How do you deal with your special interest?

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I'm making a career out of my special interest.

I'm lucky though. Since my interest is psychology, most of the time I can engage the other person by surreptitiously psychoanalysing them.

A lot of NTs are into two of my obsessions, gardening and cooking, so I don't get too much negative feedback from going on and on about these subjects. However, most people who know me know to stay clear of the subject of Colonial North American History.

When it comes to special interests, I either keep it very minimal or not talk about it at all. When it comes to things like antiques, it's minimal. Movies and TV shows from the past are minimal, especially when my discussions talk about VHS tapes...
At school lunch, I'll usually talk about school, sports, weekends, weather, etc etc. just to keep the NTs happy. Most will find me weird if I mention about my large VHS collection of retail + home-recorded tapes full of 1980s nostalgia...
I also don't usually talk about geography. I am a master at geography. I know about every town in WA, and where it's located; as well as many cities and towns throughout the country. I'm sure I'm the only one at my school who knows where Wolf Point, MT is - highway 2 near the North Dakota border, in the middle of farm country/nowhere. But I do NOT mention it, unless an NT needs information about where a city is located.

i am very obsessive over cartoons, their voice actors and harry potter. its not considered "normal" for a 30 year old to constantly talk about such things all the time so ive learned to just keep it to myself. theres only one person i info dump on and thats my boyfriend. hes the only person in the world i can truely be myself with and he is also interested in some cartoons (the more "adult" cartoons that i like, not so much the nickelodeon/cartoon network ones..) so i feel i can talk to him about them but then there comes a point in my rambling where he has to tell me enough is enough. i just keep quiet around anyone else.

I don't really talk about my special interests, but then I really don't talk much at all to anyone, about anything. I prefer my own company. I simply surf the net for information and search eBay etc. in order to buy items connected with my interests.

I think like everyone else here has already mentioned; I simply do not speak of my interests. I really get into trouble with geology. Rocks and minerals are quite literally EVERYWHERE and it becomes quite awkward once you begin to seemingly randomly examine walls and floor tiles, stairs, to see what geologic features they have and trying to discern their mineralogical content. It's very embarrassing to be sidetracked by floor tiles or tables or slabs of marble or.... whatever else happens to be lying around. So, I try to stick to science museums and when outside don't look anywhere just at my phone or a book or space-out.