So, whats your focus?

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Before I heard of Aspergers (about two hours ago now, I think), I had occasionally paused to wonder why I was so interested in some things, and totally lacking in interest in similar subjects or ideas. That and why nobody else was at all interested in what I was interested in. I suppose I can also put it down to being a nerd (and I mean that in a positive way, I enjoy my nerdyness).

Anyway, on to the subject!

My main interest has always been a historical subject. At first it was shiney armour and swords and guns, my 1st-3rd grade teacher thought I was going to grow up to be a psychopath. Then it shifted to Classical Western Civilization, Rome and Greece and a bit of Egypt. Then it went to WWII.
My current trend started when I began reading up on the Napoleonic Wars, and I found out that Russia had a part in history ASIDE from the Cold War. Ive been increasingly fascinated by Russian history and culture, much to the annoyance of many. I find myself getting annoyed at textbooks that apparently edit Russia out of history, often (notatallsuprisingly) taking a British viewpoint.
Who beat Napoleon?
The British, of course!
Who single handedly won the Crimean War and certainly didnt suffer several emberassing defeats in the Pacific and Baltic?
The British! No French or Italians were involved, and all the Turks did was run away.
World War One?
All the British of course, all the Russians did was surrender and have a revolution.
World War Two?
The British and the Americans, of course! The Soviet Union certainly didnt have any effect on the course of the war.

And at this point I just realized that I was rambling/ranting a bit, another habit I have and another reason I try to avoid getting on to the subject unless the other person is actually interested
Also note, I have nothing against the British, Ive been to England twice and enjoyed every bit except the time I got food poisoning. Apparently there is a conspiracy to keep me away from the British Museum, because the time I DIDNT get food poisoning was the time I was stuck with the tour group who were more interested in shopping than London.

I also have a few lesser interests, which tend to change more rapidly. Right now Im taking Kendo (Japanese fencing, basically, although its more complicated than that ), and I have a long running interest in computers, but lack the money to support it >_>

Wow, DGNT, I have a lot of the same problems with historically-inaccurate text books, especially since in Alabama they tend to change with whichever direction the political primaries blow. I also love history a great deal. When I was younger I was first intrigued by the Cold War and the Kennedy administration, especially Jacqueline and Robert Kennedy. Now I'm really siked on the French Revolution, and the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, two other historical figures, like Russia, that are severely belittled in text books that are supposed to be nonpartisined. I also really like comic books with alternative forms of artwork, the "nuclear" books of Pat Frank, and Asian culture and film work of the twentieth century.

My main focal points are

20th Century London
Half-Cab Double Decker Buses, such as Routemasters
Living my own Life, the way that I want it to be
Cockney Pride
My Puppy Dog, Chico
Finding myself a Cash Job (I could walk Dogs) (I could clean Paint Brushes for my Dad)
Moving into an Apartment (or a house if I become Rich)
Getting back into my Art
Various Architecture from around the world
Weight loss and healthy eating
Walking to various places, through out the day, both with Chico and by myself.
Helping my Neighbours out
The joy I get out of the various types of Music
Dr. Laura and Dr. Browne

In chronological order:

Dinosaurs
(then I can't remember much until)
Harry Potter
The human brain (still going on)
Deaf and blind people, and the hard of hearing/seeing
German language
Dexterity (left/right handedness and ambidexterity)
Mental disorders and "disorders" (I'd include AS in the latter), which is how I found AS.

As achild:

Dinosaurs
Ghosts
Encyclopedias

Adult:

Philosophy
Religions
Communication

I wish I had the focus to stay on one obsession, but I shift regularly.

As a child:
Animals, at one point tried to raise rats, mice, and gerbils to sell
The movie Escape to Witch Mountain and the sequel to it- I saw it or parts of it once and kept trying to see it again. I guess I was also kind of obsessed with telekinesis and other psychic things.

As a teen and young adult:
D&D and other RPGs. Most of my pleasure in life came from this escapism. I memorized a lot of the stuph from the D&D books which I spent hours perusing.

In college:
Gay activism

More recently:
politics and/or MMORPGs

I find that I milk an obsession until I find that it's really not satisfying me and is just driving me nuts. It's like I'm trying to fill some hole each time and it's not working.

