Hi from NC

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Hi there,

My name is Nick. I'm from Charlotte, NC and I'll be turning 23 this july. I've not been officially diagnosed with asperger's but I am due to be tested soon. I was diagnosed with ADD as a child but recently my issues with making/keeping friends and other obsessive behaviors have given me reason to believe an asperger's diagnosis would be a better fit. My mom has ADD, my dad is bipolar, my uncle on my dad's side has autism, a few uncles on my moms side too...so I come from a long distinguished line

All kidding aside, unlike most folks I learned about autisim at an early age because my mom works for TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped CHildren) as a job coach for an autistic man that she has worked with for 20+ years now. However, I didn't learn about asperger's until a couple of years ago when I took a physics class with an instructor who has it. When I read about it I felt as though I was reading what I would have said to a therapist if I had to describe my problems.

I suspect I'm fairly high functioning because I'm not too terribly awkward in social situations and am only mildly always uncomfortable around people, though some have commented on my irregular eye contact and general aloofness.

I love music. I love making music, I love musical instruments, I love learning more about music theory. I've played guitar just about every day since I was 11, sometimes for more than 8 hours at a time. While I was fumbling through my first year at community college, I got really into electric guitar and started taking amps and guitar effect pedals apart, reading schematics and learning everything about the electronics that make all of that wonderful sound. Amps and pedals aren't cheap so often I'd work on friends' gear or build a small number of something, sell a few and keep one form myself. It has been downhill from there, when I was 19 I started a small business doing it and have been doing it while attending school part time to get a degree for a "real" job down the road. There is a link to my website in my profile if you want to check it out (I don't want to spam the forum). Obviously one of my obsessions.

Art is something I also love, but only from time to time when I feel inspired. I like to do pen and ink drawings, paint in oil, throw pottery, and play with crayons. I'd like to learn more about graphic design via computer but my computer is complete crap.

My other big love is rock climbing... or maybe I should say its my "jumbo love" haha. If you climb you should know the reference...if not google it and watch the video . I've been climbing regularly since I was 16 and even worked at the local climbing gym for a while so I could climb there for free. Even though a lot of the more hardcore climbers bash on indoor climbing, I learned a lot there. Climbing outside is indeed where all of the the "real" climbing happens though and there is just nothing that compares with it. I'm now an AMGA certified single pitch instructor and would like to eventually earn "rock guide" certification. Climbing is a social sport and its usually always done with a partner so it has pushed me out of my comfort zone in more than one way. I think its been good for me. Climbing with a partner is a great sharing of risk and reward. Most of the people that make up my short list of friends are people who have tied in at the other end of the rope with me. You can't not become friends after being at that level of trust I guess. Unfortunately I can't climb now due to a shoulder injury that is awaiting surgery and 6 months of recovery.

So since my shoulder injury I've had a really hard time with keeping in touch with other people. I haven't talked to some of my climbing buddies in over a year. I haven't been able to stay active because of bad knees preventing me from running or biking as much as I'd like to. So I'm finding myself and more isolated and sedentary and more depressed. I can go for really long periods without feeling lonely or sad at all but then I'll get a short burst of feeling really crappy for about a week. I know I could call people and just "hang out" but that isn't appealing to me. In fact I'm adverse to it. If there's not something to do or a task to accomplish with other people, I don't know how to act or how to properly participate in conversation. I try but I often get strange looks when I say something that is interpreted as completely random and then I have to explain how I thought it was relevant to the conversation. I'm just getting more and more frustrated with this invisible social barrier in my head.

I hope to make a few friends here.

Hi, also from NC

Welcome to WP!

greetings from sc

Hello Nick, welcome, enjoy your stay on the Wrong Planet!

Nice to meet you, Nick - and welcome greetings to the Wrong Planet neighborhood.

Welcome to WrongPlanet, and welcome to my Mid-60s time warp.

Hello and welcome to WP!

It looks like somebody has a birthday coming up...on July 6th.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Hi, I'm Jessica and I'm not super far from you. I live in Lincoln County. I'm 25. I have a mixture of aspergers and autism so that gives me the label of "pdd-nos". I've gotten a lot better with my social skills over the years (I used to not talk at all to other people except family and maybe a couple friends but now I talk to everyone). I used to play the piano really really well. And played the guitar, but just funny type songs. I don't do it anymore because I am not really interested in that anymore--did that for quite a few years like 6-7 years? (when I am fascinated with something I obsess over the one subject I am interested in). I am into yoga and I like going for hikes/walks. But I like to do all kinds of things because I am up for whatever.

I wish this site was allowed you to add people as your friends (sorta like facebook). I don't have really any friends (I do have some but they live really far away or we have drifted after high school) and I would like to find some local friends. I find myself feeling isolated (especially lately because my social outlet is like zero because I work as a nanny/sitter) and it's been making me a little depressed. Welcome to the site. I'm new here too.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!