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Eller
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23 Jun 2009, 3:35 pm

To explain what this is about: my dad is most likely an undiagnosed Aspie (he's on the shallower end of the spectrum and far better at socialising than I am, but still he throws a tantrum if someone gives him the wrong teacup or spoon, so yeah, go figure...)
One day when I was very small dad snatched the star-shaped glow-in-the-dark stickers some well-meaning person (I can't remember who it was, most likely one of my mom's very boring and very interchangeable colleagues I never really noticed as a child) had given me and arranged them in the shape of actual star signs. (He was very obsessive about it, too, and didn't sleep until it was finished.) The one wall of my room is now a very, extremely accurate (meaning: actually usable for scientific purpose) star chart. That glows in the dark. With cheap stickers meant for small children.
While I do realise our apartment has not quite the average interior design (dad also plastered our living-room with photos of fossils, and let's say I'm not the only person here who collects rocks), usually visitors assume it's due to some artistic statement. (Of course, most people don't know what a star chart looks like anyway and just think someone spent a lot of money on weird glow-in-the-dark stickers and randomly pasted them on a wall.)
Only some days ago I had visitors, and one of them has an interest in astronomy. He was like, "wtf, this is accurate?!?!? who would do that sort of thing?", and when I explained my dad made that chart for me, he asked whether dad is autistic or anything. The funny thing is: When I mentioned that we both are on the spectrum (and I'm the more severe case), he didn't believe it at first, because I apparently come across as too normal. Very unusual. Usually it's the other way around and my parents are asked what the heck is wrong with their daughter. :lol:
(But... is this actually so unusual? I'm confused. I thought it was perfectly obvious to arrange star-shaped stickers to star signs. Does this really already count as autistic behavior?)



Prosser
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23 Jun 2009, 3:40 pm

It's not necessarily autistic behaviour. Is kinda strange though.


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MONKEY
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23 Jun 2009, 3:41 pm

LOL that is a funny story. I wish my dad makes stuff like that for me! And to your question, yeah it is quite an aspie-ish thing to do lol, because not many poeple would make a whole star chart like that unless is was for an important project or something.


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Eller
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23 Jun 2009, 3:49 pm

MONKEY wrote:
LOL that is a funny story. I wish my dad makes stuff like that for me! And to your question, yeah it is quite an aspie-ish thing to do lol, because not many poeple would make a whole star chart like that unless is was for an important project or something.


Important project: make little but more than a little weird daughter happy? ;) But I think he had even more fun with the chart than I did. Which is saying a lot. I love the chart. :D
Dad made a lot of similar stuff. We also have a bookshelf that follows the golden section - though no visitor ever noticed THAT one. And he made that one before my birth, so weird little daughter can't be blamed. And our arrangement of furniture... I won't even bother to explain the pattern. But I'm not responsible for it.



outlier
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23 Jun 2009, 4:09 pm

From my interest in astronomy, I know things such as that are considered very unusual and special. Most people who commented on my activities didn't even know what stars really were, for example; they found my interest highly unusual. Arranging the stars into constellations is exactly the sort of thing I'd do.



Ambivalence
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23 Jun 2009, 4:22 pm

With a bunch of fibre optic strands and some LEDs, one could make an accurate representation of all those stars within 20ly radius from here, appropriately coloured and everything, in 3d.
The only tricky bit should be making the fibre optic stay straight, but I guess they could be taped to wire or something and it shouldn't be too intrusive.
Tempted now!


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Eller
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23 Jun 2009, 4:28 pm

Ambivalence wrote:
With a bunch of fibre optic strands and some LEDs, one could make an accurate representation of all those stars within 20ly radius from here, appropriately coloured and everything, in 3d.


Wow, that sounds like a great idea! :D I'm not going to suggest that to my dad, though. He'd actually do it, but I still need to be able to use my room...



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23 Jun 2009, 5:52 pm

Eller wrote:
Wow, that sounds like a great idea! :D I'm not going to suggest that to my dad, though. He'd actually do it, but I still need to be able to use my room...


If you send me $100, I won't suggest it either ;-)


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lelia
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23 Jun 2009, 6:55 pm

:lol:



Eller
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24 Jun 2009, 9:58 am

Blackmail, eh? :lol:



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24 Jun 2009, 5:20 pm

"Or anything" would encompasses every remaining neurotype. So "yes" can be the only answer to such a question, regardless of whether your dad is an autist, aspie or NT.


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Eller
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25 Jun 2009, 4:11 am

Flismflop wrote:
"Or anything" would encompasses every remaining neurotype. So "yes" can be the only answer to such a question, regardless of whether your dad is an autist, aspie or NT.


Logically, yes, but that's most likely not what was meant with the question. After thinking about the question, I understood it as "anything like it", which means "autistic or something very similar", which would probably include AS but exclude many other neurotypes. Not "autistic or NT or maybe a pink elephant", which wouldn't make any sense anyway.



ChatBrat
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25 Jun 2009, 5:00 am

Eller wrote:
(He was very obsessive about it, too, and didn't sleep until it was finished.)


Sounds like manic behavior. Does he have trouble with depression? Has he ever lost sleep for other projects? Maybe he has Bipolar Disorder (aka Manic-Depression)



Eller
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25 Jun 2009, 2:51 pm

ChatBrat wrote:
Sounds like manic behavior. Does he have trouble with depression? Has he ever lost sleep for other projects? Maybe he has Bipolar Disorder (aka Manic-Depression)


No. He's lost sleep over things that really interest him (mainly mathematical stuff), but so have I, and neither of us has ever had any trouble with depression.