up a song, and I do enjoy discovering these sounds that have always been there. This also distracts my mind from counting, social anxiety or a million other things that could be going on. Have you ever noticed a lot of people on the autism spectrum wear headphones? I don't need to be that isolated but music sure does help.

In addition to the regular sounds of everyday life I do hear a light 'static' all the time but its not tinnitus because it has been going on since I was young and I have no history of ear infections or hearing loss. It could be Radio Frequency (RF) hearing but then again I'm not sure. If I don't try to 'listen' to it for a while it goes away, sort of, but then it will come back and, just like hearing a ticking clock that sounds like it is getting louder as you tune your ear to it, that is all I hear again (not really all I hear, but it gets annoying, you get the picture). The light static is a burden sometimes and I just want it to stop. Anyone who has metal detected may know how to compare what I hear. I use a White's metal detector and there is something called a 'threshold' which is the continuous sound used to listen for target signals. Now imagine your hearing works exactly like that; you can always hear what is going on around you but there is a constant back ground noise you also have to content with. That is the best way I can explain it. Loud noises don't really bother me too much. I sort of live by the belief that anything can happen at any time, so always be ready. I can get startled, of course, but I'm not going to freak out by an alarm going off or an ambulance driving by. I think that, over time, I have conditioned myself to deal with loud noises. Sight is another one of my senses that is very linked to sound.

If I hear something the next step is seeing it. Just like my sensitivity to sound, I have very acute vision. I notice things, whether something has been changed or whatever it may be, I'll be the first to point it out. This may be due to my attention to detail or, once again, my basic animal instincts for sensing that something isn't right. By 'right' I don't mean bad, but just not as it was the last time. I've learned not to doubt this sense at all, just like my memory for faces. They both are a deep gut instinct that goes beyond having to think about it. This may have been heightened further by my jewelry training, as minute details take on more importance. Although I am detail oriented I try not to let that ruin or get in the way of things, like how I spend my time. I have to control what is important and let go what is not, otherwise I'd be nit picking something forever. Instead, let's explore a more touchy subject.

Touch is something that I am OK with, more so than most people on the spectrum. Handshakes are fine with me as is hugging. but the latter is usually a greeting that replaces the former when its someone I know well. When most people need a hug, usually do to emotion, I tend to leave the hug out. I don't need hugs because I typically don't cry and the only situation that would warrant that would be an embrace before a long goodbye or a death. Other than those things, touch doesn't really happen that often for me, sort of like other people riding in my car. I did get a massage recently (couldn't resist that Groupon) and I was touched all over and very deeply, as it was a deep tissue massage. I thought I might have a problem with it but I was fine. I also thought, that due to the fact that I am not used to being touched all over by a woman (ever) that I would become aroused. I did not and this was really surprising to me. Maybe my self control is getting better or it may be that typically when I am around a lot of women, whom I'd want to touch me, alcohol is involved. That being said there is one place that you can never try to touch me, which is under my armpits. I have always hated being touched there. I have pictures of myself as a baby doing something curious, and that is when someone is most often picked up with hands under the armpits. I used to do a thing my mom called 'the arch'. I would literally arch myself backwards every time someone picked me up this way. I still think that my extreme dislike of being uncomfortable being touched there stems from when I was an infant. When you think about it you're basically helpless in that position, or at least I felt like I was. I will immediately close the area off like a bear trap when a person goes to touch me there, and if continual efforts are made I'll use my elbows, and you don't want it to get to that point, trust me.

So now you know what I am sensitive to, physically, that is. Emotionally, though, I'll always be a brick wall that there are only a few ways past; so good luck figuring them out. 

