Told to change your special interest?

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Exactly. There are a great many ways to play games cheaply; used games from before about 2005 can be had for very little from sites like amazon.com, for example.

I got that about a person when I was little. And it was like, you guys don't get it; I'm not capable of social interaction with other people and I'm scared that you're trying to take my friend away.

Never have a living person as a special interest. They will come to hate you. That girl certainly did. And another person later. And I'm guessing Callista most recently, though I might be incorrect.

so getting the 3Ds too..

spending less on video games:

I used to have to have a new copy of a game but now into the used, barter places around me. They will trade me about anything. I also am thinking about checking out Gamespy because Netflix has turned out to be a great money saver in rentals. You can keep the games forever and buy the ones you want, cheap too. I also download demos so I can check them out. I have to try extra hard to not get the new stuff but I'm not dumb enough to get it either. F**k the new ps3 motion, got a wii if I wanna swing my arms. XBox nothing earth shattering new either. It is a good time to at least pretend to cut back, well except for the new 3Ds and a new, not refurbed ps2 from sony....kind of would like a ps2 stuck back in a spare room if I get to missing a game. ooops what a waste.

I love that twist of games and school. It would drive me mad to have to study psyc. It is the science of no proof, extremely well constructed guesses.

go to Nintendo College

I've never had a living person as a special interest; I don't know what you're referring to here...?

LOL! I've heard of that college (I researched it when I wanted to get into videogames and not psychology) Called Digipen I believe. In Washington state. I'm cutting back but am still wanting to buy from the Toysrus Buy 2 get 1 free sale (in U.S. not sure if it's other countries) That's around Sept/Oct. by then I should have my NY debt payed off then just owe $400 for getting my parents HDTV. YA! I have it all planned out.

When I was in elementary school my mother tried to transition my special interest into something she thought I could get a job later doing. Science stuff, and it bored me to tears and I mean that literarily. I would start screaming and crying when my mom tried to talk to me about river sedimentation. She made me do a science fair project on various river sediments and their meanings. I told her "you do it and tell me when you're finished" and she said "No, I am not going to do your project for you. That's cheating," and I'm like, "You're the one who chose that theme," and she said, "That's because you wouldn't tell me what you wanted to do," and I said, "Volcanoes. I told you if you would let me build and erupt my own volcano, I would be more interested in the experiment," which she replied, "If you do a volcano you won't win anything. No one gets a blue ribbon or plaque for doing a volcano".

My mom knew all the inner workings of science fair judging since she was a ninth/tenth grade mid high physics/chemistry teacher.

I began to loathe science. Ironically, my projects that my mom did, received second best in the entire science fair. I only lost to the high school science department head's son. He always got best in show.

So yeah, it's hard to shift that focus. I want to be interested in what I am interested in. It doesn't work when people try to get me to study what they want me to study The sad thing is, I am really fascinated by science, and I have an aptitude for it. Maybe without all that forcing and pushiness, I might have discovered a talent for it on my own, having nothing to rebel against. Reverse psychology could very well work wonders.

That's funny. If any of teachers had done that, I would hate them forever. And my English grade would go down significantly. But my art teacher would love when I would choose cats(which was all the time, for drawing, painting, sculptine, whatever we were doing)as subjects for my work. Although my mom has forbidden me to buy more cat figurines/sculptures, and buying toys and stuff for the cat, but it's not effective. I still buy find ways to buy them.

But my parents have criticized and told me to change my special interest countless times. And they have tried to change me. That if I was going to obsess over something, it should be something useful. The only of my special interest my parents never told me to change was my interest in neurology.

I don't usually get told to change my special interests. I have had weird ones when I was younger that my mum didn't exactly like, but I was never made to change them.
If someone came up to me now and said "right, that's it! You are not reading about apes! You have to find a new interest." I would be PISSED, and shout at them.

That is so misguided but tragically common. I feel lucky that my parents didn't do it. I overheard them in conversations with other parents where they got flak for not trying to re-route me from interest-du-jour into interests sponsored by the city's rec department or interests likely to be profitable if I ever got really good.

