What I did on my fortnight off.

[catsidhe]

Last weekend we went to the Surveying Expedition. Everyone else has been talking about how wonderful it was. I, on the other hand, was annoyed by the flies, and the dust, and the wind, and the cold, and the heat, and the sunburn, and, and, and... I started off grumpy, which mood didn't really improve, I know I had Aspie attacks (but I have no idea how badly I insulted the people I was talking to at the time). I couldn't really talk to people, as there was always the question of where the girls were at any given moment. (Not that we had them on leashes, but it's not fair to let them run completely rampant, such that other people have to look out for them.

Summary: it was nice enough, I suppose, but I couldn't enjoy it. This is obviously a failing on my part.


On Jingo day we, and several of the old York St crew and families, went to the zoo. During this pleasant day, Duff lent me a book which by coincidence I had, the previous week, determined I had to read. So I read “Look Me In The Eye: My Life with Asperger's”.
If you want to know more about how Aspies think, about the way I think, read this book. Seriously. This book is literally used as a textbook when teaching mental-health and education professionals about Autism. There is a chapter on conversation and logic, which is simply perfect. And keep in mind the line: ‘When you've met one Aspie, you've met one Aspie.’
Albeit that John Elder Robinson has lived a far more exciting life than I have.

mimdancer found The Big Bang Theory on sale during the week, and we have now seen the first of three disks. I really fail to see how Sheldon could be seen as anything other than an Aspie. He tries to be sociable, in his own way, but fundamentally doesn't get other people. And he knows it. He (sometimes) notices that people are upset, but usually doesn't know why. He talks on his own level, trying to be as accurate and precise as he knows how, not realising that the look on the other person's face is of bafflement. (Penny develops, quite quickly, an appropriate response: “Sheldon, you think you're being informative, but you're not.”) He gets enthusiastic about things which strike others as daft, at best, and he can't see why others aren't as fascinated as he is. He has routines and rituals, without which he is deeply uncomfortable. (Hamburger Wednesday, for instance, or his seat on the couch. The air of distress in his demeanour as he awkwardly searched for somewhere else to sit is a practically iconic scene.) I mean, I know the other three geeks, but I am Sheldon. He is the single central character to me, with whom I most strongly empathise, and the more I watch, the less I see of the egocentrism and arrogance that others have mentioned, and the more I see someone who has a specific and particular pathology, who knows what he can do, and who knows what he cannot.

I don't know that I am making any sense whatsoever there.


School starts again tomorrow. So does Kindy. So mimdancer is looking forward to her first day off in months... and dreading using that day to clean up the bombsite the kids have left in the living room.

(I am sure that Mim would say that I have had days off during the previous fortnight, but it doesn't feel like I have. I can't offhand remember having one. So my holiday from work has been replaced with working looking after the girls. And my holiday from the girls will be looking after the children who inhabit university faculties. Let's just say that I don't really feel much relaxed or rested. I'm sure that Mim will step in here and point out that I've been a veritable slug, have had aeons of solitude and rest, and that I'm simply being a whinger. So it goes.)

I wonder what sort of bombsite awaits me at work.



Oh, and I have the name and phone number of a doctor for Asperger's, whom I shall contact tomorrow.

Comments

[tangent_woman]

Ah. Camping with children the age yours are is nothing like camping with children the age mine are. I think the magic point for me was some time between my youngests fifth and sixth birthday. Children younger than that need constant supervision of such intensity that it precludes adequate rest, socialising or participation in whatever activities are on offer.

I used to get hair-tearingly frustrated that all I did at events I took my children to was look after them, keep them safe, fed, warm/cool, out of other people's hair and so forth, and I could do all of those things at home far more easily with no added expense and I could get something useful done, too.

But it does get better and children get older. And there are some events at which it is easier, too. I recommend Suth Moot as being child friendly. I may have imagined that youse were there last year? If so, you also know that the dust and flies issue is far less than on Ava's farm.

[thelancrewitch]

Uhuh. If we do commit the insanity of taking the Boy Wonder to Festival this year, it is unlikely to be anything more than a blur as seen out of the corner of one's eye while trying to keep the Boy in sight through the crowds.

(Why were we thinking about doing this again?)

[tangent_woman]

Come to Suth Moot instead! It's closer to Tassie. ;-)

[thelancrewitch]

We're road-tripping north to visit friends in Lismore as our last farewell to the mainland. Otherwise we might have :)