All About Us

[Sophist]

Yup. It's the Questions thread which seems to be floating from forum to forum. So answer as you will. And post a pic if you like.

First name:

Age:

Location:

Hobbies and Interests:

Reason for being here:

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed):

Favorite subjects:

Year/Grade:

Favorite music:

Books:

TV shows:

Movies:

Magazines:

Comic books:

Favorite foods:

Instrument:

Sports:

Family:

Clothing:

How did you find this website?

Job:

Plans for the future?

Any comments?

[Sophist]

First name: Emily

Age: DOB: 08/17/1981, so 24 as of this post.

Location: St. Louie

Hobbies and Interests: Psychology (Abnormal Psychology, Biopsychology, Neuropsychology, Neuroscience, Comparative Psychology, Behaviorism, Social Psychology), Neurology, art (doing mostly 2-D work, i.e. drawing and painting), poetry (currently in hibernation from writing though), collecting everything I possibly can including books and movies, my cats and mice, spending (too much) time on the computer, organizing, trying to keep my stress-level as healthy as possible, watching House, M.D., X-Files, and Britcoms.

Reason for being here: Hmmm... not sure.

Date of diagnosis: I still don't have my uber-official dx yet. I have gone through a full assessment at the Judevine Center for Autism and they agreed that I have AS. This was last July, 2005. However, with no psychiatrist, neurologist, or psychologist on staff, they were unable to render my official diagnosis. Some day I will take my assessment papers in to get the official dx, but for now, since I'm on Disability for a completely different misdx, it's financially safer for me not to correct the Social Security Administration.

Favorite subjects: Psychology and Art (my major and my minor).

Year/Grade: Junior year in college.

Favorite music: It varies: classical, some opera, Oldies, Alternative, jazz, Frank Sinatra...

Books: Yes. I have books.

j/k. Some of my favorite books of course center on Abnormal Psychology and Biopsychology, but as for noninformation-type books, I recently became obsessed with the Harry Potter series and I also enjoy some Kafka and Dosteovsky. The book I've read the most is probably Shakespeare's Hamlet (I've got it in separate book form). I've read it 9 times so far.

TV shows: X-Files (duh), House, M.D., and many of the Britcoms.

Movies: Shine, Clue, Shadowlands, Quills, Harry Potter flics (yes, I know, the books are still better), and too many more movies to list.

Magazines: Scientific American, Scientific American Mind, and Discover.

Comic books: Definitely Sandman, though I haven't read/collected for quite some time. As for newspaper comics, Garfield all the way.

Favorite foods: So as not to tease myself, I'll just list the favorites of what I can have: wheat chicken noodle soup (as only mom can make it), a chili/cream cheese/shredded sharp cheddar cheese dip I throw together, Blimpies turkey and swiss on wheat with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, and St. Louis Bread Co.'s (Panera Bread for those who know the larger company) tuna and tomato on honey wheat with a side Broccoli Cheese soup... *drooling*

Instrument: None, but I played saxophone (sort of) for six months.

Sports: I used to play basketball, softball, and racquetball, but racquetball was by far my favorite. It was also the sport I was best at.

Family: Three cats, two mice, and one mother (plus an extended family of her two cats).

Clothing: Comfortable T-shirt, jeans, khakis, or pajama pants, some kind of overshirt like my gray vest or a plaid Oxford I have, then hiking boots, Berkenstocks, or my leatherish flipflops. Oh, plus my Casio yellow-faced watch and my hand-made bracelets.

How did you find this website? Gosh... I can't seem to recall. It's like, one minute it wasn't there, and then the next minute, up popped Gestalt.

Job: None. Full-time student. One thing at a time. On Disability atm.

Plans for the future? I plan on graduating with my BA in Psychology, hoping to be accepted into Washington University's Behavior, Brain, and Cognition Program, going on to get my PhD in Experimental Psych, and then continuing on to do my own research (NOT on animals, since ethically and empathically I disagree with that), and hopefully being successful in the field. I also hope to continue producing my art and maybe something will come of that as well.

Any comments? I plead the 5th.

[odeon]

First name: Ari

Age: 41

Location: Sweden

Hobbies and Interests: Movie projection, AS/autism, Middle Egyptian, C programming, XML/SGML end related, Debian Linux

Reason for being here: I'm interested in AS/autism

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed): January 2006

Favorite subjects: See Hobbies and Interests

Year/Grade: Yes, but a long time ago.

