Does anyone ever use their "special abilities"?

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Magic- 1. I do remember orientation.
2. I would require initialisation if it was a completely new area.
3. It is very precise.
4. It has worked everywhere that I've been tested.

Amy,
After reading your answers I think that your compass works very similarly to mine, i.e. it is a "calculated sense".
Regarding the precision, my compass is unfortunately prone to cumulative errors, which sometimes lead to inaccuracy as big as 20 degrees. Also it has a tendency for aligning to locally dominating geometrical features. For example, I once lived in a city that had street grid rotated 22 degrees from north-south line. My compass aligned to that grid, and I had to make adjustments when traveling outside of that city.
Regarding continuity of operation, I have to admit that my compass suffers from shutdowns in some places, though very few. I worked in a building that had walls aligned at 45 degree angles to main directions. This was somehow confusing my mind, and my compass was not functioning inside that building. I felt quite disoriented because of that, it was like losing one eye.

I had a similar experience where a building was angled in an unusual fashion. It made me feel very disorientated and ill. I never thought it could be connected with the compass sense before, but as you have said it I see it could be related. Other people seemed to be able to cope with it, but I had to leave it made me feel so disorientated. I wonder how its connected to the sense......

I'm not quite sure what qualifies as a special ability or a strong talent, but here are mine:
1. art and writing (good for school, competitions, possible career paths, etc.)
2. *near* photographic memory (good for school, remembering things about people so as to better interact with them, my perseverations, etc.)
3. logic (Especially if I'm angry, I tend to be able to out-logic people when in an argument -- not the same thing as just being so obnoxious the other person just shuts up)
4. Ability to judge by speech patterns (or writing patterns) if someone might like me/be interested in what I have to say (and vice-vesa).

Conversationally I use it quite a lot, but I have to be careful as I have a tendency to become too jokey, get carried away with word play and forget to participate in the actual conversation.

uh yeah, I did standup once, but I hate the spotlight, it makes me feel like a drag queen, and generally, performance makes me feel like a 'freak show', like a circus act. There's a movie called 'Little Voice' about mimicry skills, I think the lead character is supposed to be a bit like an AS person. I guess I feel that I've been used as 'living entertainment' too much by NTs to want to be a performer, plus I'm also a privacy freak and performance is incredibly uh intrusive, but then I've only done solo performance things, maybe group stuff is easier.

Do you do some type of performance thingy?

Haha Postperson... that'd be like, riding on the pun train for the long haul! Yeah, happens to me too. Just being punny

Living entertainment is not good if this is *all* others see of you. But if it's one facet of many, then good. For example, certain parts of my personality are certainly freakshow, but I have managed to demonstrate to others practically that I go beyond that and the man in the neon jacket (me) is a human being who likes to help others and add smiles to their miles (or kilometres if you're metric). If you can make people feel good, then that's a very valuable thing right there, because I just see sooo many people having unbelievably crappy days, day after day. Ugh. If you ever feel more comfortable with showing yourself off in the future, go for it, I believe it will empower you despite your reservations about privacy. With others may indeed be easier, then you don't feel alone on stage.

As for me... yes, before I played many concerts. I was a classical pianist! *does snobby look, ha ha* I definitely would like to do some more musical performance in the future, likely the electronic type, so dance music clubby wubby stuff. I don't talk much about techno music on the whole because it consumes so much of me already -- disproportionately speaking. But yeah, the future is ahead of us all.

I also enjoy doing impersonations, getting my friends going on wild, crazy ideas . . . like one time for a friend's stag party, I was dared to dance to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" in the middle of the town square in front of the police. Of course, do it a certain way and you come off like a TOTAL loser (of the laughing AT you, not laughing WITH you variety as they say), but somehow I amused not only my friends but other folks and the cops and a good time was had by all. I did it out of my own accord, and without alcohol. I have been in situations doing public things where peers called me a fool initially, and then later hailed me as a hero. I don't get it myself as it's rather temporal.

