Hi from Sweden

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Hi everyone!

I just signed myself up on this really cool site that I found a couple of months ago...

I'm 19 years old (turning 20 this fall), I live in Sweden. My dad lives in US though, he has lived there (first New York for 5 years, then later Los Angeles) since I was like 8 so I guess you can call US my second home even if I'm not there that often...

I was diagnosed with AS when I was 8 years old, in kindergarten. Mainly because I was a lonewolf most of the time, with a few exceptions, and tended to get kind of violent with the other kids, and I simply didn't share the same pleasures in plays and stuff as the other kids. You could say interacting wasn't my niche, if it wasn't on my very own terms where I was the boss. As a result, whenever I was playing with the other kids, I made sure that I was the leader who decided the direction of the activity.

I guess my AS nowadays is like a "light"-version, I guess most people see me as a pretty normal guy, even though I know that's not the case. On the outside, I'm just like any normal guy in Sweden who enjoys going out and have a couple of beers with his buddies on a friday evening, or just hanging out, meeting people (under calmer circumstances, that is..).

Many of my problems and symptoms have subsided now, like the need of structure and scheduling that I used to have, anxiety about small changes and especially problems with emotional expression (I used to go around and look really angry as a kid, without really knowing it myself). The later one led to many conflicts and gave people false impressions. You can say that I'm much more confident as a person nowadays. I'm more open, and I'm still evolving.

My biggest problem nowadays is 75% of the times whenever I'm meeting and talking with people, I tend to get distracted by my own thoughts, feelings or some other thing from the environment, resulting in failing to really grasp what the person has to say and the context of the subject. As a result of this I'm not really as responsive as I wish I would be in social situations, which is very frustrating. It feels like I have much more to give, for each single situation I'm put in. Maybe someone who reads this weird stuff I'm writing knows what I'm talking about and is having similiar problems?
Feel free to write something! I would love to hear if you recognize these things and have any experiences to share...

The problem about responsiveness in communication is also closely tied to a non-verbal communication problem, I don't really look enthused in my "neutral mode" on the outside. People often think I'm bored or uninterested when it actually it's the opposite. This has happened in my life as long as I have a memory, and it's something that I'm really working on. Anyone know good techniques or exercises in how to change this? It feels like my emotional spectrum on the outside is limited to a few different conditions...

When I look at these problems, I think I can sort of see what I can improve and what really is >me< and my different way of thinking and seeing things. The mind is a powerful tool, but it can also be a trap. I've fallen in that trap many times.

My interests include guitar playing in various styles, mostly hard-rock/metal and guitar music like Steve Vai (I'm not as good as him though ). Of course, I have a band. The basist there has AS too so we're like the the musician guys from Mars stuck in the 80's together.. Or something like that
I watch a lot of film, I'm a big film fan. Favorites include David Lynch, David Cronenberg and Stanley Kubrick, among many others.. I also love the "frat pack" movies (e.g. Wedding Crashers) I'm also into physics, math and psychology. I love to discuss any of these subjects with anyone.

ouh.. by the way. If, you haven't noticed, one of my other problems (maybe you should consider this my main problem ) is that I tend to write quite much when I've started.. I have a hard time writing shorter texts.. really hard time.

Well, this is definitely enough about me. Now I would love to hear about all you guys out there who read this!


Rock on! \m/

Welcome to WP Mackie. I can not think of anything interesting to say.
Do not worry about introductions just feel free to post your thoughts on
any topic you want. We can all get to know each other that way. This
getting to know each other section gets flooded with new blood everyday. So
do not feel bad if my reply is the only one you get here

Hi!

Welcome to Wrongplanet!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Welcome here!

It's ok TheMachine1, that was good stuff that you wrote!
I guess I just kind of needed to get my thoughts out there, maybe I should've posted my post in the "general autism discussion" forum instead.. However, it's nice to have finally signed up, I'm looking forward to discuss things in this forum!

I'm sorry if I use kind of strange words in my language, I guess it's something I tend to do from time to time..

okay, this is all for now I think, cheers!