Favorite music: John Lennon, The Beatles, Jamie Cullum, Hans Zimmer, Vangelis, Kent, Jerry Goldsmith, ...

Books: Right now? "American Gods". Anything by Stephen King, Jay McInerney, and a few others. Non-fiction about SGML/XML, programming in C, Middle Egyptian...

TV shows: Friends, Nip/Tuck, The Sopranos, Fawlty Towers, Band of Brothers...

Movies: THX-1138, CE3K, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark...

Magazines: Linux Format

Comic books: Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County

Favorite foods: None right now...

Instrument: The violin, my synthesizer

Sports: Golf (bad but I appreciate the walk)

Family: Yes. Wife, AS son (11), NT daughter (9)

Clothing: Yes

How did you find this website? Sophist invited me.

Job: Movie projectionist, IT consultant

Plans for the future? Get a steady job in IT (movie projection is fun but doesn't pay enough)

Any comments? None that I can think of now...

[lb]

First name: Lori

Age: 39

Location: oakland, ca

Hobbies and Interests: computers, especially macs, martial arts, web development, open source software, guitar

Reason for being here: meet other autistic type folks

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed): march 2005

Favorite subjects: science, history

Year/Grade: not in school

Favorite music: rock

Books: stephen king

TV shows: Jeopardy, desperate housewives, the OC, CSI, Las Vegas

Movies: Tommy, martial arts movies

Magazines: macworld

Comic books: Strangers in Paradise

Favorite foods: cookies

Instrument: guitar

Sports: martial arts, hacky sack (not sure if either of those are sports, but it is the closest I come to doing a sport)

Family: lives across the country. one brother and sister-in-law with a baby on the way.

Clothing: cotton. soft. jeans, t-shirts, hooded sweathirts, sneakers.

How did you find this website? i forgot. probably a link from another aspie site.

Job: make websites

Plans for the future? don't know

Any comments? nice site

[Triste]

First name: Lissa

Age: 42 (yikes)

Location: Island of Hawaii (aka Big Island)

Hobbies and Interests: Health, Psychology, Epidemiology, Infectious disease, Reading, Hawaiiana, Documentaries, Cooking, Frugality, Orchids

Reason for being here: Refugee from WP, looking for AS community that is more reasonable and mature - this may be it.

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed): Epiphany (ie heard about AS) January 2005, official dx Jan 2006

Year/Grade: BS in Nursing, am starting MS in Nursing program at Univ of Hawaii in September

Favorite music: Slack-key guitar, early 70's funk, old-school R&B, anything acoustic

Books: Everything but sci-fi: Fiction, non-fiction, history, memoirs, mysteries, if it's in English I'll read it.

TV shows: Don't have TV

Family: Two NT daughters aged 17 and 15 1/2, NT husband.

Clothing: Have to ask husband before we go out if I look socially acceptable. Mostly cotton and wrinkled.

How did you find this website? Was at Neurolands at the beginning and was going to help Emily with this site but a confluence of difficulties with owner of Neurolands plus horrible 3 month period of incapacitating anxiety rendered that impossible. I'm just now coming out of it and am trying to be social again, and am very impressed by the work done here.

Job: Looking for work as a nurse that I can do given my psychosocial issues. Right now I'm taking care of the two teens and fixing up my fixer-upper house.

Plans for the future? Get PhD so can do medical research.

Any comments? I'm very impressed so far, Emily. Nice work.

[a_lex_s]

First name: ALEX

Age: 21

Location: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, ALTHOUGH I AM ENGLISH

Hobbies and Interests: SWIMMING, SCRABOOKING, WRITING, READING, MUSIC (LISTENING TO ALL KINDS) I CAN PLAY THE SAXOPHONE AND AM LEARNING THE GUITAR.

Reason for being here: HAVE SUSPECTED I HAVEAS FOR SOME TIME NOW. I'M LOOKING FOR ANY ADVICE AND SUPPORT I CAN GET...AND ANY I CAN GIVE IN RETURN.

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed): MID 2005

Favorite subjects: ENGLISH WAS ALWAYS MY FAVOURITE SUBJECT

Year/Grade: NOT IN SCHOOL

Favorite music: ALL SORTS. MAINLY ALTERNATIVE ROCK, I LIKE BLUES AND SOME JAZZ.

