An Evening at the Theatre

I went with a neutral, non-attention-grabbing wording for my headline, but I can tell you that it was a big thing for me to go the theatre. I never go to the theatre! I used to, but I learned 15 years ago that directors will always, always find an opportunity for a character to pull...

Running on fumes

I’ve been re-thinking Spoon Theory and how it applies to me recently. I wrote about spoons before, but I have come to the conclusion that Spoon Theory doesn’t really reflect what I experience. The way I understand it, you start the day with a set number of spoons, and when you have used them all...

Good with computers?

I remember a John Callahan cartoon of a man begging on a street corner with a little sign: "Please help! I’m blind and black but not musical". There has been more and more about employing autistics in recent years, but almost every time I read something about that I am reminded of that cartoon. A...

Aspie Moments: Peeking out from behind the mask

Last week I was at a workshop. Two dozen museum professionals and volunteers gathered to learn something new. It was a fairly relaxed setup with most of us seated around a big table with the speakers at the front giving Powerpoint presentations. On the side was a double hotplate with two coffee pots, and we...

Mild and severe autism – my theory

I mentioned in a previous post that I regard the distinction between “mild” and “severe” autism as something of a fallacy, and I promised to say more about it. I will do so now. I am not alone in saying that this distinction is false. It always comes up in the “you are not like...

Aspie Moments: The Conference

This is a slightly longer story than just a “moment”, but I’ve been using this header to indicate that I’m going to talk about something specific that’s been happening in my life. On one weekend in October, I had a double whammy: first, a work-related conference, and then a weekend meeting of one of the...

Mask or Me?

There has been a bit of a buzz on the internet this month about ‘taking the mask off’. There is even a hashtag #takethemaskoff. I have read a couple of posts about it. And I have been thinking about my own situation. Do I mask? I would say, of course I do. I call it...

A Word On Words

Since I’ve been blogging for over a year now, I thought it was time I laid out my position on the various autism-related words I’ve been using. This is also partly in reaction to a post on the Liberty of Thinking blog, and this post on Autism and Expectations, but also in general to all the other...

Why I worry, and how I might possibly stop worrying for a bit

It is not a secret that I spend a lot of my time worrying. Most of the time I meet the outside world with fear and anxiety, and my brain is forever spooling off all kinds of horrible possibilities and consequences. I have written before how I always think that others know everything so much better...

Blue Sunday

This weekend was a bit of a disappointment to say the least, and I’m going to write a whole post about it because it’s my blog and I can! My mood has been only just about okay-ish all week – my mood tracker tells me that it’s been "meh" most days, with a dip into...