What do you obsess about?

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My current leading obsession (for the past 4 years or so) is Sonic the Hedgehog. I've also obsessed forever about WWII biplanes and aviation in general. I collect bottle caps pretty obsessively, and I'm also very into Batman at the moment.

I get really drawn into characters. I love to think about them and write about them and draw them. I pretty much live in a fantasy world!

I'm currently obsessed with ham radio. I've been licensed for 20 years this month, and my interest in it has been hot and cold over the years. I've been really into it, then I get away from it for a little while, then I get back into it again. I think what has sparked my current obsession with it is I started working with digital ham radio, i.e. connecting a computer to the radio to communicate. It's really cool to me to do that. I guess since computers have also been an obsession of mine, the two combined with each other.

I have certain obsessions that stay with me most of the time. They are:

Roller Coasters---Amusement Parks
Music---dulcimers, keyboards, etc.
Writing---currently obsessing about the plot and characters in it---sci-fi/horror blend
House Plans
Model Trains---currently working on a huge layout including amusement park with model coaster
Autism---for reasons I think we all know

I have some obsessions that are more cyclic. They tend to run in one month intervals. I may go a year before coming back to them. They are:

Caves
Magic---magic tricks and illusions
Astronomy---particularly comets---and I love telescopes
Camping---I love tents and Airstream Trailers (I have a 1961 Airstream Overlander)

Other obsessions may be one that I will hang on to for a little while, let it go, and maybe never obsess over it again. Right now, I have been somewhat interested in the historical hotels of America.

These aren't my only interests/obsessions, but it gives you somewhat of an idea about mine.

I obsess over the show "SpongeBob SquarePants", it's just different to the other TV shows.
I also obsess over the internet, but that's linked to my SpongeBob obsession.

-Computers
-Telecommunications
-Vintage Apple Computer products
-The Weather Channel (primarily their music and computer systems)
-Networking
-Music

That's about it, I think.

-Technology (computers, gadgets, phones, mostly Apple stuff)
-Cars (mostly DeLoreans)
-Asperger's Syndrome (yep, I'm obsessed with the thing that causes the obsessions!! !)

My son and anything related to him and his happiness and health and well being.

Currently, my main obsession is dystopias and totalitarian governments.

My numero uno obsession since about age 10 has been computers and more specifically, computer games.

I have problems with my memory so I don't tend to hoard information on one topic like most aspies. Most of the time I jump from one obsession to the next.

Some other obsessions that I have flirted with over the last decade:
guitar (I played for about 10 years then grew bored)
certain bands (when I get a new album that I really like I'll listen to it for a few months, completely excluding all other music)
chess (started playing about four years ago, still play today, online, but not with as much enthusiasm as when I started)
Liverpool Football Club (I'm a born and bred Red and my interest in football rose from the dead last year when I started playing Fifa08 on the pc. Nowadays I never miss a game)
Yoga
Ancient Rome
Movies
Television show Lost
Buddhism
Photography
Rats
Things I can't remember


I find that the moment one obsession begins to slightly bore me I start feeling depressed almost immediately.

I obsess about anthropomorphics and whether or not I'll ever find a mate.

Lots of things, right now including writing, cognitive function and cuisines

-Insects
-Spiders
-History Europe and America after 1450
-Conspiracy theories (some of them are ridiculous and really laughable, some may have a point)
-Philosophy
-Dictators
-How to become one (just for fun-don't get me wrong )
-History of art
-All religions (I sometimes get really obsessed by reasonable metaphysics)
-Greek and Viking mythology
-Lower forms of life, like spunges and stygobionts (very simple forms of life living in ground water streams)

Do you know Grzimek? I've read the Grzimek on insekts and lower forms of life, and environment.

I have a lot, so I sometimes get really annoyed when I don't know what to do now!

I forgot these ones:

-Old Soviet Union
-Stalin
-Cold War

Interests in the past have included:

-Buffy the vampire slayer (and quickly went on to anything Whedon related, still mourning the loss of Firefly and the Wonderwoman movie)
-Friends
-mythology.
-Arthur Evans and the Blue lady
-Fringe Science
-Lost
-paranormal

I'd like to hear your opinions on what characterizes an "obsession", in contrast with simple "interests". I feel like some of the responses here have been lists of interests, versus an overwhelming obsession, which is what this thread is supposed to be about.

I'm certainly not judging anyone here. I have interests too. Heck, I like ancient Greece, cooking, volleyball, cats, Ireland, swimming, and Rage Against the Machine. Those are interests. I'm not obsessed about them.

As I mentioned previously, plants are my obsession, with music occupying a secondary focus. I think about plants all the time. These thoughts intrude on ordinary working consciousness on a regular basis. I ignore other responsibilities and then spend time in the garden or go to a nature preserve, so I can be around plants. When I'm immersed in the obsession, I feel vibrantly alive, happy, and energetic. When I'm not, I always feel "off" in varying degrees.

I think that is the heart of the discussion here. The characteristic of Asperger's which involves a heavily-focused obsession to the exclusion of most other things.

What do you think?