What's your special interest?

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-Computers/devices (especially Apple)
-Physical Therapy (thank goodness, that's what I'm supposed to be studying)
-Psychology
-Pathophysiology
-Getting in shape (I use a treadmill 2 hours per day 7 days per week)
-True Crime
-Apple forums and now here

US geography - I had this as an interest more when I was a kid; when I was around 10-11 I remember memorizing each state capital and each state's largest cities, and I also liked to research the climate of different states/cities. I remember sometimes just going onto the weather channel or some other forecasting site and just look up the forecast for random cities around the US. I guess my interest faded a bit, because I'm definitely not that obsessed anymore, but I could definitely still locate every state on the map, and have a clear picture of the map and each individual state in my head. I could also still tell you the capital and the largest city of pretty much every state.

Amercan Girl dolls/books - this was something I was also more into when I was a kid, but again, even now, I could still tell you the name of every American Girl character (well, at least the ones that were around when I was younger; I know they've since come out with some newer ones) and what time period she lived in. I can also remember her family members and her best friends, and can recall the details from most of the books. Honestly, I still love the dolls and all of their historical clothes, and would probably still collect them as an adult if they weren't so expensive!

Houses - I have been interested in houses since I was little and still am to this day. I just love looking at different houses and their floor plans (just seeing how they are designed and where all the rooms are placed). I have always loved going into other people's houses, or houses that are for sale and open to the public, and just looking at all the rooms. When I was a kid, I thought I might be an architect one day, but unfortunately, even though I'm interested in the designs of houses, I wouldn't be so good at the actual technical part of it. I found out I sucked at geometry when I took it in 10th grade.

Spanish language/culture - I discovered in high school that I was really good at learning Spanish (and possibly good at learning langauges in general, but I haven't really tried to learn any other language at this point). I wouldn't say it was a super intense interest, but it was something I enjoyed, and again, I felt like it was kind of a special talent, because it was really the first school subject where I could just ace tests without even studying. I also became pretty interested in Spanish culture, and Spanish-speaking singers/bands.

Dates - I can remember when almost everything has happened in my life. I may not always remember the exact day, but I can definitely remember the month and year of pretty much any event in my life that has significance to me. My parents will always ask me when we went on certain vacations years ago when I was a kid, because they can't remember exactly when it was, but I can remember the month/year perfectly. I can sometimes recall the exact date of some things that have happened recently or up to a few years ago. I can just picture my whole life as a timeline in my head. I also memorize people's birth dates (I know the birth date of pretty much everyone I know who has told me when their birthday is, and I have also memorized a lot of celebrities' birth dates) and can remember the release date of most movies that I have seen (again, some of them I know the exact date, others I just know the month and year). Sometimes when I get bored, I just write/type out random dates or picture them in my head.

Sailor Moon and 12th century English history involving Empress Matilda and King Stephen

Germany
Russia
Cats
Various branches of science
History
Cartoons/Comics
Nick Cave

Wuts? What's 'wuts'? Why do aspies have to have interests? I like watches, but I'm not a collector, (I don't have the money). I used to be interested in bears, when I was a lass. When I bought albums, I had to have all the albums - but now I'm older, I don't collect CDs anymore and those that I do have aren't in order. I collected articles abput Charles, Diana, William & Harry and a former landlord dumped them, as I forget to take them with me. I was bereft. Later, I collected the Health Service Journal and in the end, my mum got rid of them.

I flit from one interest to another. Someone, from Leeds Autism Services said that was normal. But based, on what I read, every aspie needs to have one special interest that they concentrate on; I don't. Just because I like watches, does it mean that I have to collect them? Whe I bought my Raymond Weil, I went on to watch forums, but I no longer do so.

Ergo, because I flit from one interest to another, can I be described as an aspie? Saying that all aspies must have special interests, is a bit like saying every ginger haired person likes Liverpool Football Club.

--Everything Tolkien
--Star Trek: Deep Space 9
--Linguistics and glottopoeia
--Astronomy (this one has been a special interest since I was very small)
--English literature (from Beowulf to Kazuo Ishiguro), and more broadly literature in general

@AspieSingleDad: pardon? Please don't mock. From what I've read, maybe I'm not an Aspie at all. Maybe I lied at my assessment (from what I've been told it's quite easy to lie about being autistic), so that I could get benefits, such as DLA/PIP. Trouble is, I haven't been able to claim any benefits.
Maybe, I took the AQ Test and answered how an Aspie might answer.

Why does every Aspie have to have special interests, to the point of being 'anal'? Not every NT has special interests; those that do might even be autistic, who knows? Where, in the official DSM-IV criteria, (with which I was diagnosed - can a two hour assessment, without any testing, actually be used to say that a person has a disorder?), does it say that every Aspie has to have a special interest/special skill/be unemotional/be unable to understand jokes? Nowhere.

Why can't Aspies just be bog standard? If it wasn't for so-called traits, we'd all be normal. Who exactly stated that all Aspies have special skills? An NT 'expert' probably.

Well I don't have any current special interests. Which means I'm just an anti-social person, who prefers her own company. I guess I must have lied....

Model and real trains. Has been my primary obsession since I was a very young child. Love to go out train spotting and enjoying my G scale trains that run on real steam! Dodger

My "big three" special interests, the ones that really define me are:
-I Love Lucy
-Cedar Point and their roller coasters
-Science in general (medical science and neuropsychiatric disorders, especially bipolar mania, in particular)

I have tons of special interests (most of mine stay with me throughout my life), but those three are the most intense and are the ones that are core to my being. My biggest special interest in elementary school was Archie comics, which I revived in 2013. I've been collecting older ones, mainly Betty and Veronica issues, the last few years. I simply adore the show Riverdale, which has also become a special interest. Season 2 airs on October 11th, and I can't wait!

My current special interests are:
-Dinosaurs
-My Little Pony
-Religion (mostly Abrahamic but also some eastern)
-Autism

I once had a whole collection of carrier bags which I kept under my bed and I had all sorts of different businesses and company logos on them, and I used to test them to see which lasted the longest without breaking, but my Mum thought they were rubbish I had accumilated and chucked them in the bin. (I was in my mid to late teens when I was collecting them).

60s Music
60s Television
Germany
The Kinks
The Summer and Winter Olympics
The Internet
Arts & Crafts

Primarily the unholy quaternity.
Sex, drugs, rock'n'roll and blowing sh!t up
(I have prescriptions for everything I want these days and a pyro license)

Forward and reverse engineering.