Talk about your special interests

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Special interests, or "obsessions" as some might call them, can often be a large part of Asperger's and other autistic disorders.

What I've noticed, at least from my experience, is I can't really get a chance to talk about my special interests without worrying that I'm going to be boring to someone, or to have someone not really listen. So this topic is for people to say what their special interests are, why they like it and talk about whatever they want about said interests

I just had a theory about special interests and why it's so common among autistic peoples. Maybe related stimming behaviour. Autistic peoples process stress differently to others, and maybe special interests are a way of dealing with stress, as said, often stimming is.
I just thought of the possibility as I am currently in a very stressful time in life and my interest in Asian cooking has come back with a vengeance, where it wanes when I'm less stressed. I can literally spend hours searching recipes, writing them, cooking and trying new things out, searching out all the Asian groceries I can for new ingredients or things I've read in recipes, making my own staples from scratch instead of buying them commercially, taking pictures to add to the recipe in my cookbook if it goes well so I'll remember how it looks next time, and inundating my family with cooking for them until they never want to see another rice noodle again, when normally, we only see each other every few weeks. Because being on task intensely with something I enjoy makes me feel better and makes me not focus on how uncomfortable I am. Just an idea.

My special interest is computers and has been for the last 30 years. I love programming particularly. The great thing is that since the age of 35 I have had a job where a work with computers all the time. I'm a sort of combined systems administrator, support technician and lead programmer all rolled into one. I also love maths. At age 30 I decided to get my talents in computing and maths recognised and spent the next 13 years gaining degrees in both subjects from the UK's Open University. (I couldn't face going to a normal university at 18. I now know why, although my diagnosis is in progress.)

I picked up fairly quickly that it was not generally acceptable to discuss computing and maths with people in normal conversations. This probably makes me appear even more weird because I won't make much small talk and won't bore you with my special interest either. Much of the time I don't say much at all. By the time I have sifted through my limited filing cabinet of relevant things to say, I have often missed the point in the conversation where it would have been relevant.

History, prehistory/archaeology, the paranormal and health/the body/diseases/obscure conditions.

Now as far as the paranormal, that's an odd one as I don't know that I technically believe in it. I believe there are things science hasn't explained yet, but certain paranormal stuff is just too over-the-top even for me (Bigfoot is an example...I just...can't, LOL). But all sorts of things that go bump in the night, and particularly "personal accounts" as well as equipment used to try to sniff out spirits and so on, that I can read and read and read about. I don't know how to explain it...it's almost like enjoying a great story over and over. Although researching each intricate detail is included in enjoying that story.

History: I once decided I was interested in learning about the time period in British history when Anglo-Saxons (to use a rough phrase, that's a long story) were becoming much more prominent in Britain, so I sat down at my computer, started Googling and didn't stop for four years. I also visited libraries, obviously. I think I read every even remotely related book at my library. I would stay up until 3AM searching for support on one detail or another, or to rule it out. I kept notes and had probably close to a hundred bookmarks of the more "basic" stuff that I could continue to go back to in order to compare with new information.

Archaeology and pre-history, that's ALWAYS been a love of mine...since I was tiny and tried to imagine what it was like when dinosaurs and humans lived together. Obviously, by the time I was 9 or so, I realized that never actually happened but at that point a fascination with evolution (both human and non-human) took over. I have read and re-read some of my favorite books related to origins and evolution over and over again, particularly the work of the late Leakeys.

I don't know what the deal is with obscure health conditions, but my husband runs away when I watch one of my "My child has a second body growing out of his chest!" or "We couldn't figure out what it was, it started as a headache but suddenly my husband's hand shriveled and turned brown..." shows.