The Personal & Physical Traits of Aspergers Part 3: Doesn't always recognize faces right away (even close loved ones)

I have to say that this trait is something I am not burdened with; I am more the opposite in fact. Since I am the opposite I have no idea how this can happen to people so I will stay away from any theories I have which will certainly not be valid. In the area of face recognition I can even brag a little if I want to. You should first know that when it comes to matters of whether something is or isn't I am usually very cut and dry. On this particular subject, however, I am on the fence. What I am circling here is that my ability to remember and instantly recognize faces is possibly in the realm of being a super-recognizer. Even after reading the descriptions of what it means to be a super-recognizer I don't know if there it varies, like the autism spectrum varies, for example. At one point I was 90% sure I was (and I still feel more or less this way) and this number was based on other things I once had doubts about and they later became true, the same internal feeling I had, I mean. But like I said, what it comes down to, I am assuming, is that it is 50-50, I either am or I am not as far as science and clinical testing goes. I guess I should give you the evidence, there is quite a bit of it, now and let you decide for yourself.

Back when I was still in my teens, dad and I would be randomly watching an older movie, a western perhaps, as he tended to (and still does) flip around a lot and then stops at the first thing he likes. I would see a character and exclaim "Oh, that is so and so". He, haven grown up and seeing the movie when it first came out, would basically tell me I was mistaken or that "Naw, it couldn't be". Luckily for us on this friendly argument, the internet was invented and all I had to do was go to IMDB and check. I was correct. I must stop here and ask you this: How could a person who grew up with the characters, and just as many people do, go back and watch the same movies a few times throughout the course of their lives before seeing them yet again with their eventual son and be mistaken about who the actor is? He/she has surely seen the actor in other roles before they either died or passed into obscurity and has those images of aging to compare while the much younger person they are with recognizes the actor and, in nearly all cases that involve my dad, have only seen the actor in their older form of being. What my dad started to do was bet me. Usually it was $10-20 and he lost each time, a total of around $80-100 total before he decided it wasn't in his interest to simply hand me money. Still, poker players often know they are beat but call expecting to be shown a winner; just for knowledge/ piece of mind maybe. Back to me though.

Whenever I see people I haven't seen for a while I instantly know it is them and it doesn't matter if I haven't seen them in years. I can even recognize them in baby pictures. Something is triggered either by the way they walk or their voice and my brain just says "It's them" without question. After not believing in the ability myself for a while (and honestly not knowing if it was just in my head or if it even had a specific term) I began to just let whatever cognitive system was allowing me to do it take over. I stopped questioning it because, as they say, when you know you know. One of the most apparent instances, way more profound to me than the bets with dad, occurred in 2005 at Worcester Academy.

To fulfill some type of mandatory community service hours that were necessary to graduate, students had to help out in some way, and I chose to help Ms. Gould in her office sorting photos on the computer. My decision may have been easier because she had a golden retriever puppy named Monty that I could pet whenever I felt like it. So I was sorting photos into various folders (athletics, assembly, etc.) and also sorting photographs submitted by parents of their kids when they were younger. Ms. Gould asked me to see if I could 'decipher' who a specific photo was of that she was having trouble with. I took a quick look and told her "Mike Allen" feeling 100% with my answer. She paused for a second and said something to the effect of "Oh, my, how did you know that/I not see that?!" She had a wide eyed look on her face and even I know that is evident of genuine surprise. No here is where this bit gets interesting: I had been at the school only about seven months and of course had been exposed to hundreds of students and some of them commute because the dorms aren't big enough to house everyone. Mike and I were friends at school but he was a commuter but until Ms. Gould brought the next fact up to me and I thought about it years later did the weight of it occur to me: Mike Allen was a lifer, meaning he went to the lower and upper schools at WA. He had been there since he was in 6th grade so even if Ms. Gould didn't have him for grades 6-8 (and I still don't know what her official title was/is but she may have been exposed to him before he reached the upper school and certainly after he did) she may have met him before grades 9-12. I do not know the exact age Mike was in the picture, and I probably should ask him, but I knew it was him, no question in my mind. I don't know if it was the smile, his head shape or facial features but I knew it instantly. So how could a teacher that had known someone a minimum of four and a maximum of seven years not know and be stumped by a picture of someone they have seen number in the hundreds of times while myself, who has only known the man in question seven months, maximum, and never seen him while he was younger, recognize him right away? But wait there's more.

