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Ganondox
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17 Oct 2011, 10:13 pm

Has anyone else ever found them self "playing mind games" while idle in certain environments? For example, back when I lived in place where there was tree lawns, I would imagine there was a ball like the one from pong bouncing down the sidewalks between the front lawns and the tree lawns while I was sitting in a car. It annoyed me quite a bit when we crossed another street and there was no reasonable way for the ball to continue bouncing between the lawns without falling out. Sometimes I also imagined that there was a ball running across the tree lawns and jumping over driveways, and again I was annoyed when we crossed long streets and the there was no reasonable way for the ball to be able to stay in the air for long enough to make the jump. Also, certain tiled floor designs insight certain "mind games" while I'm walking across them. Some floors were the tiles are square and of a certain size inspire me to walk in L's like a knight in chess. The floors at my school make me think of a sinusoid like curve winding around the lines the separate the tiles and twisting smoothly around corners, and sometimes light and shadow effect how the sinusoid generates. Also, back in my first elementary school the tiles were colored and arranged in patterns, and I imagined stuff like red was lave, purple was instant death goo, green was points, blue was water, ect. So does anyone do anything similar?



Last edited by Ganondox on 17 Oct 2011, 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Fnord
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17 Oct 2011, 10:19 pm

The mind games I'm most familiar with involve manipulating someone into doing something for you that you would not otherwise do at all. That type of mind game is the most fun!

Sphincter says, "I disagree..."

:wink:



MrXxx
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17 Oct 2011, 10:35 pm

Every time I get bored enough I do that sort of thing.

Waiting rooms are petri dishes for it.

It drives me nuts, but I do it. I'm a pattern watcher. I see (and hear) patterns everywhere. Once I see them, I extrapolate imaginary continuations of them, or imagine events occurring within them. For me though, it's all within the mind. I don't actually act any of them out.

Sometimes I wonder how long it would take me to loose my mind in the patterns if I were imprisoned.

Well, I would either lose it or escape by means of them.

Maybe there's not much difference.


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Ganondox
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17 Oct 2011, 10:37 pm

Fnord wrote:
The mind games I'm most familiar with involve manipulating someone into doing something for you that you would not otherwise do at all. That type of mind game is the most fun!

Sphincter says, "I disagree..."

:wink:


I really couldn't think of a better phrase to describe what I was doing, and I was aware that the term mind games usually is used refer to something else, hence the quotes around "mind games" in the main paragraph..



mglosenger
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17 Oct 2011, 10:39 pm

Yes. If I see words, on signs or wherever, I will sometimes mix the letters around to see what other words/interesting-seeming things they make. When I see license plates I'll see if the numbers 'go into' themselves evenly, for instance 954 would because 9 goes into 54 6 times.. Same thing with phone numbers, addresses.. Finding one that works 'evenly' is fun, especially for phone numbers or other long strings of digits.

Also similar things with tiles, like on sidewalks or wherever, see if something can 'zig zag regularly' while only hitting a certain color, or a fun one is to imagine something 'bouncing' along tiles until it repeats, I imagine one tile to be 'active' and it moves at a 45 degree angle (like the bishop in chess) and when it hits an edge it reflects how you'd expect.. at some point it repeats.. sometimes the cycle is short, sometimes it's long.

Also, watching the water drip down while in the shower.. some of the droplets combine, and stream down for a ways, then suddenly they just stop, or essentially disappear. Some don't move for a long time. I sometimes enjoy trying to follow a particular 'glob' of water as it flies out of the shower head.. it's mostly possible.

Really I don't think my mind 'can' be idle, I always have to be thinking of something, even if it's something I've thought of countless times before. Sometimes this is annoying but if I just 'let myself go' it doesn't actually matter. The thing is, this sort of activity, while fun, doesn't actually make me any money, and I have this thing about not 'wasting time' so I typically only do these things when I'm waiting for a bus, showering, although yeah, sometimes I do just drift away.. but it is fun, that's not a waste :) And it just sort of 'happens'

I get the impression that the number of people who do this sort of thing are in the vast, vast, vast minority. What the 'average' person does with all their 'idle thinking time' will forever be a mystery to me. I fear that they don't think about anything at all.. but I don't fear it too much, or else I'd sink into their void :) But perhaps I am entirely wrong and everyone does the same sort of stuff. I've never seen any evidence of this, though.

But yeah, it is fun, isn't it?



swbluto
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17 Oct 2011, 10:46 pm

I do although it's unknown whether or not I'm aspie. Earlier today, I was on the bus and I was imagining having a ball that would trace the edges of the driveways and sidewalks of the houses the bus was passing by and the goal was to trace the edges quickly enough so that it didn't "get left behind". Also, later, I imagined 3 blades that would cut the grass of various yards I passed by and the blades were of the necessary size to get the job done in one pass.

I sometimes wonder if these are just insane thoughts or something because, honestly, it seems like it'd be pretty boring to a "sane person". Regardless, I do them anyways to occupy the mind and to pass the time.



mglosenger
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17 Oct 2011, 10:48 pm

But if that stuff is boring/insane, then what do exciting/sane people think about?



swbluto
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17 Oct 2011, 10:50 pm

Ganondox wrote:
Also, back in my first elementary school the tiles were colored and arranged in patterns, and I imagined stuff like red was lave, purple was instant death goo, green was points, blue was water, ect. So does anyone do anything similar?


