Awareness of aspie behaviours

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Does anyone else ever find themselves doing something and thinking "this is a really aspie thing to do"?

Like... sorting through the cutlery drawer at work to find the "right" teaspoon or fork.

Getting cranky when someone at work uses your mug (like, literally, I have two of my own mugs at work).

I have moments when I realize how ADHD I'm being... Like when I miss the directions for homework because I spaced out. (Usually I recover with a humorous "wait, what?")

I do that with the silverware. But yes, I have moments like that periodically.

I get that way sometimes

My mug!

Yes, all the time. I just wasn't cognizant of why. Growing up, my uncles were "set in their ways." (That's how it used to be described.)

I still don't know the fundamental cause, just the manifestation: I, too, am set in my ways.

I think I would call this routine based for sure. Some may call it OCD.

Ha!

I have my mugS at home. My wife and kids know which ones are mine. One is the perfect size for my moka coffee pot. There's also my Big Bang Theory mug, and my Batman mug. I've learnt to be able to throw away mugs when they get chipped or cracked, otherwise we'd have no room in the cupboard for the massive collection of mugs I used to have.

I also have my plate, my long teaspoon and I managed to find a set of IKEA forks that matched the ones we have at work, so now I don't have to search for the right fork ^_^

I bought two identical copies of the same mug, kept one at home and carried the other back and forth to work in my bag, so nobody else could use it.

But I also carried toothpaste, a toothbrush, mouthwash, a can of Lysol, a hairbrush, sketch books, a full set of colored pencils, drafting pens and design markers, a wooden ruler and a compass, books of crossword puzzles, a small sewing kit, a wooden yoyo, a utility knife, an address book, a calculator, a pistol, a large deck of tarot cards and a standard playing deck, a set of studio headphones, a cell phone, my lunch and whatever books I happened to be reading at the time.

It was a big bag.

Is it unusual to want to find the right fork/spoon/etc? We have parts of 2-3 sets of silverware at home, and I always want to use the thinner spoons for stirring my husband's coffee, and the thicker ones for eating with. And I recently discovered that I am the only one who HATES eating with the 2-3 forks that have the middle two tines raised above the others. My Asperger son is the only other person in the house that even noticed that those forks were different from the rest.

There are a lot of things I have always done that I am discovering are rather autistic of me, though I always thought everyone did that.

Apparently not everyone feels the need to carry multiple pens, pencils, and notepads, as well as at least one book and/or Kindle (and my i-Bible, too, when possible) everywhere they go. (I even try to have a pen and a book for bathroom trips.) I don't necessarily use the pens and paper, nor even always the book, but I have to have them with me. I never really thought about why, except that I might want to write or read something.

This was me whenever I travelled anywhere. "BUT I MIGHT NEED IT". I used to work on the tech team at a music festival and part of the reason I'm convinced they had me on team was because if they needed it, I had it.

Over the years, I've learnt to winnow down what I feel like I need to take when we travel now. Having a family of six, and limited vehicular space will do that. I still tend that way.

The other thing that helped me change that habit was Apple. Suddenly my phone replaced so much of what I used to carry around that I was able to look like I'd made massive strides in letting go.

Now it's all cluttering up my phone instead of a bag

See! This is the perfect set of examples! It's not irrational; there are perfectly valid reasons. Yet nobody wants to hear our reasons, let alone respect our wishes or honor our... well, let's be honest, our idiosyncrasies.

My mug was given to me by a long-time client. I left my mug there. If I wasn't there I didn't care who used it, but when I went in if it wasn't available I'd immediately go into a "bad mood."

Knowing what I do about my Autism, I know this wasn't simply a bad mood, but rather an... "overload" of some type, the mechanism for which I would love to understand. I wish I wasn't so "set in my ways." I suspect I'd be easier to live with.

You mean like having to vocally point out everything I see that's purple? Or the day I got excited about something and flapped my hands, and then had it pointed out that I do that all the time? Or maybe when I had three people in one week comment how I walk on my toes? Or possibly all the times I've pointed out oddball facts about a subject to people who couldn't give a rat's rear about them? Or how I'm constantly repeating phrases in my head after I've said them? Or how much it bothers me when company in our home sits in my recliner or uses my purple plate instead of the dozen or so other colors they could choose?

When I discovered Asperger's, I read everything I could find on it (special interest, anyone?). After I had familiarized myself with the traits, I started noticing how many of them I was doing. I seriously thought that I was "putting it on"...trying to be as Aspie as possible to convince myself that I was on the spectrum. But when I asked my mother if she had seen any difference in my behavior since I learned about ASD, she said "No, not at all. You've always been weird." I think it's just we're made aware of it moreso than faking it.

Oh, and I have my own special forks and spoons here at the house, too.

I've often caught myself acting particularly autistic at various times.
I try not to let it bother me too much, and simply mentally acknowledge that I'm acting or thinking in some abnormal, idiosyncratic fashion because I'm autistic.
Trying to control that kind of thing seems to me to be, for the most part, pure folly.

In terms of things like using my own stuff, and not liking others using it, generally speaking I handle this by simply putting away stuff I don't want others getting their grubby little paws on in a location clearly designated as mine.

I've gotten a little better at sharing as I've gotten older, but I still don't like people sitting in my spot.

That reminds me, I need a new spot.
This chair & pillow combo just aren't cutting it.
I want a couch with a table in front of it for my 'puter again, with the tv off to one side.
*sigh*

I'm just rambling now, aren't I?

I can get fussy about finding just the right piece of hardware if I know I have it somewhere, even if a substitute would seem fine otherwise.

I heard about a teen who broke the strap on her sandal. Her grandfather quickly produced a leather thong to fix it with. He had been carrying it around for over fifty years.

Aspie-ish behaviors:
When really stressed out (the train is late and I have an appointment or so), I catch myself pacing in cirkles, talking to myself.
I usually talk to myself a lot, discussing, practising conversations or just voicing my thoughts. I try to control it in public spaces.
Repeating myself, has been one of my "sins" and I often repeat part of a word or a sentence to myself, - not in public.
I have worn a black t-shirt under a beige Fjällräven shirt every day for years, - even at parties, but I try different colors now.
A wrong color can feel like the wrong skin.
I carefully arrange icons in certain patterns on my pc, - and I miss the little colored squares from windows ´98
Like Webalina, I thought, that I was "trying it on", but I allways did these things, - since my teens.

One thing, that really bugs me: When I have to explain, I take it from "Adam and Eve" in detail, before I arrive to the conclusion, that could usually be contained in a few words, - if those words in themselves didn´t present so many interpretative possibilities, and ---ARGH!.

I feel like my OCD and stimming (I am not diagnosed, so I don't know if I have the right to call it such) go into overdrive whenever I'm at work. Being that I'm a server, I'm almost always doing something and I just happened to notice that I snap in some random fashion whenever I walk around the restaurant. I pace the restaurant day in and day out It's to the point that I pretty much walk circles around the dining room, snapping rapidly or making a tune.

I have 1 spot that I keep my receipts and cash and I will go through great lengths to make sure that no one else has the ability to take it. I typically place the receipt tray next to the computer and I keep a piece of paper in the tray that says "Placeholder". Every other location is either inconvenient or above the ice bin that I fight tooth and nail to keep free of debris. I have and do on several occasions, move other trays away from mine or out of my spot.

I'm also starting to notice that I involuntarily bounce on my toes if I'm standing up for too long or I'm too cold. I've yet to pinpoint the exact reason, but it only happens for those two instances. I don't remember doing this as a kid, then again, I wasn't cognizant of the things I did when I was younger.