I can also twist my wrists 360 degrees. Not sure if that counts

That wrist twist sounds special, Torley!

I once did the Colonel Kurtz monologue "I've seen the horrors..." at Karaoke night at the pub we used to go to after work, it was also the 'hang' for local off-duty police. I didn't mean to, but some other girls dragged me up to sing "Me and Bobby McGee" (ugh) and both of them were flat, shrill singers, so they ran off and left me on stage, and people seemed to want me to do something, so i asked the dj to just play some low key wierd background music and I did my Marlon impersonation. It seemed to go down well - I got the audience to do sound effects like machine gun fire and bombs and wailing. Fun! Well that was a long time ago now, but I'd been listening to the audio from Apocalypse Now at the time.

Your music career sounds interesting - but you're right, it's hard to talk about music, it doesn't translate into language well. I could never learn to play an instrument, it didn't 'gel' with me, I don't read music but I had singing lessons as a kid. What classical composers do you like? or are you sick of that now?

PP

HAHAHA... oh gee I've never seen Apocalypse Now in its entirety but sounds like you do a wicked Marlon Brando. Hahaha no doubt you've heard about his method acting classes too shortly before he passed away.

As for classical composers, most of my faves would have to be the most famous ones for obvious reasons of quality output, LOL... Mozart (some of his stuff sounds oddly the same), Bach (well-tempered clavier), Beethoven (amazing what he could do while deaf)... although I like some of the virtuoso works by Liszt and his transcriptions to piano of some of Paganini's stuff... I always thought bits could be taken out of some of the more obscure Rachmaninoff canon to make catchy tunes (how sacrilege!)... too many composers to name, but I like the catchy famous tunes. I like how they were compiled on "Hooked On Classics" too, the high point of classical blasphemy! Whee. As for later art music, I like "serious" composers like Philip Glass who seems to have a delightful attitude about music. I could pretend to like Cage, Stockhausen, Schoenberg, etc. but I find their stuff more interesting as theory than as actual bopping-to-the-beat entertainment.

But you know, what ruined it for me in classical were all the classical music snobs. 'Course, there's technosnobs too, but those elitists just ruined it for me and are ruining it for lots of other people. They always complain why more people aren't coming to their concerts. Well GEE, I wonder why, could it be because the audience doesn't relate and not everyone owns a tux or gown?? If we're to talk about dumb social rituals, some of the unadaptive rigity present in "serious art music" that turns people into clones would definitely be WAY up there. Booo *throws tomatoes at snobs*

lol, yes, it's funny, whether it's pop or classical there is a musical snobbery, the more obscure something is, the 'cooler' it is or something.

Yeha, I don't get that myself. *scratches head* I'd like to think that in some alternate reality, she known as Britney Spears is a totally underground, hip phenomenon

To Torley_wong

My ability to detect vibes has saved me a few times.

I have a good olfactory memory; I can smell if someone's wearing perfume or if there's cat poo or if my cat throws up; sometimes I'll be able to smell if there's desitin or something else that has a strong smell.

I dont always notice peoples smells, and some of them i have to be really close to them to notic. I never really thought of it enough to notic differnt smells and i never really thought of it as an aspie thing. there was this one guy I liked for a bit and his smell in his room almost nocked me over, it hurt my nose it was so strong. he gave me a shirt to walk home because of the cold and it smelled very strong of him. I showed the shirt to a friend and she did not smell anything, I thoguht that was odd but i didnt think anything of it.

and the coment about the shirts, i like to keep my boyfriends shirts with me since for a while we only saw eachother on weekends, for his smell. now he has been gone for 3 weeks (army) and I can still smell him on the shirts I have, and one of them I had for about two weeks before he left.

