For those who try fairly hard to look like the rest..

[IanOSU]

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AH! (Hand slap to the head) Thank you for this! I don't know how I missed this but you're right, most people like to eat. I now have a starter topic for conversations other than something as bland and boring as the weather. Food is much more interesting than the weather ... though weather usually plays a factor in what I'm serving i.e. crisp cold salads during the height of the summer or warm hearty soups or stews with freshly baked bread in the winter.

Honestly ... thank you! I feel like an idiot for this oversight.

yep. look at any girls instagram. all you see is pictures of food

 

[DogwoodTree]

I cut my own hair have for 20 years, teehee.

I cut my own bangs, which helps extend the time between "official" haircuts. But my hair is so wild, it really takes a professional to get it looking right at all...and even then it takes several iterations before they figure it out.

Oh, and I should say this: enjoy being you. DogwoodTree , you are a wonderfully unique individual and is it ok to be different.

You know, I really, truly have tried to take this perspective about being different. It just doesn't work out that way all the time. It would be good and all if I was actually an enjoyable person. But it doesn't work like in the movies, where the weirdo comes out of their shell and you find this hidden, inner hero that everyone falls in love with. I'm truly a weirdo, and the more I come out with people, the more people have to work at being able to tolerate me. And so I've had to backtrack some and become less authentic just so people will still want to be around me.

 

[Cosmophylla]

You know, I really, truly have tried to take this perspective about being different. It just doesn't work out that way all the time. It would be good and all if I was actually an enjoyable person. But it doesn't work like in the movies, where the weirdo comes out of their shell and you find this hidden, inner hero that everyone falls in love with. I'm truly a weirdo, and the more I come out with people, the more people have to work at being able to tolerate me. And so I've had to backtrack some and become less authentic just so people will still want to be around me.

Don't get me wrong: I don't think it's easy to embrace the freedom that comes with a nonconformist life. I have a lot of trouble with it, too. Otherwise I wouldn't care about feeling as though everyone is looking at me. But in spite of my convictions I still want to hide behind my sunglasses. Hollywood films about geeks and Aspies are stereotypical, overrated and utterly unrealistic anyway. you don't wanna be like that.

Also, you may say that you are unenjoyable as a person, but I can say without a doubt that I would enjoy your company simply based on the fact that you have named yourself DogwoodTree. Dogwoods are gorgeous and are sentimental for me as they remind me of one of the places I lived in Japan. If you call yourself DogwoodTree you must have some good taste in plants

And I cut my own hair because I don't trust hairdressers to "get" what I want. My hair is now getting quite grey, though, so it's harder for me to get the shape I want with all the grey frizzies in there. I may have to give in at some point. The style I generally go for is a "shag"... A messy style. I cut small sections of hair on angles to create direction/movement. It's about the only sculpture I'm ok at... (2d art I'm brilliant at...3d art, no way) when I have long hair I keep it up in a bun on top of my head because I don't like it brushing against my neck. But it's short again now, my go-to style. Short shag.

Edit: should have added that if you have long hair and are comfortable cutting your bangs (we say fringe here in Australia), it's fairly easy to maintain the rest if you are patient. Just progressively take small sections and cut half an inch off. If your hair is indeed wild, slightly uneven cuts will go unnoticed anyway, and trimming your hair regularly will keep it much healthier and, ironically, less wild-looking (if that's what you want).

 

[Progster]

Since I was diagnosed I don't try as hard as I used to to fit in, I just do my own thing. I still make a big effort for work, though.

I rarely talk to people unless I have something to say, and don't do well with these schoolrun/hairdressers gossipy chit chat conversations - I don't like talking for the sake of talking and I can't think of things to say to contribute anyway. I find it hard to talk about things I have no interest in them. I like doing activities with other people, just not sitting round talking, as most people do around here to socialise. I find talking to other people very tiring.

 

[Spiller]

I'm just a wierdo from outerspace - I cut my own hair because hairdressers seem to get lost in chatting and believe I'm a poodle or something, I like to cook foreign cuisines that people turn their noses up at the very idea of cos it's foreign, I practice ideology, living, career and parenting ideas that everyone either doesn't agree with or doesn't seem to understand.. apart from the few who do.. none of them, unfortunately, women or available..

I have a couple of weird friends I actually don't have to try with - I'm not used to that and am perpetually puzzled as to why they want to be friends with me..

I semi-believe I'm literally invisible to most people, even when I'm in an outgoing mood - despite chatting and making jokes, I seem to leave little impression due to the odd bits they'd rather ignore - nay, delete from their conciousness.

.. It has previously occurred to me to wonder whether I could develop this as a super power, but I'm still thwarted, on occasion, by the Human that does see me - gotta be consistent and have a secret identity, see..

I really get that there's a 'right' way and a 'my' way to do things.. I sometimes just wish I could mimic the 'right' way right..

 

[tree]

Spiller "I semi-believe I'm literally invisible to most people..."

I have thought this about myself.
A. Because they act surprised when I "appear."*
B. Because it seemed to me that I really wasn't part of what other people were doing.

It surprises me that people recognize me, even
when I am wearing different clothes from the
previous time they saw me.

*"appear"-----I enter rooms the same way as other people.
I don't materialize through walls. I don't carry a gong around
with me, though. Maybe that would help.

 

[Spiller]

Spiller "I semi-believe I'm literally invisible to most people..."

I have thought this about myself.
A. Because they act surprised when I "appear."*
B. Because it seemed to me that I really wasn't part of what other people were doing.

It surprises me that people recognize me, even
when I am wearing different clothes from the
previous time they saw me.

*"appear"-----I enter rooms the same way as other people.
I don't materialize through walls. I don't carry a gong around
with me, though. Maybe that would help.

Aaarrr tree:

A. Yes!
B. Yes!

It simply surprises me that people recognise me at all.

I make people jump.. I hang around for ages trying to get attention while people behind me get served first!

I attended a Reiki healing group for six months, which I'll go back to soon - hands on, chatty afterward kinda stuff.
After a month people knew my name!
Every time, whenever someone smiled or waved or said hello to me, I'd feel sure they were talking to someone behind me..
Eventually I got the idea that people could actually see me!
I liked that a lot.. in a nervous kinda way - it meant, though, that anyone might come up and start a conversation..

It can be tough being visible!

 

[DogwoodTree]

I have thought this about myself.
A. Because they act surprised when I "appear."*
B. Because it seemed to me that I really wasn't part of what other people were doing.

There have been so many times people have walked right past me in line to cut in front, as if I wasn't there. Or I try to say things in a conversation to contribute, and it's like no one even realizes I spoke. This happened this week in my therapy session! There were a few times I said something, and the therapists didn't even seem to realize I said anything. My jokes aren't funny. My commentary isn't important. My ideas don't make sense. My presence isn't acknowledged.

But sometimes, I realize I prefer it this way, and that I do things to contribute to this situation. Maybe if I got even more conscientious about it, I really could be invisible. I wonder if there's an energy thing going on, where I contain all of my own energy and suck up the energy around me, like a black hole, so that people literally don't sense my presence. Physically I'm "here", like a black hole can be "here", but I just don't register on people's emotional/energetic radar as being real or relevant.