What's you obsession and why do you find it interesting?

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People and their behavior. I think people are fascinating. Why do they say and act the way they do? How are we so different from other creatures on Earth? Why do we waste everything with such glee and pride? All of these questions I try to answer, and then I come up with better ones, more complex ones, and I try to answer those. It's a never ending stream of fun and challenges! It never gets old.

Ditto... I'm taking a class on this in the upcoming fall semester. I'm so excited!

I am also obsessed with neurobiology. Its amazing to me how little electrical impulses translate into such a vast variety of complex behaviors. I wrote a paper not to long ago on the new neurobiology of autism. Fascinating

I tend to be interested in things that have some connection to my own life in some way, and I find it interesting because it unlocks memories and experiences I had forgotten. It's particularly interesting when I stumble across a book, music album, or something I haven't had any exposure to since the time I was first exposed to it.

Recent examples...

I created a working MS-DOS system recently with old 1980s software. I started remembering the computer my mother had at work, which I got to use very occasionally, and the amber monitor with WordPerfect 4.x running. I wanted to recreate that experience. This was a most curious and interesting project because the software is extremely difficult to find. But the software still runs. I set up a Windows 2000 virtual machine and loaded the software onto it. I don't know of any other form of history you can actually experience directly.

I also found out a few years ago that every comic book that had ever been published (for all practical purposes) had been digitized and were available online. I assembled my old collection from when I was growing up. This was particularly interesting because I could remember many comics I once had, but not remember them well enough to track them down. I was able to basically download an entire run of a title, and look through it issue-by-issue until I found specific issues I once had. That brought back a lot of memories, because I had not seen these comics for decades. This project took some time, because I kept remembering stuff, and some of the stuff I remembered was difficult to find.

I like roleplaying/acting/rpgs/larping, psychology, foreign languages, programming languages, physics, music/movie scores/songwriting, coloring, and collecting buttons. I really like buttons. I like zippers, too, come to think of it; I once refused to accept a leather jacket my mom wanted to buy me because it only had one zipper.

Why do I find them interesting?

Acting - I like pretending to be people I'm not.
Roleplaying - I like making characters up, and I like pretending to be them. It is fun to break down a character's personality so thoroughly that I know every single detail that I need that I'm missing, and then I can fill in all those gaps and make the character more real than many of the people I know seem to be.
Psychology - I like to analyze the way NTs think. It makes me feel like I can pass for one of them, and occasionally it does make me feel like one of them.
Foreign Languages - I <3 dissecting a language down to its components--its grammar and roots. Grammar is how sentences are made, and roots are how words are made, and I love to scrutinize both of them. For the record, every language is really easy if you're good at grammar and etymology.
Programming Languages - If you've never programmed, you have never experienced the joy of some jumble of text coming to life on your screen.
Physics - I like physics the same reason I like foreign languages. I like to break things down into the way they work.
Music - Breaking down a score into its components gives me an equal sense of glee.
Movie Scores - I like movie scores because they are a strong emotional connection between me and NTs. I can write a dramatic piece filled with tension and add it to a dramatic scene, and I will get an emotional reaction from NTs that matches my original intent. I don't get that often with my speech or with my creative writing.
Songwriting - I don't even know why I like songwriting. I think it's the way the poetry flows with the music, even if it is simplistic.
Coloring - I like coloring with Copics and crayons, particularly. And I like using Photoshop to color things, too. It is something that calms me down when I'm agitated. Of course, if I have nothing to color, that makes me even more agitated than before, so I have learned to draw in order to have more things to color. I guess I'm kind of backwards that way. =_=#
Buttons - Buttons are fun! I have a collection of buttons scattered around my possessions. I also once bought a tub of buttons, but my mom got mad at me for that, so I returned to collecting buttons in public places that have fallen off people's clothing instead.
Zippers - I like playing with them and looking at them, especially on clothing. But that's not an obsession so much as a compulsion.

Wow. The order amuses me; it's not quite alphabetical, but it's still a list of my main interests from A to Z.

Last edited by SilverShoelaces on 18 May 2011, 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

^ This. For me, it never gets old, but I tend to not enjoy it much, if that makes sense. I end up understanding something I was frustrated about, only to realise that understanding it only makes me more frustrated. For example, seeing a person do something that is like... stupid... and you wonder why they do it. And when you find out that they only do it because they literally don't think... ._.

CREATING WORLDS is my main obsession/special interest. I can spend days doing nothing but laying out details and maps and connecting events and making cultures to fit on the world and histories and everything. I become so wrapped up in this that I can't do other things sometimes. It takes physical effort to pull myself away from these worlds. Because they make so much more sense than this reality. They have logic. Reasons for everything. And if they don't, then I come up with them. My worlds and cultures and races and creatures all take into mind the kind of psychological and physiological and geographical diversity found in reality. I spend too much time creating and thinking about them.

^ I also will become fascinated with learning about another fantasy or sci fi world if it is set out in a way that appeals to my thirst for understanding by collecting all the details and secrets, and underlying reasons and logic.

