Post #34 - More Internet Woes

From reading my blog you'll no doubt notice that I'm both a sensitive and somewhat arsey individual at times. Whether that's due to my Asperger's or something deeply embedded into my personality, I don't know? It does annoy me though.

I've recently decided to utilise my written ability

 to its fullest extent by complaining about substandard items or customer service. Mind you, I've been doing that for years, but now I've stepped it up a gear. Some people may accuse me of taking it all too seriously or getting 'het up' (yeah, that's you bleedin' Mumsnet!) But it's a big deal for me.

Post #33 - Christmas For Aspies

Like many Aspies I find dealing with Christmas to be problematic.  I think that it's the expectation that women have to deal with an awful lot of stuff and provide a welcoming atmosphere for their family and guests.  I won't got into huge amounts of detail about my own situation, but in a nutshell, I have a neurotypical younger brother who refuses to host Christmas at his house, choosing to work instead.  This means that myself, husband and son tend to be hospitable whilst he swans off and earns double overtime at our expense.  Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate my parents, but I can become easily resentful about this situation.  I am currently upstairs escaping it all.

Next year it's just us three and no bloody turkey.  I don't mind the bird itself, but it's the whole rigmarole of everything else.

Post #32 - Internet Forum Jargon

Although I've been on the interweb for many a year now, I haven't learned all of the various acronyms and shortcuts, but here's a handy aide memoir courtesy of Mumsnet: http://www.mumsnet.com/info/acronyms

I particularly appreciate this particular entry:

YABOS

you are being over-sensitive

That's about right!

Post #31 - Forum Flouncing

Studying the way that Aspies use the internet is a strange dichotomy - it's a great place to share information, gossip and discuss one's 'special interests' in greater detail than you ever would with friends whom you actually know and physically exist in real life (IRL).  That said, as with many things in regard to dealing with life on the spectrum, there's a huge BUT.  That is, you just cannot work out people's intentions via their posts and certainly aspects such as tone, intonation and sarcasm can be very easily misconstrued.  I am also pretty darn sure that many men don't like women to be funnier than they are and this often leads to aggressive behaviour centring around a sexist theme.

Ha! That's what I think anyway.  I'll be back after a bit.  A fellow Aspie told me a very similar story about his involvement on a popular Sci-Fi website, so I know that I'm not alone in both my thoughts and opinions and boy do I have a lot of those!

Post #30 - Two Years of Knowing [that I have autism]

Today marks the two-year anniversary of me being aware that I may be autistic.  The trigger point came at my son's school Christmas concert back in December 2013, which I've written about in this earlier post: http://faspie.blogspot.co.uk/2015_05_01_archive.html

It's been a very strange twenty-four months, that's for sure.  I've had loads of time off of work, more than I've ever taken in all of my twenty-one years of full and part-time employment.  I do feel that I know more about myself though, which can only be a good thing and although some days are good and others bad, I know that knowledge is power and things will begin to improve in the future.

Post #29 - Dealing With Seasonal Illnesses

My cold began on Saturday, it's now much worse.  I'm staying in the warm though and amusing myself by listening to audiobooks and of course, podcasts.  I'm pretty darn sure that I caught it from my son though as we tend to have the same constitution.  At least it'll get me out of attending my son's Cub Christmas Production tomorrow - I'm sorry to miss it in many ways, but after the December 2013 incident I dislike such things.

Post #28 - Dealing With Socialising

Even autism/Asperger specific events are difficult.  It's incredibly hard ......