OLD FOLKS and brain farts

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just out of curiosity, how many "seniors/babyboomers" hanging around here? I know there are a few out there. Hi Joe.
Growing up 50 years ago in the 1950's was a time when people who were "different" were either institutionalized or kept in "back rooms". You were expected to do exactly what you were told, and there really wasn't a whole lot of trouble to get into in a rural community of 5000. (town is still same size lol). I guess I could have accomplished greater things in life, knowing what i know now. I guess my decades long fascination with alcohol was a big factor too, but I can't go back. I have a lot of experience and education (as well as my own "disability"), so I DO understand most of the angst that is expressed here.
I think this is a great place for exchanges of ideas, genuine support, and helpful suggestions. Kudos to the founder. zig

Hi, I am an over the hill Aspie! Welcome to WP!

I remember in school when the extra curricular things that interested me were - sound club, science club, Russian club and chess club.

Haven't changed that much, except instead of looking forward to a career in science I can reminisce about a career in science.

I've done everything on my 'bucket list' (it must have been a small bucket) so anything else is an unexpected adventure.

The best thing I have ever been involved in is my three years as a hospice volunteer.

I highly recommend it to those with the time, compassion, and will to do it. Dying is the last thing any of us ever do in our lifetime, and being able to share out of compassion for another person is a true benefit for us all.

I did some work with people living with AIDS in the mid 1980s and feel much the same way about it as you describe feeling about your hospice work, rchamberlin. At the time, AIDS *was* a quick death sentence (nowadays, people live with AIDS for decades) and volunteers were sorely needed because the stigma of AIDS was so huge that many people would have died alone were it not for volunteers willing to sit with them. I, personally, don't mind the thought of dying alone but it was a huge burden for the people I sat with.

By birth year I am early boomer, by disposition I am pre-boomer - never did get those people.

Whether you identify or not, you are still "one of us", whatever that is. I'm still grateful for the '60's when "non-conformity" was avant guard. It allowed my "freak flag to fly free" for the first time, and people didn't mind if I was a little "crazy". Now I'm old and retired and really don't give a s**t (am i allowed to say that here ?) life does get a lot easier. My church had a program on living with AS after the service and I met some really cool people who are advocates for hooking people up with services. Unfortunately in MY wonderful state of the union Autism is one of the things to get cut out of the DES/DDD budget. This lady advocates for a local "special needs" high school with transition programs from school to living independently as adults. i think I just may have found one of my next projects.

Born in 58.

Public schools did not recognize HFA at the time so I floated around, getting a mix of grades from A to F, NEVER socializing and pretty much falling between the cracks.

In retrospect, that may have been better than a misdiagnosis and a life time of anti-psychotics.

Born in '56. Always felt like I was on the outside looking in. Still do, but at long last I've found a job in which I'm accepted. In fact, being a little bit "crazy" is an asset! (I'm a diesel desk cashier at a truck stop; unlike other jobs which have lasted anywhere from 2 days-3 yrs, I've been in this one for 10 years!)

I'll be 62 this month, but only found out about AS 5 years ago. Now my life starts to make sense, but my options are mostly gone. At the point where I expected my career to take off, I only got sidetracked into trying to understand people. I recently concluded that I had been expecting about an order of magnitude more logic than is actually present in human affairs.

1962.

BTW:

old in years on paper in my case. i will probably never become mentally older then 25 or so i guess. that's at least the appr. age where i got stuck for many years now... getting ever more alienated from this world i am supposed to live in and be a part of.

Yep, it does. I was born in '49, and in most ways, I consider my life to be much better now than in my 20's and 30's. I wish I still had the physical abilities I had then, but oh well ...

Nowadays I do pretty much whatever I damn well feel like. Home is where I park it, as the saying goes. At the moment, that's Tucson. I might stay here for the winter, or I might not. I have people I call "friend" in RV parks scattered around the Western states, plus folks I've met online, and that suits me just fine.

Of course, doing "whatever you feel like" doesn't mean you have to be an irresponsible, anti-social whacko. I think that's one thing that younger people don't quite get about a lifestyle like mine. One still needs to have a social conscience. You need to give back to your world, in whatever way you can.

Anyway, nice to see you all here

Uh ... do I know you?!

Last night I overheard someone on the TV say we boomers now constitute the majority of people smoking medicinal pot ...

Is that what causes brain farts?