LANGUAGES are another absolute fascination of mine. I love learning syntax, and often I will study the flow and feeling of syntax, as well as pronunciation, before I start to learn the actual grammar rules and vocabulary. Currently, I am studying Japanese. I love the way it feels/looks (synesthesia) when I speak it, and hear it. It's a beautiful language... but I'm having a little trouble with conversational Japanese in much the same way I have trouble with it in English LOL.
My main goal is to create a new system for people to learn languages. A new program, something... immersive. Something that targets the cognitive areas of your brain and not just memorising.

VIDEO GAMES [and other media] are what I believe will be the only outlet, aside from writing (which I do, on and off), for my above-mentioned special interests. I can create worlds and cultures; the details and history behind them. Maps, languages, everything. If a developing team didn't want to focus on the details of the world (Or anything about the world), I could fill them in, and more. Half of my ideas of worlds and stories are mean for video games.

Edible wild plants and taxonomy. I don't know why. The information just sticks very well.

Likewise with the neurobiology, as it's an important aspect of psychopharmacology! I'd love to read the paper if it's available?

(Please excuse me whilst I go into an excitable wreck THAT SOMEBODY ELSE IN THE PLANET LOVES PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY!! !! ! )

I'm a neuroscientist, so get excited that you found one more person interested in this area. My specialty in the field is neuropsychiatric disorders and the biochemistry and psychopharmacology related to them. I just chose to only mention my two biggest special interests for this post. I have several others, including neuroscience/neuropsychiatry, that I didn't even delve into.

Ufology: I strongly believe that there is more out there than we can even comprehend. I am facinated by sightings, encounters, and especially about aliens in history.
Most of my other special interests are similar. I'm interested in world religions and similarities between them; languages and similarities in languages. I love mythology, especially creation myths.
Starting around age 9, I became obsessed with forensic pathology. It was a huge obsession of mine for around 10-12 years, it's only recently that it started fading. I was also extremely interested in law, especially criminal law. I went through a phase around age 11-15 that all I could read/watch about was (mostly gruesome) deaths, autopsies, etc.

Yeah, I'm weird, I know.

*edited to fix typo

Last edited by mb1984 on 18 May 2011, 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've had an obsession with war, trains, and military aircraft for a long time.

Wow, that sounds like such an interesting job! What exactly do you do, how did you get into it, do you enjoy it?
Sorry for the overload of questions! It's just, I've only ever met 3 other people who know what 'psychopharmacology' MEANS, let alone likes it.

I LOVED that movie! Thanks for bringing back the memories!

My obsession? Saving the world. When I discovered that people are starving to death and being tortured I could never let it go. I still can't. I have to fix it. Luckily it is easier than it sounds. There are some very basic changes that would fix everything, and those changes benefit the people in power, so they can be persuaded to do the work. All I have to do is iron out the details.

I'm not sure why I have my obsessions. Everything else seems boring to me.

Me too. Hearing about other people with obsessions makes me feel better about my own obsessions. There used to be a show on VH1 called Totally Obsessed and it showcased different people and their obsessions with different things. It was awesome and I wish it was still on the air, or at least on DVD. Also, a few days before Prince William and Princess Kate got married, TLC aired a special called Extreme Royal Collections, which showcased the collections of people who are obsessed with the British Royal Family. I watched that too.

Right now my obsession is Aspergers, seriously. I was researching Autism because I think my 6 year old daughter is on the spectrum somewhere. We are going to be seeking an official diagnosis for her in a month or two. We are in the process of moving right now and want to get settled first. But, then I read about Aspergers and realized that I am an undiagnosed adult with Aspergers. It explains so much. I also think my 7 year old son could have it. His special interest right now is inventing, btw.

So, Aspergers is my #1 obsession right now. I spend hours and hours reading everything I can about it and watching all the videos I can find about it. I also go through periods of interest in ancestry. I've went through a lot of special interests and odd things like drawing floor plans all day long, drawing people's faces and eyes, an Elvis obsession, a poetry obsession, and the one that I am just realizing is when I was obsessed with buying domain names!

It was starting to cost a lot of money, but because we don't have a lot of money the most I ever had at one time was 32. Most were never used for anything. I'd probably have thousands of domain names if I were rich. Right now, I only have about 13 and it is now because I have a plan for those ones. I think my obsession with domains and domain buying has went away. But, because I am a freelance graphic designer and print-on-demand shop owner, I am now only renewing the ones that I can use for a purpose!

Oh, I also went through a shoe obsession. I had a large box that was bigger than a TV box (and I don't mean the flat screen TVs) and it was filled with shoes. My husband hated when we moved and had to transport all those shoes! lol.

My whole life I have had these intense obsessions that sometimes made no sense at all. Then in one day they would sometimes just be gone. I'd lose interest that fast. It is so great to finally know why, especially how it affects my career and career goals.

I am still looking for a post-bacc job to do for research experience before grad school. (I ultimately want to be a neuroscience professor.) So, I hope to be part of conducting some study on a neuropsych disorder of some kind, helping to collect the data and administer tests and such. I got into neuropsychiatry when I first started getting diagnosed with things in high school. I majored in neuroscience and have a bachelor's degree in the area. I love the subject, and I hope to be able to help create actual diagnostic tests for disorders in the future, as well as maybe figure out a way to better know which medication would work with whom (rather than the current system of trial and error). Feel free to PM me if you ever want to have pharmacology discussions!