26 Jul 2011, 4:42 pm
Greetings,
I've been lurking this forum for a while, and figured it was time to register. So here I am. To be honest, I'm not too fond of "about me" posts, and i absolutely hate the real-life equivalent in classes, work and so on. But I'll give it a try 
I'm 28 years old, male, and recently diagnosed with AS. That didn't come as a surprise though, as I've been suspecting it for years. First as a lingering fear, then gradually I came to accept it. The syndrome wasn't even heard of in my country until I entered secondary school, so when my mom took me to the pediatrician due to clumsiness, lack of social contact, and a bunch of other stuff, he just laughed at her. "He's very intelligent, of course he finds adults more interesting than kids." Guess he's not to blame though, knowledge of a non-existent diagnosis is pretty much impossible.
But it seems I survived anyways, I had some hard times and other good ones. As of this fall I'm entering an electronic engineering program, the plan is to complete a 5-year master's degree. I already have a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Theology, which was pretty much of no use. The only job I'd be eligible for is teaching high school (or lower), which would be disastrous. And when I applied for jobs not related to my degree, I consistently screwed up during interviews. I'm optimistic though, and provided I manage to keep my focus the next few years, I'll probably love my job afterwards. And possibly even find employers who are aware that job interview performance doesn't equal job performance. Finally having a diagnosis will probably also make university easier, as I'll have more rights and less reason to feel I should wear myself out by over-socializing like the rest of the students.
I've also been a very active World of Warcraft player for years, hence my nickname. My guildies tend to tell me I'm a real life Gnome, which I guess isn't too far off. I usually take it as a compliment, after all most of my characters are Gnomes too. I've been growing tired of WoW, though, and my current plan is to stop playing when university starts. I'll keep playing other games, mainly RPG/adventure. I suck at multiplayer (too unpredictable), so I keep to cooperative play/raiding and single player games. Other than that, my main interests/activities are sci-fi TV series, and reading. I tend to stay with a few favorites in both categories, though; I'm currently re-watching the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica for the fifth time. And yes, I am a nerd 
Getting diagnosed has been almost exclusively helpful, as it explains a lot not only to myself, but also to family and friends. The friends I have are people who have tolerated my AS traits for years without knowing (some of them suspected it, though), so they've been fine with it all along. And as I mentioned, it will help a lot when it comes to rights at university, financing a second degree, and so on.
Other than that, I guess there's not much to say. It'll be nice getting to know you all, but if I know myself right, my post count probably won't skyrocket. But at least now you know I'm (semi-)lurking
TenPencePiece
Veteran
Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Posts: 46,000
Location: Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
26 Jul 2011, 4:59 pm
Welcome to WrongPlanet, RLgnome!
semi-lurking is good enough for me
Hope you enjoy your stay here
26 Jul 2011, 5:04 pm
26 Jul 2011, 6:05 pm
26 Jul 2011, 8:33 pm
27 Jul 2011, 7:48 am
27 Jul 2011, 11:12 am
27 Jul 2011, 12:25 pm
Heh I also play a warlock, as you might have guessed from my avatar Nice to meet you!
AnonymousAnonymous
Veteran
Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 72,418
Location: Portland, Oregon
27 Jul 2011, 2:49 pm
27 Jul 2011, 3:39 pm
Welcome to Wrong Planet.
I can relate to your mentioning the uselessness of Theology degrees in relation to the world of employment.
CockneyRebel
Veteran
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 117,079
Location: In my little Olympic World of peace and love
27 Jul 2011, 7:41 pm
Welkome to WrongPlanet.
The WP Kink
