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Do you ever feel like you have to prove your obsession to other people?

SchrodingersMeerkat

SchrodingersMeerkat

trash mammal
Meerkats were my special interests YEARS and YEARS before Meerkat Manor. I can proudly say I was obsessed with meerkats before it became popular. I know it sounds weird, but it felt as if my obsession with meerkats was being stolen from me. My mom says it's because I am selfish and don't want to share. Well, I feel as if people are stealing it from me behind my back without my permission. I felt as if I had been raped when I found out how popular meerkats were after Meerkat Manor. Whenever anyone asks if I like Meerkat Manor or is all like, "OMG! You must really like that Meerkat Manor show!" I want to strangle them.
Suddenly it was considered cool to like meerkats. I was no longer teased or harassed for it. Everyone it seemed as obsessed with meerkats. It made me sick and repulsed. I knew they were posers and only thought they loved meerkats so much and sure enough when Meerkat Manor was over, they were done with them. I would tell people I was obsessed with meerkats and they would say sheer stupid things such as "Oh, I am too! They're so cute!"

I would scoff back, "No you're not."
"Yes I am."
I would scream bloody murder, "NO! YOU ARE NOT!" By then my mother would have to intervene and pull me away and appolgize to the other person. I would just give the other person the evil eye until they left or my mum or dad hauled my ass away to the car. I know for a fact, that only another autistic person can be truly, truly obsessed with meerkats.

Anyway, after Meerkat Manor, I started to feel as if I had to prove my obsession. I used too because everyone liked them. I started doing things that REALLY made my meerkat obsession stand out such as buying every meerkat related thing I could find...planing elebrate meerkat themed tatoos and coming up with some EXTREME meerkat themed body modification. My mom wouldn't let me get a tatoo. I can't drive and she would have to drive me. My brother has offered to take to get a tatoo but I know he really wouldn't live up to it and when they found out how extreme I wanted to take it, they wouldn't let me either. I was even considering taking a razor and carving detailed meerkats into my skin. I never did because the delicate detail I wanted wouldn't be possible to achieve with a regualr razor. I think carved meerkats would be better than tatoos of them because anyone can get a tatoo, but it takes a special dedication to be willing to carve something into one's skin. I was always facinated by this tribe somewhere in Asia that likes tigers so much, they make tiger stripes on their skin...with a hammer. I'd LOVE to do something like that to show my dedication for meerkats. The pain would only show everyone how truely I was obsessed with meerkats and expose those Meerkat Manor posers for the phonies they are. Anyway, do you feel as if you have to prove your obsessions to others?
 
I sometimes get competitive when NTs say they know a lot about my special interest and I feel as though I have to prove that I am truly more knowledgeable on the subject.
 
The more it has to do with my identity the more it effects me. Just a random person's thoughts from reading what's posted... well I'm kinda worried to share because of how intensely you seem to feel about it, not that I have anything bad to say. Basically I think it's awesome your obsessed with an overlooked animal, at the same time it's worrying to hear you would put yourself through more pain. Is your avatar a fursona of sorts?
 
8398 said:
The more it has to do with my identity the more it effects me. Just a random person's thoughts from reading what's posted... well I'm kinda worried to share because of how intensely you seem to feel about it, not that I have anything bad to say. Basically I think it's awesome your obsessed with an overlooked animal, at the same time it's worrying to hear you would put yourself through more pain. Is your avatar a fursona of sorts?
Click to expand...

Yes, that's my fursona. K.M. the meerkat alien. My BFF did the picture for me. Here's a more detailed pic of her that I did. Unidenified Fluffy Objects Her tail isn't right in this one but is in this, I'm Just a Cosmic Girl
 
I love the title unidentified fluffy objects. Really like the one where she's holding a hat too, I wish I had a deviant art in this situation so I could subscribe/watch!
 
I've had many many wonderful obsessions, ranging from Star Trek to Care Bears, to neuroscience and Lego. I am currently wearing a lego watch and have lego pierced through my ears (seriously, I do, I'm not kidding!). Also I feel empty without an obsession, I live for my special projects.

But why do you feel like you have to prove your obsession to others?

(and I honestly don't think it is because we are selfish and don't want to share)
 
Bella Pines said:
But why do you feel like you have to prove your obsession to others?
Click to expand...

Because before meerkats got so popular, I was shunned and bullied for liking them. Now it was suddenly okay to like them...even if you were "obsessed". I didn't mind someone who liked meerkats, it was when they used the term "obsessed" that bothered me. I kinda doubt they were bullied (even by their own family members) for it. They never had to suffer for it or be told it was wrong.
 
1. The obsession.

You know, I am actually considering a lego tattoo now :) Something subtle and tasteful on the inside of my wrist. Something that will always be with me in a way that only I can understand. I always need something with me. Out of curiosity, do you always have to have a meerkat token with you or is it something you can go without?

So anyway, I don't see it as a theft, meerkat manor is more like a documentary. There has been documentaries on spiders before, that doesn't mean spiderman is any less special. There have been documentaries on pretty much every animal.

But you have a new angle, I studied physics, but have never heard the phrase SchrodingersMeerkat before. It's brilliant, schrodinger's cat, but a meerkat! And the artwork. I don't think you have anything to worry about with the masses or copying, you will always be able to find a new angle.

I am working on children's books, I felt the same when my ideas would suddenly be mainstream before I finished them. But after a while, I realized that there will always be something similar in the market and so stopped looking and just focused on me and my enjoyment.

