Prior lurker, getting around to saying "hello" ...

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It seems I've had an account around here for ages, though I avoided posting for several reason... I wasn't diagnosed at the time I opened my account; my son had been, and after years of research, I was pretty certain of my own diagnosis (as well as several others that I sent to professionals for confirmation).

Last year, at the age of 31, I managed to find a local autism specialist who has a clue about females and ASD; I was diagnosed with Asperger's and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. For those of you that like the data, my RAADS-R score was in the 190s. I believe it was 190 or 191, but I don't recall with certainty.

I live in Oregon, out in wine country... it's pretty here, I spent my first 30 years in Portland, but I find it nicer here because of the slower pace and lower population. I will say that visually I had a much easier time blending into Portland, with the high hipster population.. I stick out here quite a bit.
It would be even nicer here if we had a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods market.. along with tap water that didn't smell like a public pool and dry my skin out. It's truly awful...

I have a horrible time connecting with people and making any type of lasting relationships, friends or otherwise. I'm generally not a lonely person, I prefer to spend most of my time alone.. that being said, I think we all need a support network, and we could all stand to use a few people in our lives that understand where we are coming from (more or less).

My goal here at the moment is to reach out to others in hopes of making new friends, learning some new things, and imparting wisdom where I am able. I have come across a lot of questions being posed here that I had plenty of data to contribute, but found myself avoiding doing so for some reason or other.

I have terrible anxiety, particularly social anxiety.. this doesn't make the friend making situation any easier. I'm sure with the high level of aspie-ness around here, social anxiety isn't an uncommon symptom, so I feel like I'm probably pretty well understood there.


If anybody is looking to reach out for a potential new friend, wants to swap info, needs an online pal, wants some recipes... etc.. Let me know!


Stuff I like: Researching things related to astronomy, quantum physics, consciousness, medical advances, science breakthroughs, mental health (particularly ASDs), fibromyalgia, chronic pain conditions, and whatever bit of information I may desire to have in any given moment... I love learning, but I am very disorganized and lack focus unless I am on a learning binge of a specific topic.

I occupy myself with projects I am likely to start, but not finish.. sewing my own clothes, knitting things, making jewelry, making natural bath products, coloring or drawing mandalas, caring for plants, making sure my hummingbirds don't starve (they just act like they will if I don't have that feeder constantly full), singing, wanting to learn piano, wanting to learn ASL, learning bits and pieces of languages (Punjabi, German, Spanish, Hindi), ...

Anyhoo, please say hi, if you are so inclined.


~G~

Hello and welcome to Wrong Planet from a fellow Oregonian!

Hi there!

I'm alllll the way over in Australia, but would love to share things that I know about, with what you know about :-)

Recipes are a big favourite, but I have lots of dietary "quirks..." and that gets tricky.

I really like reading posts like yours because it makes me smile knowing I'm in the right place here on this forum, and that I might be lonely sometimes but I'm certainly not alone!

Thanks for the quick response, fellow Oregonian.

- iamcoley: Let me know what your dietary quirks are, and we can try to come up with some things for you. If it helps at all, my diet is gluten-free, I avoid using dairy products, and I am mostly vegetarian. Believe me, this certainly makes coming up with edible meals interesting.. even more "fun" when going out for food.

There are things I avoid due to texture.. and concentrated tomato seems to cause me issues also.

Send me a message, or let's start up a food thread, if there isn't one already!


I get easily overwhelmed, so if I am slow to respond, I likely am stressed out and have too much on my plate.. but I will get around to it!

i used to practice medicine and also enjoy keeping up with medical advances, so if you have questions along those lines, fire away.

If you don't mind my asking, what field did you practice in? Did you have any specialties, or areas of personal special interest? Knowing your special areas will help me direct appropriate questions.

If it's not getting too personal, I am also curious why you no longer practice medicine.


Thanks for getting back to me!


