Growing Up With Asperger's/Autism

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I know I've brought up similar topics before, but I have a sincere interest in the lives of other people on the spectrum. I know that everyone is different, and that is a great reson for my curiousity. What is it like for you being a kid on the spectrum? How do you feel about it?

Sometimes I feel like maybe my diagnosis was a mistake, because I know a few other kids on the spectrum and they're all very different from me. Am I just high-functioning, or do I have anything at all? Whatever it is about my person, I feel like I'm torn between two places and have no middle ground - sort of like being tangled up in a game of Twister. Part of me feels so much older than I am, another much far behind. And then there's another part of me that I sometimes wonder if it's in a whole category all its own.
The hardest part of my life is school, and just people in general, really. I feel so left out and even inferior to people significantly younger than me. It's hard watching everyone go by you. The saddest part for me is hearing about my old friends from church, who I was closer to in middle school. How they have their driver's license, are getting jobs, meeting new friends, going to college, and dating. I'll be honest - the driving thing is mostly my own fault, but everything else just brings me down. I feel like a loser. I hate being alone all the time. Right now, I'm trying to be more independent, though. I just applied to a job waitressing and my mother is going to take me driving. It'll help a bit, as far as my feelings of self-worth go. Although my social life is a whole other battle.
I don't have any friends outside of school, and even there, there aren't many. I've had a few friendships in the past, but they usually didn't last all that long or they were just pretty bad friends. I've never had a boyfriend, and while in one sense I'm young (I'm only eighteen) at the same time it kind of sucks being a late bloomer. Everyone else my age seems so worried about losing their virginity and I've never even had my first kiss.
I spend my free time reading, mostly about UFOs and autism or general special needs. I also enjoy writing stories and poetry, The Simpsons, I Love Lucy, and the show My So Called Life. My current special interests I suppose are ufology, special needs... and possibly the Smashing Pumpkins, although I just consider myself a die-hard fan. I play the bass guitar, which I took up mostly for social benefit. It's been worth the purchase because it gets me involved in my music class and also talking to the guy I like.
I'm a vegan. Growing up, I always had a love for animals (especially dogs and snakes.) My religious views have changed. I wasn't raised religiously, yet in my early teens considered myself to be a creationist. Now I am an agnostic, yet without angst towards having faith. It's just not something that I can believe in. Because of this, sometimes I wonder if there's really any point in being a vegan. And that's really all I can think of for now.

I feel fine. My life is very different to others my age, no doubt, but it's not wrong or bad, just different. Maybe even better, since while everyone else was attending stupid social events and drinking alcoholic drinks, I've been learning to program so I can start a business making software. I have confidence that it will make me, at the very least, £1,000 by end of the year.

I see my Asperger's as an asset as opposed to a disability. I'm logical, creative, focused and hugely motivated. I truely believe that in the future I will make tens of millions of pounds as a result of qualites mostly associtated with Asperger's Syndrome.