Instruction Manual? What Instruction Manual?

If there was an Instruction manual for me, It would be an Interesting read 🙂

… Unfortunately, when I was delivered, there wasn’t one in the package.

So … I guess I just have to figure it all out as I go … I have read/watched a lot of online tutorials on how related models of human operate … In other words – reading blogs and watching YouTube videos posted by other Aspies/Autistic people 🙂

Between that, and things I have learnt from talking with psychologists/etc, I am discovering, or learning reasons behind, all sorts of Interesting things about myself … In some ways I have become my own science experiment … I am finding a lot of this self discovery to be rather Intriguing 🙂

And … the other day … er … a few weeks ago actually … I sort of came up with something that is not quite Instructions, but is the beginnings of what is maybe a basic set of standard operating procedures … which would be nice if people actually followed them …

Everyone deserves respect.
Please treat me like a normal person.
I am an adult, who has been to university (I have a Diploma of Applied Science), travelled, served in the Army, married, had (and brought up) children, gone back to work, divorced, rebuilt my life, fallen apart, and put myself together again.
I am artistic and creative,
I am intelligent
(My IQ is probably higher than most people’s)
I am fit and active,
I care about people,
I am willing and able to work hard,
I am loyal and honest,
… and I also happen to be Autistic.

So … while I am fairly good at pretending I am completely “normal” there may be times when I come across as slightly odd, and I do sometimes have problems with communication – sometimes I might say the wrong thing, or not think to say something I should, or I may get excited about something and interrupt. Or I might not understand, or even totally misunderstand, something you say to me, or something I say may not make sense, or not mean what you think I said … I know that sometimes happens, and I would prefer you to talk with me about it – point out to me if I have made a mistake – so that I can do something about it, or clarify what I meant if you don’t like or are not sure about something I said or did – so we can understand each other better … rather than have you be upset, treat me badly or complain about me to someone else …

(It actually wasn’t that difficult to work out those, now that I have worked out at least some of what went so wrong at work last year – I just had to think of the things that were done to me/not done for me …)

I also tend to use way too many words to say things … lol

and … I am sure I did this last time we were up to the letter I for ABC Wednesday … here are a couple of other Interesting? things about me …

Indecisive

I have always been Indecisive, but now I am not so sure …

Actually – I am sure of that one … another Aspie trait, I believe … my problem is – I always want more Information before I can decide … for example “Tea or coffee?” … Well … It depends If It Is Icky Instant coffee or you have real coffee that you make with a coffee machine or plunger … and if the only tea you have is peppermint or some other equally disgusting flavour, or if you have normal tea, or a variety I will actually willingly Ingest.
… sometimes I gather a lot of information but I am still too confused to decide, and sometimes I take so long to decide on something that the decision is made for me …
(Usually quite Irritating and/or Inconvenient)

Interestingly enough … I had decided on something for this post a week or more before we were up to the letter I for ABC Wednesday … I had an Idea in the shower … and by the time I got out of the shower It had become 2 Ideas … But I don’t have to decide, because there is room for both … In fact there is room for more than that – I added something else to the start of this post as well – another thing I “wrote” most of in my head while I was in the shower one night 🙂

Yes – I am an Interesting Individual!

… And I am usually quite happy to tell people why … because I am an Individual … and because I also happen to be Autistic …
But I sometimes get a quite irritating response to telling people that … why do so many people Insist on saying something like this?:

“Oh, but we are all on the spectrum somewhere”

Really?

I have a neurological difference that most people would not want themselves or their children to have, and that is usually referred to as a “condition” or a “disorder” … and you want to Identify with that? … how Intrigueing … and totally Illogical …

Maybe next time someone says that, I should reply with:

“Yes, I guess we are – if the spectrum you are talking about is the one where at one end is Informed/educated and at the other end is uninformed/Ignorant … we are on opposite ends of that one, but if you have a few spare minutes I am happy to help you Inch a little bit further up towards my end …”

I am quite happy to Inform people on topics I am familiar with … being helpful is Intrinsic to my nature 🙂

So … you are confused why my crazy brain Insisted on posting about so many I things, rather than saving some for next time around the alphabet?

So am I … but I gave up and went with it … LOL

… don’t panic – I am sure I can think of plenty more … not sure if everyone will like them all … I guess it depends what I come up with for words like “Icky” and “illness” … mind you, I could come up with a few Icky things to write about for a few otherwise Innocuous words as well 🙂

The hard part will be working out what to write for J next week … or finding time to write it … there are/will be things happening, that I will want to write about … but until they do happen I won’t know how they go, to know WHAT to write … Cryptic? … Yes … you will Just have to wait and see …

In the meantime, here is a photo of myself being an Idiot yesterday 🙂

… a silly selfie I took with my iPad – for some (not so) secret Geocaching business 🙂

And … an Interesting thing that “fell out of my pencil” this evening …

Maybe it is just because I think I feel that way, but to me the face in the drawing looks a little bit uncertain and Insecure … I guess the drawing could mean anything anyone wants it to – I don’t even know what it means and I drew the darn thing!