Laughing With Aspergers

Things that mess me up Part 1: Stars

Today, my mom and I were talking about random stuff. I kept beginning sentences with "You know what really messes me up?"  

One of the things that messes me up is stars.

Because planet Earth is so big, but it's teeny in comparison to Jupiter. And all the planets in our solar system are hardly anything compared to the sun. The sun is almost unimaginably huge. But the sun is just a speck in comparison to the largest stars. These things look big enough to be entire universes by themselves. But no, they are just an infinitesimal piece of dust campared to an entire galaxy. Our own galaxy has around 300 billion stars, and there are an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. All these stars.

Just floatin' around.

Being incandecent conflagrations of infernal hellfire.

What the heck.

Things I've come to love and hate in 2014 ~ by Christie

HATE:

Feminism. It's terrible.

Television. It's garbage.

Being Gluten-Free. I want to eat a sandwich.

Travel and Vacation. They make me cry.

 

LOVE:

Transformers. I don't even know how this happened.

Buying things with my own debit card. Makes me feel powerful.

Online shopping. Buy whatever I want, whenever I want it.

Sculpting things. I'm surprisingly good at this for having no prior experience.

Spiders. Magestic beasts.

 

Why I like hanging out with animals more than people

1.    They don't care what you're wearing.

2.    Their social cues are easier to read. I can read the social cues of my fish.

3.    They are completely incapable of being judgmental.

4.    You don't have to start a conversation with them.

5.    They're more pleasant to look at than people.

 

 

A Cheerful Post for Monday

Once in a while, I see the news. And I wonder why people act like such dumb a**es. I'm an adult now and I can use adult language. I just see stupid decisions and ineptitude and ignorance, or people just being purposefully terrible. I'm not claiming to know what should be done, but I know what shouldn't be.

I used to be really in touch with world events. Then, about two years ago, I got sick of all the awfulness and took a break from everything. I recently came back to see what was going on, and everything was ten times worse.

I'll see some horrible story and then lie awake at night festering in feelings of frustration, anger, and despair. It takes about a week to dissipate. But by then, I'll accidentally see something else and it'll start all over. It feels like 30% worry and 70% anger.

I really don't want to see the news. But if I don't know what's going on, I feel like I'm part of the problem by being ignorant.

It all makes me want to become an amoeba so that I won't have to think about anything and I can just go around doing whatever amoebas do all day. 

 

Blue

Blue has always been my favorite color, because it is the best color. There are nasty-looking greens and yellows and oranges but there isn't really a bad shade of blue. Blue is always nice. Sky blue. Navy blue. All the blue. Blue no longer looks like a real word. Why isn't it spelled bloo.

This is what I was thinking about at 3:00 am last night. It was a slow night for my brain.

 

10 Positive Aspergers Traits

My mom made this list and asked me to comment on it.

 

People with Aspergers often...

 

1. Are able to easily forgive others.

Yes. I used to try to hold grudges, but it never lasted longer than 20 minutes.

 

2. Are reliable and honest.

I'm pretty reliable except when it comes to doing math homework.

 

3. Have conversations free of hidden meanings or agendas.

I don't even know what that means. Do you mean like trying to manipulate someone into giving you their credit card number? I think if someone was able to manipulate someone into giving them their credit card number using just a casual conversation, they deserve the credit card number.

 

4. Have one or more highly developed talents.

Yes. Does knowing stuff count as a talent?

 

5. Will not 'go along with with the crowd' if they know something is wrong.

I don't hang out in crowds, anyway.

 

6. Are committed and loyal in relationships.

What does that even mean? Like would I cheat on my mom with another mom?

 

7. Are determined to seek out and speak the truth.

Yes. But I'm content to just know it myself without telling other people. I don't know if that makes me a bad person.

 

8. Have well-defined values.

I guess so. I don't condone murder, slavery, arson...

 

9. Notice fine details that others miss.

I can spot a daddy long legs on a leaf a mile away.

 

10. Are non-judgemental and accept others' quirks and idiosyncracies.

Maybe. I can be pretty judge-y... If I said, "I kind of wish you didn't exist" --is that judging?

  

Food Intolerances: The Best Gluten Free, Vegan Cookie: Cybele's

Right now we can not eat gluten, dairy, soy or eggs. We started this diet 6 weeks ago. It really, really stinks.

I hate it.

So does my brother, Max.

Our brother Alex likes it a lot. He had a lot of really bad food intolerance's according to the blood test we had. He says he feels lots better now than he used to. So did I. Personally, I am eating chicken fingers as soon as I get a chance.

We tried all the gluten free cookies. Like all of them. These are gluten free and vegan free (so no eggs or dairy).  They also are like tree nut free and shell fish free. Not that I think there are usually shell fish in cookies. But I think the label says that to show that there are none of the most common allergens in these cookies.

