Awareness of aspie behaviours

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My wallet is big It has lots of pockets. I like pockets.
The messenger bag I carry around has among other things a selection of USB flash drives, an external hard drive (a small one), 2 sketch pads, a full set of highlighter pens and a selection of other pens, plus the usual stuff you'd expect a woman's bag to have, except the only make-up in there is some mascara. It has too much paperwork in it at the moment so I need to clear that out.

MicFranklin and ImAnAspie are you "out" at work? Some of the people I work with know, including my boss, so I have the freedom to tell them when I'm having a quiet day or a generally bad day if I need to. In my job as a senior programmer I obviously can't generally be mute at work, not all day anyway, but I can just get my head down and stay out of conversations.

Maybe people sense something's wrong? If people knew the truth, maybe they would be able to give you space when you need it, because they'd know it wasn't anything to worry about?

I'm at home now. I work for a Federal Government Department - Very EEO - friendly to all walks of life. Having said that, I haven't disclosed the fact that I'm an Aspie nor do I need to. I do suspect however, if anyone was familiar with Asperger's, between my quiet days, long periods of silently sitting for hours concentrating, my lack of eye contact, my 'Active but Odd' behaviour and the occasional stim, I think they might have guessed. Oh well. I'm comfortable with who I am and I'm in a good place. Very laid back.

Besides, many years ago, they found out I was good at programming and decided to let me write programs for them. Between knowing how to program, being able to see solutions where neurotypicals can't and my ability to hyperfocus, I've done some AMAZING stuff for them. One program I wrote helped increase productivity over 200%. I've even won several MAD awards (Make A Difference) for my work.

My mind is like a light switch. It's either "Totally Uninterested" or "Completely Obsessed" and if it's totally uninterested, there's not much I can do to make it interested BUT... if it's Completely Obsessed as it has been for some work projects, I find myself programming 8 hours a day at work non-stop and then I'll take it home and continue to work on it until I surface which is usually around 2 or 3 in the morning. I've had weekends at home where I've become so engrossed in programming through the day that suddenly, I'll snap out of hyperfocus and it'll be night time and I'm sitting in darkness. I don't even stop to go to the bathroom, eat or drink (not specifically in that order )

Sorry! I got carried away (oopsies)

I've mainly disclosed I'm an aspie because I can have a tendency to have aspie meltdowns if I don't understand stuff at work - e.g an incomplete requirements document; or sometimes I can be a bit random and even rude in what I say. It's got me into trouble before so it's good to know my backside is covered, so to speak.

I'm with you on the other stuff - have been known to get to the end of the day and realise I haven't eaten or even had a toilet break! Programming can be really immersive - I find days like that quite therapeutic.

Me too. That's my form of relaxation.

The reason I felt "out" at work yesterday was because I had a really bizarre, clumsy and just plain bad phone conversation the night before, to the point where I felt incredibly bad about it, and then it was on my mind the next morning. So yesterday I barely spoke, sat at my desk and did my job without much interaction because I just wasn't in a good spot emotionally. My coworkers don't really talk a lot to me since we all work in a doctor's office and they're busy dealing with patients.

It wore off by the time I got home, though so I mellowed out and feel better now.

I meant "out" as in out of the closet.

I know what you mean though, sometimes even a particularly intense dream can leave me a bit withdrawn and zoned out the following day, and although I'm OK doing the programming side of my job I find interacting with people even harder than usual.

GLad you feel better now

I'm not really "out". My immediate family know I've been diagnosed although they always knew I was different. My sister thinks I was dropped off on Earth by aliens. I think she's right.

My ex-partner and daughter have known it for a long time.

The people at work may suspect it (and probably do) but I haven't told anyone. If they were to ask me, I'd consider who's asking and decide whether I want to tell them or not but the way I see it, it's none of their business and I'm not obligated to tell them - but on the other hand, I'm not ashamed of it. Quite the contrary, if you read through my past posts, you'll see it's something I'm quite proud of. I've certainly got a heap of fantastic abilities because of it AND I enjoy being different - dare I say, better? in some ways. I wouldn't be NT if you paid me

Oh, that "out." No only a handful of people there actually know I'm an Aspie.

Out of the aspie closet not the gay one, sorry if I'm not clear. My brain seems to have gone on holiday today so I@m having trouble stringing sentences together.

I'm useless at remembering who knows what so I just don't keep big stuff secret any more, especially now I have protection from discrimination. So pretty much everyone knows I'm gay, because it saves me using gender neutral pronouns etc. And the people who need to know, know about the aspie thing. My mum doesn't, because she's 78 and has other stuff to worry about!

LOL - I get 10 Aspie points because I knew what you meant. Actually I wasn't sure. That's why I mentioned having an ex-partner and a daughter.

Haha, wow yep if you managed to grasp the actual meaning of what I was saying, that's quite impressive!

I seem to be cursed with the double edged sword of not only finding it hard to understand subtext and inferences, but also with difficulty in being clear myself, which means I get misinterpreted then get frustrated and flustered! *headdesk*

Don't worry. I only open my mouth to change feet

-dead-

Just another day in the life of an aspie, eh?

you took pictures of your walls?