NT's have a strange concept of "fun"

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I was looking at some of the newset pictures on here and came across a comicaccount of someone's expirences as a college freshman. The info they wrote for it was the following: "Hey guys, long time no see. I've been super busy settling at college. I'm moved in and that good stuff. :B Loads of nice people and lots to do.
I kind of want to make a "What I Did LAST Week" page. Before I came here I was on some sort of crazy pre-college retreat where they had us bond with each other by making us do horrible tasks in groups of 8. Dag yo. You guys would prolly like it. :B
Btw, Initiation is AWESOME. The freshman got pelted with waterballoons on our way to campus from the train. It was total moist carnage. Almost seven hundred students running shrieking through a town at like 11pm while being hit by upperclassmen riding in jeeps and on tandem bikes. <3 Totes on my top ten experiences list.
Anyways! Fun times."

I left my own comment: "Do they really make you get hit with water balloons? I mean if you refuse to go to retreat can they refuse to let you take classes there? That just dosen't sound right. It sounds like harrassment which in most places is illegal."

Their reply was this: "The pre-college retreat and initiation were unrelated. You paid to go on the retreat and it was a two credit course with reading and other assignments. And, well, yeah, if you wanted to get a good grade you did what they told you.
As far as initiation goes, we had some warning beforehand, so people with leather shoes and stuff had time to stash them in their bags. It was all in good fun, and it's not like it was the administrators hitting us. It's just a tradition with the upper classmen and I FULLY intend to participate next year. It actually made me feel kind of special. :'>"

WTF? You enjoyed it but the character (which is supposed to be you in animal form) in the picture looks terrified? Being pelted with water baloons isn't my idea of fun, neither is feeling like I am being persued or being surrounded by umteen screaming people. This reminds me of when my brothers crossed the equator on their Navy ships and had salt water dumped on them and all kinds of gooey stuff. I said I would never let them do that to me but I was told I would have too. No I would not! Anyway, why do non autistic people find this sort of expireince fun? Why wold anyone want to pay money to have that done to them or go through this sort of thing? Why do they consider it fun? Maybe I am the one with problems because I think this sort of thing sounds like harassment. I was severely bullied and abused in elementry school (was home schooled for middle and high) and have severe PTSD as a result. This sort of hazing...er "tradition" would bring flashbacks and possibly even make my PTSD even worse. Do you think what this girl is describing sounds like fun?

NTs are screwed up. This is why I don't leave the house.

Sounds wrong to me. I never leave the school or my house because of people like those.

At least school around here have rule that are actually applied for initiation, actually almost the full football team of a university had to face tribunal a few years back due to their initiation of the new one.

A mutual organized activity would be so much better, which if they wanted to stick to the water balloon thing, an actual water balloon fight of senior VS freshman, at a designed location and time would have been so much better and absolutely without any hard feeling if no one acted stupid during the event.

But shrug never understood why people want to have fun at expense of other while it would be has easy to organize something of same scale and actually have fun with them.

But shrug I stay away from crowd anyway, not that I have a dislike the crowd itself, it just that people tend to lose too many brain cell while in one.

OMG! Pelted with WATER BALLOONS??? That is my worst friggin' NIGHTMARE! I absolutely HATE getting wet!



~Kate

There are lots of things that I'd rather do, than grt pelted with water balloons.

While I do enjoy a good water gun fight (with water balloons), initiations in general confuse me. I'm going to guess it's a method of reigning people in, and if they accept the abuse and be a good sport, they have potential among the greeks. Who truly knows how to why they started, or how far they will go in the future.

I am confused by them finding that fun. I know that I would have been having a panic attack at finding myself in that situation, or a meltdown. I always find NT's really hard to figure out. Specially when they laugh at things that I don't find funny at all. Go figure. I certainly enjoyed a water gun fight with my father and my brother once, (we all got sick afterwards), but everything else confuses me. Specially when they start using water during parties. I hid inside the house, as I recall.

no that is no fun

but then i never enjoyed the things that are considered fun by most of the people I know...parties, hanging out with friends (unless there is something specific to do.....which probably doesn't constitute "hanging out".......), concerts, amusement parks, conventions etc.

I feel you, PunkyKat. Most NTs find social interaction a very rewarding experience. Most NTs are also extroverts (about 75% of them) and seek high stimulation. Combine social interaction with a highly-stimulating environment and you've got a great experience for your typical NT (such as the experience you've described), and a nightmare for your typical person on the autistic spectrum.

Tonight many of my friends are going to get drunk and show up at college parties. I've gone with them a couple of times before, and both times I just felt awkward (even while drunk). A bunch of drunk strangers gathering to have uninhibited social interaction doesn't seem fun to me. If anything, I would be likely to incur negative reactions from people because I'm different.

I think a lot of people fall in line with "tradition". Hazing is traditional. But I don't f'ing get it. I was never interested in much that is considered traditional in western civilization.

What you call NT, I call Western.

And we all seem to agree that it's the opposite of fun.

I don't want to be the object of anyone's aggression or part of a hierarchy.

"All in good fun." Yeah, right.

What PunkyKat describes sounds like it could be fun, with some mental preparation, of course. I could have fun, it is a ritualistic activity, after all.

One important distinction between NTs and aspies is that NTs laugh at people, while aspies laugh at things (or logical inconsistencies, or the situation itself, to be more exact).

To be honest, I think your doing pretty foolish or idiotic thing to analyze a situation like this. There's nothing to it, its just fun. Everyone has a good time, doesn't care, and just relaxes. Thats all it is.

I would love it, and its if its a tradition then your usually given clues to expect something like this beforehand. You need to just embrace it, and go with it. If you analyze situations like this, its why NTs( I still have no idea what NT means yet) find you boring/irritating.

Last edited by sickforapathyx on 03 Sep 2010, 6:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Initiations don't make that much sense in general...

But usually, you'd walk into a situation like that (initiations) expecting something like that (water balloon barrage). Different interests are different interests, in general, NT's seem to have more fun with physical activities like running and chasing, and... yeah. I occasionally enjoy stuff like that, but only when I'm expecting it.

That's pretty respectful...

I'm not trying to be disrespectful, just honest. You will alienate yourself from social situations by analyzing in that way.

Well, pal, you will alienate yourself from a lot of people if you keep insulting them under the pretense of being honest.

OP: I think the activity itself isn't fun, it's the sharing of experience that makes great bonding and pleasant memories. Try to go to an amusement park on your own, it'll be different from the time you were a kid and went there with your whole family.

(Disclaimer: I think many "fun" things people do are stupid anyway.)