Introducing myself

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Hi there,

I'm new here and therefore not knowing what's done and what not. I'm keen to make new friends in cyberspace.

I was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to New Zealand making a 25 year dream come true.

Three years ago I retired after a 42 year career in IT. Only a month ago I found out I must be an Aspie after reading Wikipedia on that topic. It was a mind blowing eyeopener. I finally understood why I always knew that I was different.
I felt both relief, anger, and pride. Relief because all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place; anger because I could have had a better life when diagnosed earlier (I'm 67); pride since I had a reasonable good career in IT starting as a test analyst, COBOL programmer, DBA, UNIX geek to IT Manager. All in all I had 15 employers over those years.

I'm currently on a waiting list to see an Autism specialised psychologist to find confirmation of my self-diagnosis.

I live on my own in the greater Wellington area after separating from my wife.

Since there aren't any in NZ I would be pleased if I could receive some feedback from y'all with regards to meet-up groups: do you attend Asperger's meet-up groups in real life? If so, how are they structured?

Many thanks.
Cheers!

Welcome. I am also in the tech field

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to Wrong Planet. My epiphany was similar to yours only mine occurred when reading about women's experiences with ASD.

All the weird stuff in my life finally made sense. Glad you are here.

Welcome!

I am also a unix person. Linux/*BSD FTW!

Hello.

Hi AD, and a very warm welcome ! How long are waiting lists for diagnosis in Wellington(if I may ask?) Hope you don't have too long of a wait. You live in a very beautiful part of the world(I say this as an Aussie, who lives in England, and has NZ on their list of must-visits in the future...). What's it like living in Hobbit Land? Hope you're managing to enjoy retirement. That was a long, and illustrious IT career...

Hi Juliette, thanks for the kind words. The psychologist I found with the help of Autism NZ is available in March next year. So not too bad...

Life in Godzone is just as I anticipated it before immigrating. I was never homesick; not even a second: Life is relaxed, people are friendly, there is not much criminality or racism, the air is pure and lots of space, the scenery is stunning.

Before immigrating I saw quite a bit of the Europe and some other parts of the world. And from what I've seen in these different parts of the world, NZ offers everything in a country the size of Britain.

Retiring was not easy, since I'm very energetic and active. But now that I know I'm an Aspie, I have a new goal in my life: Setting up a meet-up group of like-minded people.

Hi AD! Thanks for the kind reply. That's not a bad wait at all, compared to the UK! It's currently about an 18 month wait over here.

That's so good to hear, that you settled in so well into NZ life. Makes all the difference. I was the same when I moved to the UK. Was excited and so positive about the move, and it was like landing on another planet ... in a good way! So different, so exciting, and love the proximity to the rest of Europe. New Zealand sounds truly beautiful! When I first came onto WP back in 2006, I had a friend here who went by the name of "kbabz". He was an aspiring writer back then. Hope he might return someday, and he may be one who would have been interested in your meet-ups. Time will tell, if he returns. The scenery over there is beyond beautiful from what few images I've seen.

Yes, it's quite a shock to the system going from a high-energy/high-paced lifestyle(I was workaholic and know all too well), then to suddenly, having to adapt to that of a totally different lifestyle and pace. Good to hear you are positive-natured and sounds as though you'll adapt well by introducing other interests/activities into that amazing new lifestyle. Love that you're spearheading a new meet-up group, and wish you all the best in making new, like-minded friends and acquaintances.

Hello, glad you found us. Please feel free to join in anywhere on the forum. Love seeing someone new and getting to know them. There are many of your generation here who found out later in life they had autism and have been on the same journey, and you'll find them dotted about the forum in the sections they frequent the most. I'm sure all will be glad to get to know you. Lots of interesting people here in addition to yourself.

Welcome

Hello from Peta