2. Extreme proof

Are you trying to a) prove to the bullies that they were wrong to bully you or b) explain to the posers that you've been through hell with the obsession and they are just jumping on the band wagon?

And how do you think they (bullies or posers) would react to extreme body carving or modification? How do you think your mom or brother would feel?
 
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Bella Pines said:
1. The obsession.

You know, I am actually considering a lego tattoo now :) Something subtle and tasteful on the inside of my wrist. Something that will always be with me in a way that only I can understand. I always need something with me. Out of curiosity, do you always have to have a meerkat token with you or is it something you can go without?

So anyway, I don't see it as a theft, meerkat manor is more like a documentary. There has been documentaries on spiders before, that doesn't mean spiderman is any less special. There have been documentaries on pretty much every animal.

But you have a new angle, I studied physics, but have never heard the phrase SchrodingersMeerkat before. It's brilliant, schrodinger's cat, but a meerkat! And the artwork. I don't think you have anything to worry about with the masses or copying, you will always be able to find a new angle.

I am working on children's books, I felt the same when my ideas would suddenly be mainstream before I finished them. But after a while, I realized that there will always be something similar in the market and so stopped looking and just focused on me and my enjoyment.

2. Extreme proof

Are you trying to a) prove to the bullies that they were wrong to bully you or b) explain to the posers that you've been through hell with the obsession and they are just jumping on the band wagon?

And how do you think they (bullies or posers) would react to extreme body carving or modification? How do you think your mom or brother would feel?
Click to expand...

1. I never cared for physics. I just wanted a catchy name for my DeviantArt account involving meerkats. I don't think many people are familiar with the Lillian Jackson-Braun "The Cat Who..." series and "Meerkat In the Hat" doesn't really sound that original.

It wasn't the documentary, it was people's reactions to it. "Oh, I'm obsessed with meerkats too!"
Oh, did people bully you for it? Even your own family?
No, why would they? That's silly!

To be honest, I didn't like Meerkat Manor because all the meerkats were getting killed all the time and one time, a newborn baby meerkat basically cook to death in the sun after one of the adult meerkats who had a head injury apparently took them out of the burrow. You think one of the people standing there filming could have moved it into the shade or took it to a wildlife rehabilitator.

2. Probably "b". I don't know about the carving thing but I might get a few tattoos someday. My brothers have tattoos too; one loved this one rock band so much, he went and got a tattoo of their mascot and another has a few questionable tattoos. He's a doctor in the Airforce so having tattoos isn't stopping him. My mother would eventually get over it.
 
Dammit, I haven't done any work today because I've been googling lego tatoos.

Taturday! LEGO Tattoos!

Fortunately my boss is an NT idiot so as long as I smile and say things like "I'll get right on it" then he is happy. He also had no clue how quickly I can get things done.

So given that you don't like meerkat manor, I suppose "curiosity killed the meerkat" is out of the question ;) kidding, don't hate me for it!

So I'm not entirely sure that b) is actually possible. I can't think of anything that would make them understand. Even if they were completely exposed with all the evidence in the world, they world still not understand. You're better off ranting here. We all understand. We can also see how zombie like everyone else is, jumping on this bandwagon and that and not even realising it.

And if your brother had tattoos then it sounds like your mother is equipped to deal with it! Just keep it awesome and classy :cool:
 
Jet Weiss said:
I sometimes get competitive when NTs say they know a lot about my special interest and I feel as though I have to prove that I am truly more knowledgeable on the subject.
Click to expand...

This is how I am too. I don't feel like my special interests are being stolen from me personally, just the frustration I guess that the NT person doesn't *get it* but thinks that they do. I feel really irritated sometimes when NTs claim to know a lot about it and they don't understand that when I say I know a lot about it, I mean like I might as well have a f*cking degree in my special interests and I mean that I have spent hours and hours reading books, searching the web, academic journals, documentaries, forums etc etc for years haha. NTs can't comprehend the depth of interest and obsession, so I try to just ignore it and not get too annoyed. Even WORSE is when someone questions me or doubts me on a fact about my special interests. This especially happens with rats. Rats, like your meercats have become popular as pets and I went from being the weirdo who had pet rats to tons of my friends having pet rats. Which, is GREAT for the most part because lots of rats need to be adopted from rescues, and finally I have people who understand how amazing rats are and want to talk about them, BUT when they start to question what I know because they read two sentences on the first google article that popped up, it really pisses me off. I do not like being challenged on my special interests.

I can relate though, I definitely loved rats before any of my friends and before they became popular. I have rat paws tattoo'd on my arm lmao.

Don't do anything too intense, it wont prove your devotion to meercats to them, they will think you are having a mental breakdown if you cut yourself. Just know that these things are fads and before you know it you will definitely have your meercat obsession all to yourself again. You're right, no one will ever be obsessed with them like you are.
 
I've been obsessed with Britney Spears for a long looong time. I used to have full albums with her music on my mp4 player, I had posters of her in my room, I watched documentaries about her, I knew the lyrics to many of her songs, I could even imitate her voice very well, when I heard that her mom wrote a book about her, I was dying to read it and my biggest wish was to go to a concert of hers, which would've been really difficult because I live in Romania and she would never come here. Anyway, my obsession went away a bit, although I still listen to her songs sometimes and sing along to them. What I wanted to say was that whenever someone said to me that they liked Britney, too, I would go mad. I felt that they didn't understand what liking her meant. Sometimes listening to a few of her more popular songs and dancing to them and not even listening to the lyrics is not where liking her starts, at least in my head. So yeah, I'm a bit crazy when it comes to my special interests.
 
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