Do you come off as normal or wierd depending...

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on the situation? depending how comfortable i am, i can come off as very social and...well, normal upon first meeting.
do you ever get like that? like at school i can be very awkward, but when i visited the states to see some old friends, i was very outspoken and....charismatic.
does this rule out being an aspie? i really dont know if i am or not, just trying to figure out....
so do you ever get like that?

Yes, I can 'surface socialise' in certain circumstances, usually I have to be in the situation through my own choosing (say if it's connected to an interest of mine) and a good idea of what's going to happen. Unfortunately I can't keep the charade up for longer than a few meetings though.

Some people who've known me for months still think I'm normal, so I guess I've done a relatively good job of keeping up the charade.

yeah. . its either people during situations i have no interest in that may see me as odd...or my close friends+ family, whom i am comfortable with.

I find that most people seem to like me well enough until they actually get to know me. I come across as quiet and shy but helpful and fairly nice to most people with limited contact. It's just when we move past that first layer of social contact that I start to come off as odd. This is when most folks just sort of fade out of my life or back off to a safe distance.

I can manage with people I already know but put me in a situation where I expected to mingle with people I don't know like an art opening and I'm paralyzed.

Yes, exactly this.

The shrink I saw for a recent intake appointment called me a "professional" at acting "normal" - so it seems that I can fool some of the people, some of the time. It's taken me 20+ years to perfect a semblance of outward normality; I've had to, in order to find and keep (well, at least for a short time, anyway) gainful employment. It's exhausting.

Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.

Oh, I'd not be able to talk to anyone in a situation like that. After a glass of wine or two, I might be able to manage an unconvincing, brief half-smile and a mouse-like, eyes-cast-down "hello." UGH.

Generally speaking, the people who know me best are the most likely to tell me that I'm strange. (Back in high school, everyone told me, and most of them were nasty about it. People aren't so mean these days.)

Why be normal? Normal is boring.

I'm famously weird, but everyone I know seems to genuinely like me this way. I think the only person who makes me feel awkward about it is ME. But I'm working on that.

Yes, I can come off as normal, but just like a nightmare it's not controllable. I know that within any given short time period there are those who will find me together and those who think I should just go off and die I come off so awkward.

OMG I was going to mention "exhausting" but I see you've covered that.

This does not depend on a given situation as such. It depends on how much acting (yes acting) I'm willing to conjure up, and also on the level of anxiety I'm experiencing. Acting social is so draining. There are days when I'm just not willing to put in the energy required to pull it off successfully.

I have seen myself as a sort of social chameleon. I am able to get on well enough with most people, but it is by conforming to the attitudes and behaviors of whomever I am with. I don't know that I have ever simply been myself in a social setting. This is the main reason I prefer solitude, it is the time I can relax and not try to be someone I am not.

Apparent level of functioning can change with different situations. At least one other member has posted about reduction of certain difficulties after exiting a bad relationship or other bad situation.

I've wondered "well why isn't this a problem when I'm by myself?", or I think about how I don't seem to have any trouble when there's nobody around to criticize me or tell me that I can't do anything right. If you've been in one spot too long, such as the K-12 years, people may tend to box you into things in a way that can become unhealthy.

I have noticed that there's something stimulating about being in an unfamiliar city, among strangers. Effects of heavy exercise and moderate alcohol consumption, combined with this novelty effect, make me feel more normal and perhaps able to establish rapport with people. I did notice after spending 5-6 hours in the gym, my posture was more confident, and I felt as though I look better. I went into a sandwich shop for dinner, the servers were eager to have me sit anywhere I wanted, somewhere I would be highly visible perhaps? I would have taken my friend there later if she hadn't already eaten.