I see old teachers, parents of friends and I say 'hello' to them as is customary and they have no idea who I am. Saying they look at me as if I had five heads would probably be more accurate. I then explain to them the types of interaction we used to have and then they start to get it, although a few of them still have no idea and are probably internally think I am crazy. I know I have gained 25 pounds since high school but, come on, I didn't get plastic surgery or anything like that. As it relates to them in my mind, any apparent weight gain, age lines or change in appearance does not phase me in the least bit, its like I can see through the, well I guess its not a disguise because they now look like that, veil of aging that they have gone through. It is for this reason I will always be the first to notice, and subsequently point out, that you got a hair cut or even styled your hair differently that day. Something is my brain just goes off and says 'A change has occurred here', that is the best way I can describe it. What I am exploring, and not deeply yet but possibly later on, is the theory that cavemen/cave women did have something internally that let them recognize friend of foe quickly. This may have been a necessary defense mechanism for them as not being able to notice could have left them vulnerable to attack. I think I briefly discussed something like this and certainly a lot more in an earlier, and possibly popular for some reason post entitled "Call me Captain Caveman" that can be seen on this blog. I say 'possibly popular' because the post was up for a year or so before it started getting most of the hits on my blog and I am left to wonder whether people magically started searching for Captain Caveman since then and why the post had barely any views before it became as popular as it is today (although no one comments on the post itself for some reason). I am also, on that specific post, inquisitive as to whether or not people on the higher autism spectrum share key parts of the brain with Neanderthals to this day. Things such as anxiety as it relates to the obvious, at least for me in my experiences, the sudden and almost explainable 'fight or flight' reaction that often kicks in as it relates to social situations and the possible face recognition capabilities that I mentioned earlier. Being a super-recognizer is not really a super rarity but it can be of value to police and, before computers, casino use to catch possible cheaters. The really odd thing is, I can't recall to a sketch artist everything about a persons face in the most extreme details you may expect, but put ten jokers in a lineup and I will pick the person who's face it belongs to and just like that, they are off to jail. I'm positive seeing them again triggers something, something that is beyond doubt. As far as testing goes, I did pretty well.

Before I knew the term super-recognizer, I considered and used the term for what I perceive to be called facial-photographic and this term, as I explained, isn't accurate at all. I am unable to accurately describe most faces in detail although I can see the image of the person in my mind very quickly but upon seeing them again, and knowing it, is another matter entirely. I was watching 60 Minutes by sheer dumb luck when they reported on people who suffered from what is called Prosopagnosia or face blindness. They then reported on the opposite side of that, naturally, as they always try to do with any rare condition that has an opposite to compare it to. The super-recognize they were featuring was given the Before they were famous' test. I got every one of them right as well, quickly. I'm no good at math but things seemed to be adding up. I don't think the test was fool proof, and neither was the one that I scored borderline on. In the other one they take faces and then take the hair off or put hooded sweatshirts on the people and you need to try and guess if you saw them before. I, of course, had never seen the faces as they were totally random so it wasn't anything to go off of, just another bunch of faces in the crowd. I do have a theory, non technical, about how the super-recognizer brain my work.

What I think, and this is what I surmised on my own, is that the system works like this: Once you see and process a face it goes into the 'Bank' so to speak. Upon seeing the face again information from the 'bank' is called up or some sort of trigger goes off that alerts you that you have seen this face before, or one like it. It gets sort of tricky here and the next part is from my own experiences. Everyone seems to have a doppelganger out there in the world. I have seen many people who resemble celebrities but not fully, something with a combination of their facial features just screams it, to me. When I am with someone else they try to do what I can by saying that some random person we both can see looks like so and so. It takes me one look to decide whether they are close or not and a lot of the time they are either,  partially correct and I agree, I bring up another person who they didn't think of and they say "Oh, wow, you're right" or, and this is where it can get really funny, an 'amalgam' (as I call it) of a few different people. I had a ton of fun with a few people at my old roommate Heather's (yes, the last year in college I lived with not one, but two girls; and that is another story entirely that I am saving for my book) graduation party. Her dad is an obvious Christoper Walken while some, unfortunate may not be the right word, lady was an amalgam of John Denver and Axl Rose, spot on. She had the long Axl hair and the vintage Denver glasses and everyone who was in the circle laughed until they cried. The ability to come up with the amalgam is perhaps one of the most telling sign for me. If I am not, than what am I with regards to how I recognize faces. Am I stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere, as I am on the autism spectrum or am I totally wrong here?