Books: ANYTHING LIGHT HEARTED AND FUN, NOTHING TOO HEAVY. AND OF COURSE AS BOOKS!

TV shows: GREYS ANATOMY, THAT SEVENTIES SHOW, MY WIFE AND KIDS.

Movies: JOHNNY DEPP MOVIES! EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, THE CORPSE BRIDE, BENNY AND JOON....

Magazines: I DON'T READ MAGAZINES

Comic books: I DON'T READ COMIC BOOKS

Favorite foods: PASTA, MASHED POTATO, SOUP : )

Instrument: SAXOPHONE

Sports: SWIMMING, I'M NO GOOD AT ANY OTHER SPORTS BUT I DO ENJOY BASKETBALL....BOWLING.

Family: MY MUM DAD AND YOUNGER BROTHER IN ENGLAND, AND I LIVE IN VEGAS WITH MY HUSBAND AND OUR 2 CATS!

Clothing: I'M A JEANS AND SNEAKERS GIRL, I LIKE TO BE COMFORTABLE.

How did you find this website? I THINK IT FOUND ME

Job: I'M A NANNY FOR 2 LITTLE BOYS AGED 2, AND 3 MONTHS.

Plans for the future? I'M NOT A PLAN MAKER, WHATEVER MAKES ME HAPPY AT THE TIME.

Any comments? ANYONE WHO HAS ANY INFO ON AS THAT THEY THINK COULD BE USEFUL TO ME, OR IF YOU JUST WANT TO TALK, THEN FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME, OR ADD ME ON MSN MY ADDRESS IS LEXXY_LOU@HOTMAIL.COM

[SomethingElse]

First name: Benji

Age: 19

Location: East London

Hobbies and Interests: Drumming, bass and guitar to a much smaller degree, random things I get interested in like Ancient Egypt, pirates, sign language, films, books. I enjoy making films.

Reason for being here: To talk to AS people and hear about their experiences.

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed): I guess 2005 (not sure of any more specific date) was when I realised that I probably had AS, then this year I realised it was seen as acceptable to diagnose yourself. Now I "HAVE AS" instead of "probably have it but it's not official." I was told by Drs I emailed last year that it sounded like I have it, and one offered help but never ended up helping me, and this year I was referred by my own Dr after sharing the same things with him. I've been waiting two months so far.

Favorite subjects: English, English Lit, Drama, Media Studies, Film Studies, Art.

Year/Grade: Second year of uni starts in October.

Favorite music: I pride myself on my eclectic tastes. Punk, metal, reggae, jazz, soul, blues, 40s style music, 50s style music, soundtracks, classical (although I don't listen to much), Motown, Irish folk music, gypsy folk music... I even heard some African music earlier today and really liked that.

Books: I read all the time... Some authors I like (of books and plays) are - Harold Pinter, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Anne Rice, Stephen King. I love Wuthering Heights, A Clockwork Orange, books about serial killers and childrens books about pirates or Darren Shan's books. I love the Harry Potter books and can't wait for the next one to come out. In Cold Blood, Animal Farm... I could go on and on and on.

TV shows: Brit Comedy like Open All Hours, Only Fools and Horses, Young Ones, Fawlty Towers etc. I also like 8 Simple Rules, The Simpsons, Family Guy... And I watch Coronation Street and Eastenders (soaps) usually because they fit in with my brother's turn on the computer. And I like cartoons from when I was little - Dogtanian, Count Duckula etc.

Movies: V for Vendetta, Un Chien Andalou, Hook, classic Disney films, Tim Burton's films, Kill Bill vols 1 and 2, Sin City, Labyrinth, Adam Sandler's films, Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, The Dark Crystal, Hitchcock's films and M Night Shyamalan's (I like looking out for the signs he puts in his films and the things he copied from Hitchcock)....

Magazines: Punk specials (whatever magazine that might be), Rhythm magazine... Other than that I pretty much just read the Sunday magazines for the real life stories/something to read.

Comic books: Silent Hill, 30 Days of Night, Lenore, Nightmares and Fairy Tales, JTHM, Squee, Aleister Arcane, The Crow...

