"Special Interests?"

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-What kinds of things are you interested in?

Current: Music, Sound, Keyboards, Synthesizers, History, Cartoons, Gas Masks, Science, Outer Space.
Past: Tents, Insects, Dinosaurs, Chemistry, How Things Worked, Plants, Magic, Glasses.

-Do you choose the things that you're interested in or is it more of an automatic attraction?

90% of the time, automatic.

-How long do the interests last? A few hours? A week? Years?

Years usually. Often my interests die down, then start up again

-How much time do you devote to your interests?

Usually 3 to 12 hours a day, every day of the week.

-Has anyone ever had something (like a specific necklace, a rock, or a stuffed animal) that was a "special interest" rather than a topic or subject?

I had a blanket when I was younger that I was really attached to.

Do the people around you ever say "omg thats the only thing you EVER talk about!" ?
Do you have any specific interests or pursuits that you default to in order to prevent boredom ?
When stressed, is there a specific object or pursuit or research that comforts you ?

My research pursuits tend to be self chosen - based on events or data I encounter in my life.
My elephant figurine collection was initiated by a birthday gift, but I grew into it, and went wild.
My beast wars toys collection: initiated by someone else's purchase, but I got addicted to them and overdid it, buying every one that came out.
My board game design interest is of my own choosing, and they are my own unique ideas, though the inspiration to design games was initiated thru exposure to odd and unique games thanks to another person.
My book selections are mine own, and I've always been a good reader; yet I never pursued reading as much as I did after having another person's "library" of fiction opened to me.
My music selections are individual, but the first time I ever really "cared" about music was when I was in grade 10 and realized music was collectable. And then I branched off.
My chinchillas... Well same story: There was a girl, who wanted a pet, & they sounded like a great pet...

Wow. I never realized it before. I've had original thoughts, and my own pursuits, and I've gone my own direction.. But every one of my interests has been "started", "sparked' or "provided" by an outside force or influence... That's kinda... scary?

Gardening! That's all mine! Maybe... Gramma and Grandpa were always big gardeners...

As for duration.. I don't think I've ever lost any love for any of my interests, thoguh some are carefully packed away at the moment (only about 20 of my elephants and 5 of my beast wars toys are out and about. I cycle them every so often) since the chinchillas are alot of my time and space at the moment (and have been for over a decade).

As for a special item interest I'm sure it can happen.
The questions are the same as above: Is it somethign you talk about to the point where people say or indicate "enough already"? If you aren't sure, ask them You're looking for the truth right?

Computers, Computer Games - used to be just computer games - i used to stay up all night several nights a week just playing them constantly - when i went to collage i started using computers (Personal Computers/PCs) alot more and for some reason that seemed to have become something that i am very interested in along with PC games as well

The thing that i found strange is i am just as interested in how they work and how to fix them as i am in using them both for general use (watching movies, music, websites) as i am for playing games on them - something that didnt happen with computer games as it was just the sole playing them that interested me

With my PC, i built it myself, something which i had ALOT of fun doing and even when it didnt work when i first switched it on i enjoyed figuring out what was wrong and fixing it as well



Mine was Automatic, for both the Computer games when i was younger (PS1, PS2 and such) and again automatic for Personal computers



Hasnt ended yet, Computer games i cant even remember a time when i didnt love playing them constantly - i guess it was part of that being in another world an ignoring my world that i just loved about it (Final Fantasy game series was the one that started it all)

As for Personal computers, started when i was in collage so about 8 - 9 years ago and still going strong, will i eventually get bored of it and fixate on something else? i have no idea, but seeing as i am just as obsessed with computer games i dont think that will happen any time soon



As much time as i can, i have even gone 12+ hours without food before and quite frequent because i dont want to stop using my computer, same thing happened when i was younger with computer games. i have gone over 36hours straight using computers for the simple fact that i could and i wanted too

I have to sometimes force myself to get off the computer to go food shopping as i sometimes stay on the computer for so long that i just have no food - even now i have like 4 slices of bread and some butter and maybe a cholocate bar or 2 - i KNOW i need to go shopping tomorrow - will i have be able to force myself off the computer to do it? i have no idea

Heeeheee... I lived on peanut butter, 1 bagel, 3 eggs and 2 cans of mandarin slices today.
I need to do groceries too. But I did catch up on the whole warehouse-13 television series over the last 3 days.... (yesterday I had three meals of kraft dinner! woot!) so life is good

(even if the series has some really lame bits)

Present: Medical and neurological things (my special interest turned career), languages (currently Romanian), photography, meteorology
Past: cats (though that one is still present), specific musical artists/groups, languages (in high school I was absolutely obsessed with perfecting my ability in Spanish), medicine, specific authors (I own every book certain writers have written, etc)



Definitely automatic.



Years.



As much as I can...one of my special interests is my career now, so I devote a lot of time to that. When I'm not working I spend a lot of time on my other interests.



My porcelain doll collection and my weather station (though that fits into my interest in meteorology).

~Kate

in the last 2 days i have had a Bowl of cereal....
But you cant go wrong with Warehouse 13

First of all, good luck in figuring out your AS diagnosis!

Anyway...

-What kinds of things are you interested in?
Domesticated animals (especially rats!! !), making music/practising instruments.

-Do you choose the things that you're interested in or is it more of an automatic attraction?
Definitely automatic attraction. If I could choose my special interest, I'd definitely make it schoolwork or the like, I never manage to get it done...

-How long do the interests last? A few hours? A week? Years?
For me, they tend to run their course after 3-4 years or so.

-How much time do you devote to your interests?
Depends what you mean - doing or thinking and planning? Thinking and planning, literally all the time (but it's not bad or intrusive, it makes me SO happy!). But doing, I can't judge, because I have other stuff to do, like jogging, making plans, school etc, but definitely when I get a spare moment I'm researching them.

-Has anyone ever had something (like a specific necklace, a rock, or a stuffed animal) that was a "special interest" rather than a topic or subject?
I once had a special interest that involved collecting Bioshock-related items, but it wasn't *one* item, it was a collection.