Hmmm, you seem like you'd enjoy reading Ender's game. Or, at least, you have an imagination that's similar to the author's imagination.



MrXxx
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17 Oct 2011, 10:52 pm

mglosenger wrote:
But if that stuff is boring/insane, then what do exciting/sane people think about?


That's easy!






SEX!


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swbluto
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17 Oct 2011, 10:53 pm

mglosenger wrote:
But if that stuff is boring/insane, then what do exciting/sane people think about?


Stuff that MATTERS.

Like... is that guy ever going to text me back?



Last edited by swbluto on 17 Oct 2011, 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mglosenger
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17 Oct 2011, 10:53 pm

MrXxx wrote:
mglosenger wrote:
But if that stuff is boring/insane, then what do exciting/sane people think about?


That's easy!

SEX!


I can understand how people would find sex exciting, but is there really much to think about? It's one of the most basic functions anything ever does.

Maybe how to get more sex? Oof. I've never been interested in 'reproducing' as people call it, so maybe that does explain it.



mglosenger
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17 Oct 2011, 10:55 pm

swbluto wrote:
mglosenger wrote:
But if that stuff is boring/insane, then what do exciting/sane people think about?


Stuff that MATTERS.

Like... is that guy ever going to text me back?


Oh. Maybe if I spent more time texting people I would feel compelled to occupy myself with that :)



swbluto
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17 Oct 2011, 11:00 pm

mglosenger wrote:
swbluto wrote:
mglosenger wrote:
But if that stuff is boring/insane, then what do exciting/sane people think about?


Stuff that MATTERS.

Like... is that guy ever going to text me back?


Oh. Maybe if I spent more time texting people I would feel compelled to occupy myself with that :)


Yep, probably. In my case, I don't think I'm capable of enjoying texting/messaging for some reason, so that's not something that matters to me.



Ganondox
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17 Oct 2011, 11:00 pm

mglosenger wrote:
Yes. If I see words, on signs or wherever, I will sometimes mix the letters around to see what other words/interesting-seeming things they make. When I see license plates I'll see if the numbers 'go into' themselves evenly, for instance 954 would because 9 goes into 54 6 times.. Same thing with phone numbers, addresses.. Finding one that works 'evenly' is fun, especially for phone numbers or other long strings of digits.

Also similar things with tiles, like on sidewalks or wherever, see if something can 'zig zag regularly' while only hitting a certain color, or a fun one is to imagine something 'bouncing' along tiles until it repeats, I imagine one tile to be 'active' and it moves at a 45 degree angle (like the bishop in chess) and when it hits an edge it reflects how you'd expect.. at some point it repeats.. sometimes the cycle is short, sometimes it's long.

Also, watching the water drip down while in the shower.. some of the droplets combine, and stream down for a ways, then suddenly they just stop, or essentially disappear. Some don't move for a long time. I sometimes enjoy trying to follow a particular 'glob' of water as it flies out of the shower head.. it's mostly possible.

Really I don't think my mind 'can' be idle, I always have to be thinking of something, even if it's something I've thought of countless times before. Sometimes this is annoying but if I just 'let myself go' it doesn't actually matter. The thing is, this sort of activity, while fun, doesn't actually make me any money, and I have this thing about not 'wasting time' so I typically only do these things when I'm waiting for a bus, showering, although yeah, sometimes I do just drift away.. but it is fun, that's not a waste :) And it just sort of 'happens'

I get the impression that the number of people who do this sort of thing are in the vast, vast, vast minority. What the 'average' person does with all their 'idle thinking time' will forever be a mystery to me. I fear that they don't think about anything at all.. but I don't fear it too much, or else I'd sink into their void :) But perhaps I am entirely wrong and everyone does the same sort of stuff. I've never seen any evidence of this, though.

But yeah, it is fun, isn't it?


Its funner than doing nothing, however you do that.

I never stop thinking unless I'm in deep sleep, I'm not sure if this is an aspie trait or not. When I'm idle and not doing some pointless mind game, which is the majority of the time I'm idle I'm probably thinking about a special interest or something that for whatever reason is on my mind, or mentally creating/planning something, and sometimes I just get lost in a random imagining. I guess I often think the same stuff quite a bit, but I probably think of at least somewhat more original stuff quite a bit too.

I do the thing with the shower drops, only with rain instead. I don't really think I do what you described with words and numbers a lot, but I believe I do it sometimes.



Ganondox
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17 Oct 2011, 11:03 pm

swbluto wrote:
Ganondox wrote:
Also, back in my first elementary school the tiles were colored and arranged in patterns, and I imagined stuff like red was lave, purple was instant death goo, green was points, blue was water, ect. So does anyone do anything similar?


Hmmm, you seem like you'd enjoy reading Ender's game. Or, at least, you have an imagination that's similar to the author's imagination.


I listened to it on tape a long time ago, and while I was in middle school I read the Speaker sequel series. I've also read another one of his books, Seventh Son.



Mdyar
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17 Oct 2011, 11:07 pm

I do it.

I can't be specific but the mind wanders and will conjure psychedelic happenings in certain environments-- the imagination runs wild.

Probably not a normal thing to do, judging /assuming by typical behavior.

I wonder if any that have this in this thread have co-morbid ADHD?