Hi folks. I'm new here!

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Hi folks!

I just stumbled across these forums.

I'm a 24 year old Aspie from CT. I also have anxiety disorders and bad insomnia, and strongly suspect that bipolar disorder is the culprit for those. I have been taking antipsychotics as per doctor recommendation since I was five years old, so my brain isn't all "there" anymore, on some levels. It's mostly motor skill-related, but that's hard, since I love music and art (more on that below).

As I was saying, I have a have a passionate love for music, art, and technology. With my tastes in music (blues, psychedelia, jazz, jazz-rock, folk, avant-garde music, but almost nothing too modern), I absolutely consider myself an old soul. Even my personality sort of exudes this "grumpy and self doubting pessimist/hippie freak" aura, and I often feel like an alien (I'm on my wavelength and everyone else is on theirs, that is), so the name of this website alone really spoke to me.

Self doubt and lack of social skills aside, I'm looking to branch out and try to be a part of a community, now. I have always hid from my Aspergers in the past, never acknowledging that I was different, though neurotypicals likely knew. Now, I hold the belief that different isn't bad.

I struggled throughout all of my time in school, so upon graduating high school, I found a couple of excellent mentors and also taught myself a few things, and have been in the process of working in a career in technology, building websites with the open source CMS Drupal. Currently, my passions lead me towards playing guitar (mostly slow blues), abstract painting, sketching/doodling/drawing, and digital photography, all of which I've only really been at over the past year or so, so I'm not yet good enough at these to do them professionally. As such, I hope to find more Drupal work, some time. In the meantime, I am fortunate to have a small circle of supportive peers, including my brother and guitar teacher who are professional blues musicians and believe there is strong potential in what I do. I am in the process of making a documentary/music and art film (jam session, art showcase, technology showcase, as these passions apply to me, but in hopes to inspire others) with my local public access network. It will generally be on adversities I've faced as well as present triumphs or accomplishments.

Anyway, my apologies for the verbosity. That's my story, though. I'm eager to hear the stories from others as well and learn about the diversity of others on the autism spectrum, since I am just starting to try and "de-isolate".

- Morgan

Welcome! I relate to the "old soul" vibe, my favorite decade of music is the 60s. I listen to some new stuff, but it pretty much sounds like older stuff.

I'm fascinated as to why I prefer older music. Maybe I don't like the sound of digitally-recorded music. Or I prefer when music has more dynamic range. Perhaps it's just the rough, "scratchy" quality many 60s recordings.

Oh, I relate to the thing you mention about 60s music and the dynamic range in it. I also tend to notice a lot of creativity and soul in it, in a way that really speaks to me. I can be sort of a snob and it infuriates some of my friends, though many also see eye to eye.

Ultimately, modern music is just as valid, if that's one's preferred thing, but I love pretty much anything older - even Robert Johnson recordings from the 1920s, 1940s and 50s blues and jazz, even some of the 1990s alternative bands/jam bands who sounded older or used older technology and experimented, etc.

One of my good friends is also on the spectrum, he thinks, and is influenced by Robert Johnson with his blues guitar, but also plays flamenco guitar and is into playing some Baroque music. My personality is definitely more blues and jazz than orchestral or classical, and I'm pretty much the opposite of classically inclined or classically knowledgeable as such, but he's exposed me to some works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, and Vivaldi which really resonated with me on an emotional level, and that's even older music.

Still, the 1960s are my favourite as well. I love the experimentation and diversity, as well as the songwriters - Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Frank Zappa, Cream, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, James Taylor, Captain Beefheart, Larry Coryell, C.C.R., The Doors - the list of people who made music that speaks to me who started onto the scene in this decade and the beginning of the decade that follows, as two eras in particular, would go on in a seemingly indefinite manner, if I thought about it.

I also don't know why this is, but I love that music.

Thanks for the reply.

Welcome to the forum.

I can relate to feeling like an 'old soul', though I think if I fit the time period I lived in, steampunk would have to be a part of modern history.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!