So what do you think, am I a super-recognizer of not? I may have to add more, but for now I will let you tell me what you think.

The Personal & Physical Traits of Aspergers Part 2: Blank expression much of the time

I have touched on this subject in earlier posts but I feel like including it again here, just in case you missed it. Have you ever seen someone walking around with a blank face? It's not uncommon at all as you can sometimes catch a person deep in thought or spacing out. But, if that person happened to be me, than that would be a different story. My standard expression doesn't change much and you can't easily tell sometimes when I am happy or sad, although at other times it will be quite obvious. I can't really help that I started out as a more unemotional person and then tempered myself ever further. I don't let most small instances bother me. If someone cuts me off in traffic, I don't beep the horn especially if it was by accident. What would beeping at them do, they know they screwed up so beating a dead horse is pointless in this case. If you're really going to let simple things get in your way then you may as well give up now. Getting mad lead to feeling angry and being stressed, I don't need that one bit. So back to the matter at hand, why do I have a blank face more often then not?

The first reason is comfort. They say 'comfort is king' and I feel most comfortable with my standard facial expression the way it is. You may have heard other people on the autism spectrum tell you this next fact: Smiling feels awkward, especially when it is forced. When I laugh, I smile. When I see something heartwarming or am playing with a kitten or a puppy, I smile. When I don't need to, I don't smile. To me a smile is like making small talk; I only like to have a conversation and a genuine smile is just that, something with substance, not something pointless. The next reason I don't smile may surprise you, but you will be able to see why just as easy.

If I am mentally tired and have things out in public I need to do and there is no way around it, or I'm in a mood where I simply don't feel like talking to anyone besides the people I need to deal with, I make my face as uninviting as humanly possible. People are less apt to talk to or even approach you when you are not smiling vs. smiling. The lack of a smile is a defense mechanism for me at times. Also, I routinely wear sunglasses to the supermarket or anywhere else that has a lot of people and I need to stay there for an extended period of time. I got a comment on this blog saying something to the effect of "Oh, the sunglasses are so you can cut down the amount of visual stimulation and you won't be overwhelmed, right?" Sorry, wrong. All people/cases are different and I myself am a professional goldsmith. I work with fire daily and it can get very intense/loud, especially if I am doing platinum work which is done with a hissing jet-engine like flame at 4,000F coming out of the torch head, and before that it was learning to drive a car, which I see everything and anything on the road. So the amount of visual stimulation is not the problem. The sunglasses are so people cannot see the blank expression my eyes also have. Have you ever seen the way zombies 'stare' in older movies? Yes, it is like that. I appear to be looking through objects, not at them. If you pair that with the blank expression on my face then you have the look of say, a psycho killer. There doesn't appear to be anything going on upstairs or there may be a few too many toys in the attic. I do shop without sunglasses sometimes and the people seem to take it well, although I 'feel' they are creeped out, but that may just be mild and unnecessary paranoia.

I think I have covered what I needed to, so until next time. Next trait up: Doesn't always recognize faces right away (even close loved ones), which I am going to completely blow your mind with why this one does NOT apply to me, at all. 

The Personal & Physical Traits of Aspergers Part 1: Repetitive Routines or Rituals

