Gordie

Oi - "Gordie", not "Geordie". (It's been years since anyone's made that mistake though - takes me back to my days in chat rooms! It used to be a daily occurrence back then! ) James

Hmmm ... I fear the worst as far as that picture's concerned - it kinda says to me, "You're not one of us" - kinda like passive bullying, especially if that pic was taken at the start of the academic year, before you'd all got to know each other. Good luck with that! If nothing else, I've shown there are a wide range of different options out there, seeing as I managed 5 different "types" of accommodation over the 5 years I ended up studying, and had initially planned on a sixth! Plan pre-Year 1: Hotel lodging Year 1: Halls of residence Year 2 (Attempt 1): Shared house Year 2 (Attempt 2): Guest house lodging Year 3 (Placement Year): Lodging in private home Year 4: Flat share with brother That was totally what I did at the start of my first year! Tried hard to fit in, especially during the crucial Freshers' Week, but it really didn't last long - it became too exhausting, mentally more than physically, and of course I soon had to start concentrating on my studies. And that's when things went downhill rapidly with them. I'm not sure about that. True, it may work, but if they're as much trouble as the "picture incident" Windrunner mentioned in her last post suggests, then it could easily backfire. Giving them a label to attack her with could be music to their ears. It's a tricky one. James

For what it's worth, I got my diagnosis when I was 20, back in 2001, at the Turbary Park Centre in Bournemouth! That wasn't the first place I had tried though - ... from http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~cns/james.html (written by me in October 2002, about my life at university with Asperger's -- editorial, explanatory additions in [square brackets]) So, to you and Becky (Windrunner), as I just mentioned over in Becky's "University?" thread, I would suggest you keep trying at different places, if you can handle it(!) - some will be better than others, and I went through this a decade ago now, so tolerance and understanding ought to be much better now. Total rubbish. Also total baloney! If anything, being of above-average intelligence makes you more likely to have Asperger's!! James

Hi, Becky (I see you're a newbie, so welcome to the forum). Okay - here's my story, depressing as it is, which I wrote way back in October 2002, when I was in the final year of my Computing degree, and submitted to a web site specially dedicated to those at university with autism and Asperger's ... http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~cns/james.html Your situation sounds remarkably similar to mine at your age (and Mumble's actually, although my first-year halls still had a kitchen shared between 6, which majorly sucked). Some parts of my story will be more relevant to you than others, but do stick with it! The fact that I was only diagnosed halfway through my course make my story particularly appropriate to you. To conclude the story, I ended up withdrawing from my course the following February (2003), about halfway through my final year, for the reasons I mentioned towards the end. I was totally de-motivated towards the work I had to do (I'd hardly got anything productive done, so at the halfway point in the year, it was clear I was never going to get it done), but I did at least get a "Diploma of Higher Education" for the 2 years I did successfully complete. The OCD-like behaviour I mentioned has exacerbated, so much so that it's taken over my life to a certain extent, especially as I haven't worked much in the 7 years since leaving uni. My range of interests has further narrowed and my enjoyment of what's left has further declined to virtually zero. But on the flipside, while my enjoyment/excitement levels have dropped, so have my low moods, so I'm no longer on any anti-depressants, as I no longer need them ... which you might understandably think is a good thing. But my life is now just one long, dull, "average" existence, where I have no ambition for my future, so I think I'd rather have the depression (and therefore the anti-depressants) back, if it meant I could get excited about things and feel enjoyment again. It even spelled the end for my one fairly recent relationship (since the American girl in my story) - after a few months, the initial spark and novelty of it had gone and we both knew it, so it just fizzled out. I would suggest you keep trying at different places, if you can handle it(!) - some will be better than others, as you'll clearly see in my story, and that was a decade ago now, so tolerance and understanding ought to be much better now. By the way, that web site I submitted my story to might be useful to you (and anyone else at uni, like Mumble), although it doesn't appear to be being maintained any more, so a lot of it might now be out-of-date: University Students With Autism And Asperger's Syndrome Anyway, best of luck to you, Becky. <'> Feel free to PM me if you feel the need for whatever reason. (Mind you, you'd probably be better off not taking my advice, since my uni course ultimately ended in failure! ) James

Hey - you're studying now, and it looks like you're achieving great things too ... what more can you do? Not everyone is blessed with natural intelligence, and many have to work harder to achieve the same level of education. I was one of the lucky ones in my school days. And if they are smarter than you, then they're also lucky (you and their father gave them good genes!). I'd say you're making more effort than many young adults / single parents would in the same situation. James

I see - thanks for explaining. That's good that they tried so hard to get you involved, despite what they were being told by their bosses. And it looks like it's paid off too, now you have your own part in the follow-up! James

Ah, but the difference there is that you eventually got to your destination, however long it may have taken to get there, so there's a grey area. My situation was more black-and-white, coz I didn't get to my destination - I had to turn straight back (coz I'd already comfortably missed my appointment, so it was pointless completing the journey, especially as I had no idea how much longer services to Waterloo were gonna be suspended), which made it a much more straight-forward decision ... or maybe the ticket office man at Yeovil Junction was just more generous than whoever you dealt with! Although the helpful man at Woking (who had to put up with a constant stream of customer questions while I was stranded there! ) also said I'd definitely be able to get a refund. I guess you had a ruddy form to fill in. I expect you'll be refunded eventually, but I suppose it has to go through the system first. It was funny actually - on my bank statement, the refund appeared chronologically before my initial payment (albeit on the same date)! James