I will have to think, and read more, to see if I can think of any other ways I use my "spechial abileties"

MIMICRY!! ! I was actualy going to post a thread about that. i got in so much trouble for that in school. I would to it without even thinking, and get yelled at for makeing fun of the other kids. there was one kid that clap stimed, and when i first found out my diagnosas i told him that I had what he had and he exitedly claped, i got caught up in the exitment and claped with him, and we both ram across the room claping. I got yelled at for makeing fun of his stim and lying to him (my diagnosis had not yet reasched the ears of the staff and they didnt belive me, ignerent basterds) I was not doing either, we were simply enjoying a moment, he enjoying that there was someone else like him, and me enjoying that I had a name for my difference.
just one ocasion tis got me introuble.

That's AWESOME!

1. I also have mimicry skillz... heheh. Cats, birds, voices, instruments - I usually use that to break awkward pauses in conversation that most people fill up with small talk (I know it sounds weird but it works!)
Also I LOVE imitating my cat Ozzy just for the fun of it, and I have conversations with my sister's siamese, Lily.
I also use it to entertain my friends. I DO have a couple...

2. I only need to see the spelling of a word once and I remember for the rest of my life, along with understanding its meaning, as I break it down and see the root of it. This makes it difficult to have "normal" conversations as it tends to make me very verbose, but I DO I use this to write in my everyday life...

3. My obsession over detail got me through 4 years of Visual Arts in university...

4. I too have the "built-in alarm system" - I can wake up whenever I want if I remember to program myself the night before. This is if I haven't imbibed and substances that may hinder my ability...

5. Sense of smell - this mostly just impresses people - but I can also smell if I or someone else is getting sick. I can do myself by the smell of my own breath...
Although, there is a downside to this one as, errr... humans' genital smells (male and female) are so strong to me that I am unable to enjoy sex sometimes.

(EDIT) I forgot two!

• I also have the built-in ruler - I can judge any distance by sight alone.
• My hypersensitive palms - I don't use this much as I can't really run my hands over anything, though...

Wow. I like this thread. It feels good to list all these "special powers"... Makes me feel good about myself!

I agree ... cool thread! Somehow I had missed this one.

One big use I found for some of my special abilities was in sound reinforcement. One of my earliest obsessions was (and still is) music, but I'm unable to play with others because of lack of meter and timimg. Actually I have a hyper sense and can identify any imperfections in music meter or tone, but I don't have the coordination to maintain a rhythym very well, so I can't really play. (sad, frowny face)

So I became increasingly interested in the PA system gear and how all that worked and when I was eighteen I 'switched' from on-stage attempts to out front, behind the mixing board for my musical creativity outlet. My hearing is quite superior to most, even at my age (fifty one) and that allowed me the ability to hyper-analise and correct anamolies in acoustics that would befuddle most people. I can 'see sound' and analysing a room's acoustical difficulties and compromising with my equipment is a fairly straightforward, visual accomplisment. I quickly learned not to tell people why I was so good at my chosen job.

The results were accepted by all my associates and I developed a local reputation for the best sounding PA equipment. By the time I was twenty three I had built a very substantial collection of gear (a semi truck full) and did concert sound for many late seventies and eighties bands of all kinds, some metal, rock, pop, and some NOT cool at all, but it was all fun. If I dropped names, you'd swear I was lying, so I'll leave it at that for now.

My ability to walk into a room and clap my hands a few times and analyse the echoes of equipment being brought into the auditorium allows me to quickly set my gear up by ear (instinct) almost perfectly without the hours of measuring and correction every time, which most people have to do with electronic acoustical measuring instruments or some just skip that whole process and make it loud enough to kill rodents and it sounds like crap, all night. I chose finesse over force. I was often as much as ten or fifteen decibels quiter that other PA systems, but people left with a good feeling and you could actually discern ALL the sounds on stage with pleasure.

Now days, with almost automatic digital PA gear that "sets itself up", most of the intrigue is gone for me and I just use my left over old gear to help out youth organizations who are music related. Two churches near here have young bands which are loads of fun still. Don't get me wrong ... I don't care about the churches, but if they have a youth group teaching, learning, and playing music of any sort, I'm interested! It's the only outlet I've found that allows me to enjoy my 'craft' and no one is jumping up and down to go on the road to fame. I will never again 'go on the road'.