I'll admit that I do a lot of things often, and in certain ways. We all have a little bit of OCD in us but people, such as myself, on the autism spectrum tend to take it further and the level of which all depends on the person. If you can recall the scene from Rain Man when Charlie took Ray's book off of the shelf and Ray started to pace around and mutter to himself. I like to think of my room/workshop as an area where I have controlled chaos. The room in particular seems to get to a level of critical mass where it stays constant and it won't get any dirtier, but the minute I clean it is when it starts the cycle all over again. if you took a picture of my clean room every day for a month on the last day it would be back to where it was before I cleaned it. I like to do something and then, once done, move on. I am not a person who stops to clean up things that are harmless, like clothes. I do dishes and if I spill something it gets taken care of right away but things that are not time sensitive get lost in the mix. "I can always do this later" I think to myself, actually I stopped thinking that all together and simply move onto the next thing. My jewelers bench in my workshop (for those of you readers who don't already know I am a profession goldsmith and have worked on many pieces with a few  in the $15,000-$25,000 range, so I take it very serious) is a complete mess but this is a little more acceptable than a dirty room. I messy bench is a busy bench, it means you have work to do so that is good thing. I know where things are so it isn't really a problem. I'd like to get more organized in there but since I am the only one using it I keep it the way I see fit. Besides work and sleep there are other things that I do with only a loose repetition, which I will explain why I use that specific term later.

Whenever I open up a new pack of chewing gum (I have been cutting back on the habit these days) I always, after taking the plastic wrap off, open the flap and take an audible whiff of the contents, much in way a person taking in the fresh air high atop a hill in springtime would. I don't care who is around when I do this and I can't say for sure when I started it, but I do it each time. I would like to use an example of something more structured that I do a lot of repetition. I have been doing Bikram Yoga for a while now and I think what I do illustrates how I feel quite well. Each class is the same postures, in the same order for about the same time, each time, all in a 105F room with around 40% humidity. The poses don't change, only your body does.

My yoga routine is very much the same each time, but with the loose repetitive nature I mentioned earlier. I arrive a half hour early and park in the same area nearest the pole I always do. I am already chewing a piece of gum at this point and I walk into the building and sort of sprint up the stairs to the third floor where the studio is. I make sure the stairs are clear before I do this as I don't want any accidents. I then enter and drop my mat down while I take my shoes off before signing in. I chat with the teacher perhaps but this may be more so after I go into the hot room and drop my mat in my spot. It is first come first serve and I like my spot, hence the reason I get there early. After that is locked up I then leave the room and talk to whoever is coming in. I do a runners stretch resting each leg, in time, on the window sill while I watch for my fellow yogis. I then return to the hot room and do some other stretches, I have a first and second (and possibly third) wave of things that I do. I make sure my nostrils are clear and fill up my big water bottle, which I had left at the entrance to the hot room,  at the filtered tap. I then go the bathroom, wet my hair and spit my gum out in the trash ( you can't have anything in your mouth when class starts). I do my final bit of stretching while I talk to whomever is near me if I feel I can add something to the conversation. Once class starts I am all business. If people are looking at me, which they are usually focused on their own practice, then they would on a couple occasions see the blank 'zombie' stare people rarely ever get to see from me. After all I am in the front row directly in front of the mirror, and everyone is looking forward. This may seem a bit odd for a person who 99% of the time prefers stealth in social situations but I have my spot in the room and I stick to it, always, and it doesn't matter if the hottest woman in the world is over on the other side (if she liked me I'm sure she would move to where I am so I don't worry about it). When it comes to lay down on our backs I seek out my fourteen boards. They are right above me and I count them, up and down being once, a total of seven times. If I mess up, I scrap that specific pass over the boards with my eyes only. I typically do four during the long break on the floor and then the last three peppered throughout the entire floor set. If I am still counting when the teacher is at one of the many points where we do a sit up I continue counting and then do the sit up, I don't like to interrupt myself for anyone. I only do, at maximum a total of ten counts of the boards and that includes mess ups; I don't let it run my life. After the class is over I lay there with everyone else and once the door is opened and closed twice, it doesn't matter how many people go out at a time, I do a thirty three second leg lift with the last four seconds (30-33) being counted three times each. I then grab my stuff and exit the studio entirely and put my mat outside the lobby and then get a piece of gum from my shorts and greedily pop it into my mouth. I take this as a reward for a class well done. I then sit down on the benches just out of the inner studio and talk with the others who are slick with sweat and looking half dead sometimes. After I feel I've cooled down enough I exit the building entirely, start my car, roll down my windows, turn the radio up and I'm off. I do not know when this routine started and I have varied it a little over the nearly four years I have been doing yoga but I like it and feel very comfortable there, even when we are packed in the studio like sardines. The thing that does set me apart from most people with OCD/others on the spectrum is that I can vary my routine and not entirely freak out about it.

