Gordie

Sounds like my typical reaction. Now the initial shock of the news has died down, I'm starting to think along those lines as well - like it's becoming a tourist attraction that I have to go and check out (seeing as I'll be taking my weekly Monday trip down that way anyway tomorrow, for another driving lesson). Us weirdos just don't do empathy, I'm afraid! 'Twas a beautiful sunny day all day here (once the fog had cleared anyway)! My driving instructor/best friend lives 10 miles south of there, and her house shook this morning, waking the whole house up, with her 6-year-old daughter in tears, she was so disoriented. And the schools her 3 kids attend (in Northwood and Rickmansworth) are to close tomorrow. She initially thought a bomb had gone off at the NATO base around the corner from her place ... but nope. Oh, and panic-buying of petrol is soooooo selfish, and actually creates more problems than it solves, whether it's necessary or not (which it isn't, in this case). By the way, I heard the M1 has re-opened now, about 24 hours earlier than expected. James

Hmmm ... a close friend of mine, whose brother is in e-mail contact with Jacqui Jackson, told me the other day that Jacqui is "none too impressed" by this drama! So perhaps we should expect to be disappointed! Anyway, more details on the programme can be found here, on the BBC Two web site's listings pages, and here in even more depth. You can see a preview clip on the latter page, and I see a contradiction to what I just said there too (regarding Jacqui's opinion of the show)! So I guess we'll have to draw our own conclusions. Reviews of the show can also be left on that latter page I linked to above. I've also put the show on the forum calendar, and it appears towards the bottom of the main page of the forum too, so hopefully it shouldn't be forgotten! James EDIT: Sounds like Jacqui's been misquoted a lot (according to my friend), and genuinely isn't happy with the programme.

Coz they really mean they can't access the home page of the forum - i.e. just this page: http://www.krism.org.uk/ Of course it's back again now, but it wasn't then - the rest of the forum was fine though, hence posting remained possible. James

Oh, wow! That was a total guess! I didn't think for a moment that I'd be right! James

That's coz you were unlucky enough to receive a PM just as Kris did his promised clear-out of PMs (albeit 3 days late - ). Things should be okay from now on though. James

Hmmm ... lucky really, since that was about the only part I saw, having got up so late (as usual)! I might've seen her just before McFly started singing, as the presenters were introducing them, but I thought she was more in the centre of the screen, with her back to us, and certainly no banner on view (perhaps they weren't allowed, coz I didn't see any banners at all). She seemed to match your description apart from the banner though. Ah well ... Don't expect me to be watching on Christmas Eve though - I may have other plans. (By the way, what does "dd" stand for? "Darling Daughter"? ) James

Sounds like wishful thinking to me! James

They haven't gone yet though! James

Oooh! Sounds interesting! I'll try and remember to look out for her in the morning. I had just a long lie-in today that I shouldn't need much sleep tonight! Reminds me of my appearance in the studio audience on "The Really Wild Show" (which was filmed in Bristol) when I was at junior school (so under 11). That was so embarrassing, watching it back on TV when it was broadcast. It was a fun day out though. And stop it, Viper - of course we're interested!! Kathryn: Wrrrrrrrrrong! Dick and Dom are "on the other side" (BBC One Two [edit]). So you'll have to prise them away from their weekly fix of Dick and Dom, unless you have more than one TV. James

http://www.krism.org.uk/ Hmmm ... ... it's like someone's deleted the proper homepage for Krism. The page that is currently on show there is like what any web site will show when someone tries to access it and no homepage exists. It's a message written for the site owner, and no normal web user is supposed to see it. You would usually only see it when a web site is first under development (which this one is most certainly not!). Of course I also got in using my "Favorite" link, so I didn't notice until reading this thread either. Kris, you just need to get your old homepage back again, with the filename "index.html", and everything will be hunky-dory again! James

Hey! Mine is me!! I must be unique - the only person here that is brave foolish enough to put their ugly mug on full public view. James

Yeah - I feel the same about my mum as your child does about you. Perhaps it's unfair, but that's just the way I feel - can't help that. James