Science Fairs are supposed to be so that kids can learn about science. Not just to take home a prize. What does it teach you to do a project you have no interest in just to win? It teaches you to game the system but it doesn't teach you anything about science.

It always bums parents out when their own special interests turn out not to be inherited by their kids. But I think one of the things that parents really need to do is to realize that special interests are not herditary and each kid has to choose their own path. I am truly lucky that my parents grudgingly accepted that I didn't share their interests and didn't try to pressure me. I am hopefully doing the same for my own daughter. It's too bad your mom couldn't see the wisdom of letting you choose your own path. It's a hard thing for a parent to do but so important.

I just finished reading, "The Best Kind Of Different" by Schonda Schilling about her and Curt Schillings son with Asperger's Syndrome. Curt Schilling is a professional baseball player (Red Sox). His son Grant has absolutely zero interest in baseball. It took Curt Schilling quite a while to absorb the lesson that his own special interest in baseball had not been passed down to his son. There were a few years of ill-advised Little League games poor Grant was forced to play in. As an Aspergian, he would find something more interesting to focus on during the game and the other children disliked playing with him because he didn't really play. But his dad was a professional player so it was assumed that he would not only like it but he would be good at it. The Schillings finally accepted that Grant just did not have the slightest interest in baseball and grudgingly let him quit Little League and follow his own path. All parents need to do this since the odds of a child inheriting the parents' special ineterst are pretty low.

Games don't have to be expensive. I love buying retro stuff on eBay and other websites. I have a collection of games, software, hardware and accessories that would have cost thousands when the machines were current.

Perhaps I wouldn't say that, depending on who I was speaking to, but that's my basic sentiment on the subject.

I second this motion. Obsessing over living people, unless you have restraint and judgment to know when and what you should discuss, and what not to, can be problematic. The two times I have had to break an obsession...that was the reason.

Some people can handle it, but not all can, so you have to be on the watch for the signs of crossing the line.

I like to watch violent bloody fights so let me know if someone ever tries to take the Kinks away from you I'd like to watch the beating you would dish out. I bet they would not try a second time.

It's a rarity for me. What I'm talking about is... well... living person as special interest. Learn everything related to living person. Spend as much time as possible thinking about living person. Feel like living person is the most fascinating topic in the world and needs to be talked about and obsessed about and... You know. Like how if your special interest is psychiatry, you might think the greatest reading material in the world is the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, and if your special interest is Callista, you might check Callista's blog every day hoping for another post. Though I wasn't implying that you're a true special interest (not enough new information often enough; I was more obsessed while I archive-binged your entire LJ please don't file a restraining order), I will admit to being your biggest fan, bar none, and behaving in a suitably creepy manner (like, PMing you out of the blue just because I suddenly realized I could interact with you, and then trying to start off a million conversations at once just because I'd imagined them so many times). I assume, because I don't know what your reaction was (you never responded, which I don't hold against you or anything-- finals, after all-- but which doesn't allow me to guage your reaction), that you reacted the same way as everyone else. For instance, there was this one person that I fangirled so much I asked for her autograph. She ended up creeped out, and her friend, whom I fangirled a little less but really looked up to, was openly hostile toward me.

Hence, never have a person as a special interest. It will only cause harm. A fictional person is okay (JAIME LANNISTER!! !), if you don't mind getting laughed at (and accused of Leather Pantsing, if the character in question is a villain, or in this case looks like a villain if you tilt your head just right and an antihero if you look from another angle), but you should try to temper that if you're ever speaking to the author. Plus, what happens if it turns out you suddenly find yourself in an alternate universe where he's real? (In the case of me and Jaime, I would end up lied to and taken advantage of and probably dead, if he noticed me at all. Renly Baratheon would be more helpful.)

Is that any clearer?

I haven't been told to change, but my parents say that I like stuff that I don't really like (celebrities) and ignore the stuff I really do like (cartoon characters).

I agree completely. Well said