My favorite are the chocolate chip cookies. They are so good. Kinda like you barely baked cookie dough and then ate it.

Cybele's taste like real cookies. 

When we traveled to Philadelphia last week, we packed like 11 boxes. 

Because sometimes you just need a cookie. 

And you want it to taste like an actual cookie.

These do. 

This cookie lady's website: Cybele Pascal

Book Review: The Book of General Ignorance

 

"Everything you think you know is wrong."

How many sheep were on Noah's ark?  (More than 2)

Who knocked off the Sphinx's nose?  (Not Napoleon)

What is the most dangerous animal on the planet? (Think small)

How many toes does the two toed sloth have?  (Please do not say 2)

Trust me, you need to know these things. You need this book.

I know some kids with Asperger's Syndrome like to memorize facts. But I think everyone likes to know cool facts.  Especially if other people do not know these facts. Or think that they know.

I like that I can just flip open the book to any page and read something interesting. Also, they guy who wrote this is pretty funny.

How Much is the Right Amount to Feel?

I thought Christie's blog post about Caring...What is it? yesterday was pretty good. I kinda knew exactly how she felt. It made me remember talking to my mom about not knowing how to feel. Here is that conversation (as best as we could reconstruct it). Also, I didn't have a picture for this. So here is one more of me with my birthday big cookie. 

David: Sometimes I don't know how much to feel. 

Mom: Like about what?

David: Like when Granny died, I didn't know how to feel.  I didn't have that many feelings for her because she is your Grandmother and I didn't know her at all.

Mom: That's O.K. She was my grandmother and she had Alzheimer's for most of your life. You didn't have a chance to know her very well. 

David: I sorta felt bad when you were sad, though. And for Grandma. 

Mom: That is O.k, too. 

David: I'd be sad if anything happened to you.

Mom: Thanks. 

David: I've seen plenty of movies with sad moments and some people cry over those scenes. During those more emotional moments, my feelings are more on the inside than the outside. For instance, 2 moments where I feel like I kept things on the inside would be like when Boromir died in Lord of the Rings and when Optimus Prime died in the 1980 Transformer movie. Both deaths, I find emotional and sad but I am only a little bit sad on the outside.

Mom: So you are comparing your reaction to other people's?

David: Yes. Mostly because I don't have enough outside world experience.  I sometimes get more emotionally involved in fiction than reality. 

Mom: Interesting.

David: And I do feel that certain works of fiction can have very emotional and relatable moments and subject matters. 

Mom: So it isn't you are not feeling anything - it is more that you are feeling things and then comparing your response to other people's?  Like at a funeral or at the movies?  People will always respond to things differently.

David: Yeah. Some people are more emotional than others. I have more inner reactions. Not really where people can see it. 

Mom: Sounds like you know how to feel about things. You are just questioning how your responses fit in with how other people are responding. 

David: Yeah. The real world is harder to know how to respond. The fictional world seems easier. It sounds kinda like I'm not real sympathetic for real life tragedy.  But I am pretty sure there are some people in the world who are less emotional than me. 

Mom: Is that comforting to think there are people less emotional than you?

David: Actually, yes. I mean at least I'm not like a sociopath. 

Mom: Yes. There is that to be thankful for. 

Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Firstly, I would like to say that I normally have to watch a movie multiple times to form a solid opinion on it. But I said I would review this one, so I will.

The first HTTYD is my favorite movie, so I've been looking forward to the second one for a while--although I've learned to keep my expectations low for these kinds of things so I don't end up disappointed. 

I went to see it on opening day in IMAX 3D with with all my siblings and my mom. We went at 9:30 a.m. so no one was really there. Just how I like it.

I have to say I wasn't a fan of the 3D. It made everything a bit blurry and it gave me a headache after a while. It would have been a lot better without it, in my opinion.

As for the movie itself, I thought it was at least as good as the first one. It was darker and had way more action than the first one. And lots more flying scenes, which are the best parts. They make me happy. The animation was glorious--some of the best I've seen. It's too bad the 3D made it hard to see all the detail. Something had to be sitting still right in the foreground to see it clearly.

As for the music, the first movie's soundtrack was much more noticable because everything was... quieter, and slower. In this movie, it's not as noticable because there's so much fast-paced action going on. Although I liked this movie's music, I have to say I prefer the soundtrack in the first one. I think it will always be my favorite. 

I definitely want to see it again. But without the 3D.

I give it four and a half out of five stars, and I recommend it to pretty much everybody.

Also, remember when I said that Toothless was way undermarketed?  I found out a few days ago that they had made a Toothless Build-a-Bear and I was super excited to get it. Well, it turns out it completly sold out in one weekend, and there won't be any more available until October.