Favorite foods: Changes all the time but pizzas, burgers, mash, fish fingers - the typical teen foods really. I get hooked on baby food from time to time, jammy dodgers, certain chocolate bars (the last one was Kinder Buenos), Munch Bunch, fruits, ice cream/lollies... At the moment I like what my family call "wafers" but I think they're called ice cream sandwiches in America. We make them up with blocks of icecream between two wafers, not sure if it's the same things as in America though... And I love cherry brandy ice lollies.

Instrument: Drums. I play a little guitar and bass but not much. And recorder since I was nine. I can only read drum music. Recorder I can only play songs I know using the letters and gutar and bass I read tab for.

Sports: I'm not really into sport but I used to go swimming, play football, play baskaetball, go karate, go horseriding. I wouldn't mind swimming now, or going horseriding again.

Family: Mum, dad, younger and taller brother, dog.

Clothing: Whatever's comfortable. Usually baggyish band teeshirts and jeans. Whatever I like the look of that I feel comfortable in.

How did you find this website? An Aspie group on Myspace.

Job: Four hours every Saturday in WHSmith. I want another job.

Plans for the future? Complete uni, make films, own my own business (not sure what though - record shop, recording studios, pub where live bands can play or something like that), write a book... Those are my aspirations anyway. I'm happy to complete some of them. Haha. More recent plans are to get my band started (we're having talks about that soon, me and the bassist - we need to find a guitarist).

Any comments? What, I haven't waffled enough already?

[sistersunshine]

First name: Lydia

Age: 41

Location: Hollywood, Florida, USA

Hobbies and Interests: Many and varied!

Reason for being here: To meet people and learn more

Date of diagnosis (whether official or self-diagnosed): 8-7-06 self-dx

Favorite subjects: Music, writing and reading all sorts of stuff, web design... and many more.

Year/Grade: Um... not in school any more. Might go back for a higher degree one day, though...

Favorite music: All kinds EXCEPT death metal and screamo

Books: I'm on a Michener kick lately, but I love to read, when I can squeeze it in.

TV shows: I don't much have time, but when I do I like to watch Gilmore
Girls, Smallville and sometimes Supernatural. Mostly stuff on WB, for some reason. I also like to watch home improvement/gardening shows and I used to enjoy talk shows but there are too many of them nowadays.

Movies: My favorite is "The Legend of the Golden Gun" and I would love to find a copy of it!

Magazines: Only when I'm at the doctor or dentist waiting my turn.

Comic books: Not at all.

Favorite foods: I'm highly carnivorous, and eat more meat than anything else other than rich, creamy dark chocolate. I don't eat organ meats or tongue, though.

Instrument: Guitar and a little piano + tambourine and other percussion stuff.

Sports: I don't participate in any sports, and do not enjoy watching team sports. I love equestrian events, ice skating and ballroom dancing competitions... but not much else.

Family: I have a husband (20 years) and five kids ranging in age from 4-20

Clothing: Ugh... I'm a social retard, and this extends to my wardrobe. I like to wear loose, comfy clothes but I try to be a little more hip when I go out to perform.

How did you find this website? http://groups.myspace.com/aspies I think, where Sophist is a member.

Job: Singer/Songwriter/Webmistress and MOM

Plans for the future? Lots of 'em! Don't get me started... LOL

Any comments? Hope to make some friends in here and enjoy the fact that I'll most likely relate well to what you're saying, as I do in other Aspie forums I'm a part of.

[adhocisadirtyword]

Welcome sistersunshine! ( I almost wrote Sister Sledge ... do'h!) Good to have you on board!

[sistersunshine]

In reading through everyone else's "intro" I can see a lot of common interests. Looking forward to getting to know y'all!

[goddessoflubbock]

Hi and welcome!! I'm another mom with a spread in kids' ages - they're 7-25 now, and I'm just a little short of 44.

Sounds like you are a busy lady - and having lots of fun!

[odeon]

Welcome to Gestalt!

[Aspen]

Hi Sister Sunshine.

Your signature reminds me of a story about a child walking along the beach and throwing starfish that had been washed up on the beach by a storm back into the ocean. The person who was walking with her said it was pointless because there were so many starfish washed up on the beach and it would not make a difference anyway. The child picked up another starfish and said, "It will make a difference to this one," and threw it into the ocean.

[sistersunshine]

No effort is futile if it matters to a single soul.

[Sophist]

Howdy, sunshine.