Liking Things Inappropriate for Your Age Group

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I like things "inappropriate" for my peer group, period. lol. But, my interests are not particularly associated with a particular age group, other than my liking for Linkin Park music.

I still have almost all of my old books from when I was a child, and I still enjoy reading them. I also still sleep with teddy bears, and have a small collection of dinosaurs and toy cars. I still like some kids cartoons.

Whether or not I openly declare my love of things depends on the setting--if it seems I'd be likely to be beaten up, then I say nothing.....but those situations are rare so by and large it's no secret.

As a 10 year old kid, I watched preschool shows and longed to go back to kindergarten where things were "gentler". I also played with my little ponies and stuffed animals until I was 16 or so.

The girl I mentor (age 20) likes slapstick humor, Barney, and classic Disney movies (she can act out any scene from one verbatim).

A girl I suspect has AS (age 24) is obsessed with Disney Channel stars...particularly this boy band called Big Time Rush.

Another former girl I mentored who would now be 21 (diagnosed with AS, but presents more like autism) loved kids movies, buying all the merchandise for each one she liked and watching said movies repeatedly. She also likes shows aimed at a preschool crowd

I love Pixar animation, and I do not care what anyone thinks because quite frankly, it is nothing to do with them.

Same for my liking of fantasy books, forensics (all types, anthropology and criminal), science...I even like those cheesy romantic comedies.

In a town full of so-called alpha males who think they know what it is to be "a man" and in a town full of alpha women who think they know what makes a "real man" I am somewhat of an anomaly but at the end of the day, is liking what I like really a bad thing?

How am I harming anyone by reading obscure medical research and understanding quantum mechanics beyond flashing a laser light at the floor for a cat to catch?

For the purpose of the topic though I do not have any really overt interests that would single me out as a complete weirdo because it is only for 2, everyone in my local pub keeps quoting that damned Spongebob Squarepants and they are (allegedly) NTs, yet for them it is perfectly acceptable?

I have no idea what 24 year olds are supposed to be intrested in. Everyone thinks I am 17 because I look so young, but I don't have a clue what 17 year old are supposed to be intrested in either. And you know what? I don't care.

I think my interests as a whole aren't associated with any age group.

Have I mentioned how happy I am that I found my stuffed bear from like thirty years ago? (well, I first got it around forty years ago)

Because I really am. The music box still works! It plays Brahm's Lullaby. And it's still in roughly the same shape as when I saw it last. I've got it sitting next to my stuffed dragon now.

My interests have always been too mature for my age. As a kid, I would self-teach languages and biology, specifically human anatomy. My interest right now is autism, and in my spare time, I often enjoy browsing autism research online and compiling reports of it. I have written tons of stuff on my netbook and was thinking of posting it online at some point to save it in cyberspace, but I was too late as my hard drive has crashed unexpectedly. It appears that I would not be able to fix it now without a crapload of money which I do not have right now. I also collect autism/Asperger's books and enjoy writing up critiques of them when I do get around to reading them. I mean, people my age don't really do research and write essays for fun. I feel like I really fit in with people in their older 30s, but with people my age, I feel like a total outcast.

I often feel self-conscious in public with my mature friends (most of my friends) as many of them are in their 30s and some are even older. I am thinking it might be a wise idea to lie about my age from time to time, perhaps to say that I am 25, so that I wouldn't appear like such a freak.

I get sentimentally attached to stuffed toys. I played with toy horses until I was about 11. I feel I'm a bit childish towards animals, a bit overly enthusiastic. I also like children's TV and films, although generally try and avoid so I won't get carried away (people with children secretly like this stuff and use them as an excuse).

I feel a bit like an old person sometimes. We go for lunch at a garden centre and don't do anything that is overly strenuous. I don't like risk taking things e.g. everyone wants to go running, climbing, playing football, doing energetic things for charity and I would rather be much less active and don't want to overdo it like my Mum in her 60s. I wasn't impressed by clubs and bars and looked forward to being older. I also was less obsessed with fashion, more like an older person.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. I am proud too, its an awesome show.

Also, I use my imagination/pretend ALOT more than most teenagers. I don't show it or tell anybody though. I think people would be a bit weirded out if I told them I just flew to the amazon rainforest and back, while using my mind powers to turn everybody into three pin plugs.

I'm nearly 20, and still like Disney and Pixar movies, especially the Cars movies. I also have a big stuffed animal collection and a collection of die cast cars.

I also like going on Youtube and watching cartoons I liked as a kid - The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, DragonTales, Arthur... I'm a huge animation buff. I also watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic whenever a new episode is released. And I've also been known to watch classic cartoons, 'toons from the 80s, Hanna - Barbera...wish I could get Boomerang in my dorm room for this very purpose.

You know what's interesting? When kids are in grades K - 2 or so, they don't see anything wrong with carrying around anything with licensed characters on it - like Pooh or the Disney Princesses....then, once they go thru grades 3 - middle school, they wouldn't be caught dead with something with Disney characters or Dora or whatever on it - unless it's a character like Hulk, Spiderman, or Optimus Prime, perhaps. But when I got to high school, it turned out that the students there LOVED anything with their favorite characters on them - I saw notebooks, bacpacks, folders, what have you covered with Elmo, Big Bird, Spongebob, Disney Characters/Princesses, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Clifford, Power Rangers, Barney, Pokemon, Disney Fairies, etc...in my junior year, I even saw a girl with a Dora sippy cup! (but she only kept it on the first day of school). It was a great atmosphere to be in - I even got compliments on my Cars folders/notebooks.

I just found it interesting how the trends seemed to change like that...maybe in high school, since the next four years are kind of childhood's last hurrah before college/graduation, you try to cram in as much innocence and whimsy as possible. Of course, it may not be that way in all cases...I'm sure other have noticed very different trends.

Altho, one morning when I was about to leave my dorm for classes, I saw some residents gathered around someone's laptop watching the "Clock Stretch" segment from The Big Comfy Couch on Youtube. One of them commented that "once you get to college, it's like you go thru your second childhood." I think that's about right...