Yeah I used to "finish" my obsessions very quickly (after learning all there is to know it gets kinda boring) and it would get irritating having to find a new one so often until I got into electronics/computers and Ive found its worked out well since you can never know everything. I can research to my hearts content and never have to worry about "finishing" it.

The breeding, showing, and genetics of dachshunds.

The skinning, cooking, and serving of dachshunds.

Oh, and reproduction.

My parents are still convinced that I don't have any form of autism (or any other pervasive developmental disorder), but one look at the interests/obsessions that I've had over the years should easily convince anyone that I do. For example, when I was five years old I was obsessed with calendar calculation (a stereotypical Aspie interest IIRC), when I was seven years old I was obsessed with multiplying very large numbers together in my head (something that 99.9% of people aren't able or willing to do at any age), when I was ten years old I was obsessed with the genealogy of U.S. Presidents (I could tell you about the family background of just about every single U.S. President), and now (I'm 17, by the way) I'm obsessed with video game release schedules (I can tell you every video game released in the past year and the date on which it was released).

I don't think Aspie obsessions get any worse than mine. Needless to say, you're the first people outside of my family that I've confessed my interests to.

My ex-Boyfriend
Aspergers and autism
Meeting men and having a kid
My stories


Those are my interest I think about all the time.

#1: Psychology

Included in this interest is:

-localization of functional neuroanatomy
-neurology
-neuroscience
-neuropsychology
-psychophysiology
-psychopharmacology (for its practicality)
-comparative psychology
-behavioral psychology (more specifically, behavioral modification techniques)
-social psychology

#2: Collections: (My oldest interest)

-books (including largely neurology-related books, random topic books-- vampires, pirates, sideshow topics--, poetry (mostly everything prior to Contemporary), some art books, Harry Potter (duh), some other fictional especially classic literature, and used to collect serial killer biographies)
-movies/series (favorite dramas on famous people, Britcom series-- Monty Python, Fawtly Towers, Black Adder--, X-Files, House, M.D., comedies, other childhood favorites, some horror once in awhile)
-interesting figurines
-information (will print it out if possible)
-too many other past collections to even mention

Other somewhat random interests:

-art (doing it; 2-D, i.e., drawing and some painting, printmaking)
-poetry (some writing)
-my online forum and spending time on it (see sig)
-enjoying old architecture (castles, Victorian, Tudor, etc.)
-weird eccentric things (gargoyles, grotesques, sea monsters, medieval manuscripts of all of the above...)

Interests/Collections I would like to have but currently don't mainly due to lack of funds:

-antiques (old wood furniture, stained-glass lamps, weird old odds and ends)
-old books (first editions, etc.,) in psychology/neurology
-strange prints/posters (e.g., sideshow posters, old adverts)

I constantly move back and forth between interests, so here are my main ones in no particular order:

- Animation (particularly adult and foreign animation)
- The "Paradise Kiss" manga
- Robots
- ReBoot
- Gender indentity
- Starlight Express
- Miyavi (a J-Rock star)
- Gackt (another J-Rock star )
- 80s new wave bands
- Progressive rock
- Cyber-punk stories
- DragonBall Z
- Naruto
- Wolves
- Pit bull dogs

There are others too, but these are the main ones. I'll usually have a few at a time, and will constantly shift between them.

I have many topics that I would consider interesting, however there are only two, rather broad I admit, areas that I have always and will remain interested in above all else.

Cars, any sort from racing, to classic, to modern, I love the technology and engineering behind it, the styling, the politics, the business models etc

Aircraft, though I could probably expand this into military machines from guns to warships and the history/strategy of war itself, but above all else I prefer the aircraft aspect of it.

I do have a strong side interests in military special forces, intelligence/clandestine stuff in particular and also, martial arts/hand to hand combat and weapons, and also technology, gadgets, computers etc

Those are all MY areas, if I see anything on the above say in a newspaper article or something I HAVE to read it, then I will probably complain to whoever is around about how wrong all the facts are

rocks, gemstones, space, old civilizations, religion, weather, sports.
i have some serious collections going in sportscards and rocks+gemtones