Hey, folks. Hmmm ... this has now become a thread about me, rather than asereht! Viper: Re: something_different, no - that never really got going unfortunately. I see she joined the forum on August 4th, but hasn't posted since October 29th. Oh well ... Re: my driving instructor friend, oh yeah - we made up months ago now. That's old news. I should add she's my best friend, not just my "driving instructor friend". Yeah - we're getting on great, and her kids love me being around too. I love Mondays! My weekly visits might be coming to an end soon though, as I have a driving test booked for Wednesday, December 21st at 1:33pm! And if yesterday's lesson is anything to go by, when I did really well, I should pass it! I did have a mock test though last week, with a total stranger, and I failed that - got 2 majors and 9 minors. But apparently that's quite good for a mock test, so I've been told! I'm not altogether convinced of that, but as I say, I had a great lesson yesterday, so things are looking hopeful. Although of course, once I do pass, it'll be very bittersweet for me, as I've loved these past 8 months of almost-weekly visits, regardless of all the travel time and costs involved. Thanks for the latest "welcome back" anyway ... although how long I continue to visit this time around is still subject to debate. waccoe: You're right - it definitely wasn't me ... got no reason to be visiting Doncaster, I'm afraid! I'd quite like to see this guy now though, coz it's surprising that anyone should even want to look like me!! James

Awww ... you've been missing me? Awww ... that's so sweet. Thanks, folks - so that's 6 of you at least. <'> I had wondered, and on one boring Saturday night on the computer, I thought I'd pop back in and see what was happening. Thought I'd do a search for "Gordie" actually, on all forums here, to see if I'd been missed, which is why this particular thread is being bumped back up to the top again, after two months since it saw its last post. (Yes - I'm that vain! ) Nice to see my name pop up a few times anyway. Yes - I'm fine, thanks. Still on-line just as much as ever(!), but not usually here (fairly obviously). Just because I'm not publicly visible here though, that doesn't mean you can't PM me! I check my Hotmail e-mail daily, and if I receive any PMs here, I automatically get an e-mail there, so I'd be straight onto your message. waccoe: Where are you located? Hmmm ... September 22nd ... what was I doing then? Hmmm ... nothing special, I don't think. I'd have been working that day, it being a Thursday. It was my best friend's birthday that day, but that was all that was special about it. James

I've voted for Eugene twice (coz he's my main favourite to win), but also Kinga once (coz a friend of mine thinks it's between her and Craig to go on Wednesday night, and Craig can't stay!!). Go, Eugene! And enjoy your week away, if you can handle being away from BB. James

It was all this stuff ... You don't tend to find men talking like that very often. But I wanted to be sure before assuming. Oh, and Viper's hunch (when she PMed me about your post here) was that you were female too. James

Yep! I use both ... but MSN more than Yahoo!. James

Well if you're not in the right place, then neither am I! Thanks to Viper for the heads-up here, attracting my attention to your presence here, and to this post. I'm almost 25, male, with Asperger's Syndrome. You could quite easily be describing me. In fact it would be easier for me to list the things you've said about yourself that I'm not, rather than the other way round. I'm probably marginally better at making eye contact with people than you are, but there's not a lot else I wasn't nodding my head at in empathy there ... I can relate to absolutely everything you've written. And I can't stick the phone either. So as far as I'm concerned, you've got to have Asperger's! No doubt about it! Forget your GP, or anyone else! You've got it! Yeah - the loneliness and isolation sucks, doesn't it? But despite finding socialising difficult, I know I would love to have the ability to do it. So I don't find it a strange feeling in you at all - I feel the same way. And since the advent of the Internet, I've found the outlet I've needed, and it really has been great. I was first exposed to chat rooms on-line in a big way when I first went to university in 1998. So I've been doing this for about 7 years now. It's one of the few positive aspects of my time at university - being able to come on-line!! I've made hundreds of friends over this time, all around the world (although I wouldn't mind a few more local ones! ), and I've even had one long-term relationship with a girl in America - that lasted between August 1999 and July 2001, and included 6 weeks in the summer of 2001 where I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live with her (and her parents, unfortunately! ). That was a truly wonderful time in my life, and I have no regrets about it at all. But we mutually decided to split up pretty much as soon as I got back home again, as neither of us had realistic ambitions of moving to the other person's country on a permanent basis. So we didn't really have a future together as a couple. She and I are still very close friends though, which I'm pleased about. (In fact it's her 22nd birthday today! ) But I've made so many UK-based friends on-line, and it's been much easier meeting them in person. The bonus about originally meeting these people on-line is that when we eventually meet up in person, they already know all about me, and why I'm the way I am. So that relaxes me so much, and makes me a lot less self-conscious. I can genuinely enjoy their company, and I always miss them whenever I have to go home again. I even make a 250-mile+ round trip to near Watford and back every Monday, to have driving lessons with my best friend. That's not just my best on-line friend, I hasten to add, but my best friend on the entire planet. She's amazing, and just happens to be a driving instructor. I'd never had the motivation to learn to drive until she came along. But I couldn't resist the opportunity to combine driving lessons with the opportunity to regularly see my best friend on a weekly basis. It's not just her I love seeing either - even her young kids (aged 11, 9 and 6) like me a lot too. Whenever I visit, I really feel like part of the family now - it's a great feeling ... one I never felt as a child - just so liberating. I could recount so many tales of meeting my on-line friends, but I won't bore you with them all now! But yes - needless to say, I spend aaaaaaages on-line, just like you. Clearly it sounds like you're still struggling with the whole meeting-online-friends thing though. That's a shame, as I find it so rewarding about 99% of the time. But it can be hard when the other person is shy as well - I just find myself retreating into my shell again when that happens. By the way, are you female? It's just that it's not too clear from your posts so far, and I was wondering ... Welcome to the forum anyway. I'm still amazed to see such similar people to me popping up here occasionally. James

