Conversation issues

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For the last two or so years I have been having some conversation issues. Well, either that or it has come to the forefront since my parents divorced and my mother ran off to Egypt. I went through a period of severe doubt [about whether I really had as - diagnosed by pediatrician in 2000] two years ago. In the end, I had my dad take me in to see a clinical psychologist, who gave me a battery of tests and confirmed my diagnosis. But that is not the point.

I have been having some severe issues with being able to talk to people. I don't know.

It could be a listening problem. I can be standing in front of somebody, looking, or attempting to look, into their eyes, and it seems like I miss 90 percent of the stuff they say. Other times, it seems like I can be sitting reading a book, and I can receive more information from the announcer on the television if I am busy doing something.

Another issue I have is that I never stay on one subject for long. I can be talking about one thing, and some word spoken by someone. For instance, if someone is talking about the weather and the word Idaho comes up. I as about something going on in Idaho. Then my mind associates Idaho with anime conventions (which Montana does not have, but the are part of Idaho to which I am moving has three) and I want to say something about anime conventions. My family went tonight to pick up my sister who came back from Boise, and she mentioned something about a restaurant which she went to in Boise. I immediately start thinking about the anime convention I want to go to down there. Maybe it is jealousy. I don't know.

I have a lot of trouble with the rules regarding conversation. I tend to not enjoy bullshitting around with people too much. I have problems talking to family as well. I tend to isolate myself in my room and read news or articles or jsut be wieird in front of the computer (whatever I just meant there). I am also having problems with constantly being "out of commission" when it comes to my availability for conversations. When my dad is talking to my uncle and wants to give me the phone, I often decline to talk. Or when a certain anime fan in Boise wants to IM me, I don't like to talk for too long, and of often make up excuses on the instant messenger.

I am running out of stuff to say, that is another problem. I worry that I will run out of things to say to people. Maybe I am just trying too hard to be like neurotypicals.

Do you think I am weird?

What are some of your conversational issues?

No, you're not weird. I often can change a conversation after one word reminds me of something completely irrelevant to the conversation. People tell me that I don't properly explain things, which kind of hurts because I like sharing my thoughts.
I don't think it's jealously I just think you want the conversation to keep going and relating to things is the best way to do that. I can't talk about things that I have little to no interest in. I don't even like hearing people talk about uninteresting things.
I hate gossip and sharing my feelings as well. I get very uncomfortable when people try to gossip with me or want me to go into details of why I feel a certain way.

I used to go of on tangents that seemed connected to me, but others don't see the connection. So now I make a point of talking in a way people can follow - when I change subjects I only use obvious connected subjects or something like that. Sometimes you can cover jumping from widely varied topics with jokey phrases, like 'and now for something completely different', or 'just going off on a tangent' or something like that, just to let people know you're conscious you're making a big or unrelated (to them) leap in topics.