I do get a little annoyed when I have planned something and then it falls apart due to something that came up but I shake it off. That is life. Long ago I learned that things can and will change or go wrong entirely, and dealing with it is a necessity. Whenever I have planned on going to a concert or some other big even I prepare in advance. I haven't had one cancelled, yet, and I am not sure how that would go; I'd probably just be mad for a little while longer than usual and move on to the next thing. You should know that when I say a while I mean an hour at most. I do have a hybrid child-like brain that can get over things quickly and shift gears rapidly. If I didn't have this trait I don't know where I would be now, but it is a mixed bag, more on that phenomenon in a later post perhaps.

As far as other things that were brought up in Rain Man, I do not eat my meals the same each night of the week, buy my underwear at K-Mart or count cards like a computer, but I do share many of the traits, just with less of an effect on my mental state. I will get to those in further posts of this series but for now I feel I have said almost enough.


Questions or Comments? Let me know.

New Post Topic Series: The Personal & Physical Traits of Asperger's

There is a list of personal & physical traits of Asperger's on the website help4aspergers.com and I and going to delve into each of them, individually. I will highlight the severity or lack thereof of each one and I will be sure to pepper in stories along the way. This is going to be both fun and revealing, and you will get details straight from the horses mouth (or ass, as I tend to make a fool out of myself more often then not). Enjoy! 

The Last Couple Months (Work Stuff)

I realize it's been a while since my last post. I have been busy, for once. Along with my own jewelry business, which has grown and I am starting to do a lot more I am working for a guy who's getting audited. my dad helped him out of a jam and he needed someone to run the numbers that didn't mind working long hours, mainly alone. That sounded like a perfect fit and I have been with the company for over three months and it's basically my boss, myself and his son who pitches in when his insomnia isn't too bad. My job involves data entry for all the employees that have worked for the three companies that my boss owned. The data goes back to 2007.

A couple of years ago he sort of just pulled a Dave Chappelle and checked out, and all the big contracts the companies had went with him. I have no doubt he knows how to be successful,and will be again, but he can be abrasive, sort of like myself. Also, and I told my dad this after my first day, that I think my boss and his son are both somewhere on the spectrum. The son is quiet, but they both make a lot of off color jokes and don't really handle stress well. Both are very smart and will ramble on if given the chance to speak of something they are passionate about. One thing I found odd, though, is that after 17 of not smoking my boss started up again four years ago. I asked him why and he couldn't give me a clear answer. I told him I thought it was a pretty stupid idea and he agreed.

The funny thing about working where I do is that it is sort of relaxed but you have to get your work done. my 'office' is actually just a separate space in the basement with everything I need. My commute is only a mile and a half and that is only one or two turns and I'm there or home. The pay is all right, but not high. Every Wednesday, payday, I ask him if he's "fired the printer up yet", a way of asking for my money. We are pretty open with how we feel about things, not much subtlety like at the other jobs I have worked in the past.

I don't have to deal with anyone really. I'm in a room, given work and I do it. I don't even see my boss most of the time. He checks in and answers any questions, but often he Houdini's for hours at a time. I text him, or call if he is really needed, and he says he'll be back soon or to just wait, and I understand that I'll be paid for it. Last Friday I arrived and just as I was getting out of my car he yells to me "Get back in your car, I have a meeting with my lawyer so there won't be any work today, but pay yourself for four hours and head on home". He didn't need to tell me twice.

Since it is steady work, I got nine to five most days, I'll try to hold onto it until the audit is complete. It seems to be getting there as he has been to the IRS and had a bunch of lawyer meetings lately. I mean, realistically, how long can those guys give you to get your stuff together? For now I will take the money as it comes, spend it as I have been on jewelry that will only make me more money (I am a pro at this) and save the rest and reinvest what I make off what I just bought. Whenever it ends I will be in a much better place than when I started, that is for sure.