I like to think of it as "quality, not quantity". I mean I've only made 243 posts here so far, but I'm Member #35, who joined way back on 9th September 2003. But baddad is only Member #348, joining as recently as 19th June 2004. So as I've been around here a lot longer than him, that makes me better than him. To view the full "league table", click on the "Members" link in the top-right, then in the options at the bottom of the page, leave "All Members" and "10" alone, but change the others to "Total Posts" and "Descending Order", before clicking "Go!". Then you'll see nellie obviously tops the list, and she's followed by bid, Helen, baddad and carole! (But maybe you already knew that, Suze. ) James

And to sum up the voting, it looks like it's roughly 50/50 among the parents here! Half are driving, and half aren't! So there's your answer, waccoe! James

I've had to listen to one of the NT daughters of my driving instructor friend give her equally-NT mother loads of abuse before. Her mother is used to that sort of abuse though, knowing she doesn't really mean it (or so her mother says anyway). It's just an outlet for her when she's really frustrated about something - a way to release her feelings. So her mother just ignores it, accepts it and carries on with whatever she's doing at the time. Being the first time I'd heard it myself though, I took it to heart. I care immensely about my driving instructor friend - she's my best friend on the planet. I care about her more than anyone in my family. So to have to listen to that, which was a constant barrage of high-pitched screeching as well, was very upsetting to me, and I wasn't even the subject of the abuse. I tried hard to hold it in and not make it obvious that it had upset me, but I couldn't - it just left me feeling down for the rest of the few hours we had together that day. It was really tough. I was close to tears, but couldn't go beyond that - not with the kids around, and a load of builders for good measure. But anyway, just to say that this sort of behaviour is not unique to kids with an ASD. So I don't know how you parents cope with it, being the subject of your children's abuse. James

Okay - thank you, Klou. It's not something I'm familiar with. James

In this post, waccoe said ... So as she couldn't do it herself, I thought I would! (And I just kinda liked the idea of making a poll, since I've never that here before. ) Hopefully I've put all the options in that she wanted ... or perhaps I put too many in! James

To be honest, I don't think I'd find it much different if I did change to an automatic. It's only have to changing gear that you lose the responsibility for, and there are so many other things to think about while driving that that isn't a huge amount of difference, I don't think. Just my personal opinion though. Thankfully I have no problems at all there. Hmmm ... stressful! But hopefully that's just beginner's nerves, and it'll get easier over time. It's just being conscious that you're being watched and analysed by so many people around you that makes it hard work. "Are they losing their temper at my driving?" ... "Are they gonna 'beep' me?" ... etc. Stopping and starting all the time in traffic jams/queues is really hard for me too - it's so easy to stall the thing and then hold up the long queue behind you. So much preparation to be done every time you need to start moving again. But practice makes perfect, I guess! I'll do one for you now. James

Yep. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4674331.stm I've now got 4 ICE contacts on my mobile phone ... maybe a bit greedy(!), and I doubt the emergency services would be terribly keen on calling all 4 of them, but they can pick the best one of the 4 available, should the need arise - I've clearly labelled each one, so they know how each person is related to me (either a close friend or family). James