Never mind the taste - it's the temperature of cold tap water at the moment that I'm finding unbearable! It's soooooooo cold when I wash my mouth out after cleaning my teeth! Horrendous! Worse than that toothache you get with ice-cream! James

Interesting to see how you got involved. To the viewer, it just seemed like Alex had met you on a dating web site, not that the production team had found you themselves and then put you in touch with Alex. That was a bit sneaky of them! Nice plug you got in for your web site though. And lovely to see you've made a few fans along the way - you were definitely inspirational, for sure. Well done! James

Looking forward to it! James

Were you at Woking, Mumble? It was like that there on January 7th (i.e. when you posted), except the trains being referred to were from about an hour earlier than the current time. Not that I even wanted to be at Woking - that was where I got booted out (for the third time, having expected NO changes!) and told I wouldn't be going any further. Not much help when you live in Yeovil, trying to get to London - that's about as far from home as you can get without actually getting where you want to go. I was not impressed - turns out that this is what stopped me from getting into London (ironic when it was so cold! ), and I did get my train fare immediately refunded when I got back home ... no compensation for the 10 wasted hours on the 200-mile round trip though, nor the £50 deposit I had to squander due to a missed appointment at the place I was trying to get to. People might think they were on the train scheduled for 5:57 if they didn't do that ... not that it matters, I suppose. Don't forget the whole system is entirely automated these days ... well it is on the networks I use most often anyway (usually South West Trains). James

Check out the following Facebook group ... http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=193160909161 ... not that I'm a member of it (an Aspie Facebook friend of mine is though), nor am I sure you'd be "eligible" to join (looking at the group description), but it's open to all, so even if you joined, read some of the contributions and left again, I expect you'd be fine. James

I expect I'll be in New Zealand ahead of my brother's wedding, so that rules me out. Not that anyone noticed me declare a possible interest in the pre-Christmas meet-that-never-was. James

I suppose you should've been grateful she got 5 of the 8 letters right. James

I recently posted something totally innocent on a Facebook friend of mine's Wall, only to find she later deleted the post and didn't bother telling me why. Okay - I haven't seen or spoken to her at all really, since we finished working at the same place about 4 years ago (a cyber-café), and even then I didn't really speak to her much. But she accepted me as a Facebook friend when I sent her a friend request, so I can see no reason why she would have a problem with me making a light-hearted comment about how a recent Deal or No Deal contestant was a spitting image of her. Totally baffling. People are just strange sometimes. I was only trying to "break the ice", thinking she might've appreciated the fact I still remembered who she was. Still, maybe I should be grateful she didn't delete me as a friend while she was at it. Not that that hasn't happened with other people - I've seen many Facebook friends disappear over the years, much to my surprise. I mean why would you want to lose friends? If it's a privacy issue, why not just restrict some of the things you're putting on display for only certain people to see? No - they'd rather just upset people by wiping them off their friends list like dirt on their shoes, just because that's easier. I'm always doing that, totally unintentionally of course, but people fly off the handle too easily, as if you've deliberately tried to humiliate them. Makes being a loner seem quite attractive sometimes. James

Same here - I had to wait until late last night here in Yeovil too. Darn these "snow snobs"! James

I do wish someone would definitively tell me, once and for all, whether the 'g' in "Asperger's" is supposed to be a "hard 'g'" (as in "go") or a "soft 'g'" (as in "ginger"). Over the 9 years or so that I've heard the term used since I was diagnosed, there must've been a 50/50 split on the pronunciation used by all the different people I've heard say it! And, as a result, I've probably split my own pronunciations of it 50/50 too! It's darn frustrating, not knowing either way! If only Hans Asperger was still alive, so we could just ask him and be done with it. James

You go, girl! Keep us posted on what you get up to in your new role - should be interesting. James

Yes! But I fear we may be alone in this desire, since I'm the only one to have responded in over 4 days! Mind you, just by looking at our respective locations on our little left-hand-side profiles, I see we share the same county. James

(Don't worry, Tally - this is legal! ) All you can get now are a few short clips from the programme, which I think were originally meant as previews/trailers, but which are still available on-line ... BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8195815.stm (1 min 57 secs) YouTube (BBC): (4 mins 3 secs) Firecracker Films: http://www.firecrackerfilms.com/broadcast/the-autistic-me/ (1 min 3 secs) James

Well I ended up spending the day getting my swine flu jab (because of my history of asthma, even though it's not affected me at all for many years now) and, coz I was running typically late, pulling a muscle in my back on the way up the steep hill to the surgery!! Would've been better off ice-skating, I reckon! I was barely able to walk between Saturday and Monday! Thank all that is good for Ibuprofen though. James

Same as before (post #25). James

Same here (but I might watch the final - that shouldn't be quite as infuriating - ) ... although this now means I won't be watching either of them. But surely if you've recorded it, you can forward through all the ads! Doing mini-chores during the ads would be a reason not to record it! James

Now that GeoCities has closed, you'll need to visit http://web.archive.org/web/20071022160029/...k/famousac.html to access that page now. James

Surely the presence of Westlife alone should've been enough to put you off watching! Then you wouldn't have had to endure the lasers! They were probably there as punishment. I just switched over while they (and Michael Bublé) were on. James