Something that I've been periodically looking into is links between autistic spectrum disorders and fibromyalgia.. also, I have a lot of unanswered questions in regards to things that would be considered "ESPs", likely due to neurological differences in highly sensitive people. I won't go into too much detail, but one topic being the ability to hear a crackling sound, much like a Geiger counter, while having therapeutic-level ultrasound done on the lower back muscles and ligaments.

~G~

I too live in Oregon

I am not too sure what you consider wine country.. but I live about two miles from a winery lol... If ever you want to chat, you can PM me, I will get you my email address

Yay! Another Oregonian! .. Yes, I could've been more specific, there are several wine regions in Oregon. I am between Sherwood and McMinnville. I can look out my window and see hills covered in grapes, it's pretty cool... not that I actually see the GRAPES, just the rows.. but you know what I am sayin'! >_<

we are roughly about 4.5 hours away then. There are quite a few local wineries here... but I don't get to see the grapes! I do however, have beautiful waterfall walks close to where I work and when we walk the dogs at home we can hear the Rogue River... Not that I go out to either that often... Too whacked out after work or just too plain late when I get off. As for the Rogue.. I don't actually live in the million dollar homes that line it lol...

You seem a lot like me in how you describe your special interests n such. I love to learn about certain subjects too... I have had more than one OB doctor think I was an OB nurse lol ... I also sculpt. Trying to make a website but my work gobbles my energy so it is so very slow going... not to mention I have not actually sculpted since I went back to work

Ah well.. season is ending and my job is seasonal.. maybe back at it soon...

Welcome to WP by the way

Hi, welcome to Wrong Planet! I have family in Eugene, Oregon. Some of your interests are similar to mine. I love cooking, and making my own soap, and beauty products. You can talk to me whenever you want.

It sounds like a beautiful area! Do you get snow there in the winters? .. God, I miss snow.





Sounds like a great idea... I know how it is when you end up having the time for something, but there are always other things to get in the way. It can be very difficult to buckle down and really make time. I'm that way with yoga and meditating. When I actually DO IT, I remember why I love it so much.

Sculpting is something I've wanted to do since I was very little. I'm not sure I can ever let my parents live down not buying me the pottery wheel I wanted from the Sears Wishbook when I was about 6. The farthest I've made it in my adult life is buying several packs of Play-Doh and messing around with that. I did play with some friend's Sculpey (?) at one point, but I really like the idea of using a wheel, and using REAL CLAY. Even though I hate the feeling of having things on my hands, the idea of having them covered in clay, and being that physically involved in the creation of something seems like it would be very soothing to me.

I really hope you'll find the time to get back into it.

If you have pics of anything you've sculpted kicking around, I'd be interested in seeing those too.

~G~

Thanks, Jenibear!

Family in Eugene, but where are you? .. Are you from Eugene originally?

Feel free to PM me whenever you'd like.

~G~

lol..

<--- chuckles while saying ouch

I don't use a pottery wheel... I use those ehm... unreal clays lol. The oven bake stuff...

Right now I do miniatures...

But I used to do life like baby sculpts and mini babies...

I will create a post with it sharing some of my work

You're welcome! I'm in Illinois, I'm originally from Illinois, but my aunt and uncle and their kids moved there years ago. They come and visit every other year.

Hi from over in the UK.

Sounds very nice where you are. All I can see out of my window are rows of terraces houses. I am 30 and have only just joined the dots in realising that I am almost certainly on the spectrum. It is something I am finding very tricky to make sense of and deal with but it amazing to find so many people here who are able to understand so much about me and I too am hoping to make some friends here who might help me through these strange times.

I notice you are also interested in physics - I bet if we pooled resources on this forum we could have things like dark matter sorted out in weeks

It's all good, Valkyrie, I'm not judging, I just have a fondness for the real stuff.. without a kiln though, I'm not sure what good it will do me! A pottery class might be nice though. but.. well, that would mean having to go into a room full of strangers. Geeze..

Let me know when you post some of your work, I'd love to see it!