FKlama

Congratulations from me too... The one and only job interview that I have ever done (for a job over the summer holidays) also seemed to go badly, but they took me nontheless. Back then I put my skills into the database of an online job portal. I got a phone call from the company that owns the job portal the next day, inviting me for an interview. On the net, they only had jobs for HTML work, but when they found out that I could actually do all the stuff I put in as my 'skills', I started in the (with myself included 4 person) development department, and did PHP, and C coding as well as some MySQL Database work. It was a great job, so great that a few times my boss came in several hours after the 'official' end of work (once it was close to 1am) telling me to go home. And another great thing, they where flexible concerning the time I would start work. The only requirement was that I tell my boss at least day bevore (better two), if I wanted to come after 12:00 or stay away for a day. I never did any PHP coding before I started there, but due to my proficiency in several other programming languages, I was shown how to access the online manual, and given a medium size project wich was not time critical for starters... ...the perfect learning environment for me... ...soon after I got quite complicated tasks...

It used the be the same here. That happened to me frequently as well. Well during my bad times, it was like that all of the time. I would just start wetting, and not even notice. That is why I started wearing nappies back then. Because then I knew, even if I do wet myself, it is no problem. I am amazed that I am not alone, that quite a number of people here have similar problems.

I will have to move soon as well, only to a different dorm, about 100m away, but even though it is less thant a month, they have not yet told me what room I will be in. It is a bit late for my taste. I hope I will at least have a couple of days to move...

This might be a be too personal for some people, so if you think that reading about adult toileting issues might be a problem for you, please refrain from reading on. I have always had problems feeling when my bladder was full. Like many other things, I was quite successful at hiding this problem all my life, by drinking very little, and stopping an accident in progress before if got to big to hide. Since I was drinking very little (sometimes I would notice that the last time I had something to drink was over 24h ago, {if I don't sweat} I do not get thirsty unless I stop drinking for 48h), I was in a constant state of mild dehydration (probably not very healthy) to reduce the amount of urine produced. Several years ago, during some especially stressful parts of my life, this problem got so bad, that I had to wear adult nappies to keep my pants dry. Since it took one stressor away, it was helping me tremendously. I have (myself) classified this problem as another sensory issue, since everything works just fine, if I concentrate on my bladder. Also most of the accidents happened when I was totally immersed in something. At the beginning of this year, I did (another) personal assessment of what sources of stress I have in everyday life, and how I could reduce them. I noticed that the stress generated by the constant vigilance to keep from wetting myself was quite considerable. As an experiment, I decided to wear adult nappies again, to see how much stress relieve this would bring during normal times. Since the stress relieve was considerable, I started considering to keep wearing them full time. I began assessing the pros and cons, including the risk of losing bladder control completely. Due to the incredible stress relieve, I decided that it was well worth the risk, and kept wearing adult nappies. I have been waring them ever since, and my prediction that stopping to be on guard to keep dry would result in more frequent uncontrolled urine loss has turned out to be true. It is kind of weird watching myself as I slowly lose bladder control, but since I had accepted this as a likely possibility, it does not bother me. Another advantage is, that I can now drink 'enough' without risking wet clothes. This has also reduced the effects of the dehydration, wich is another positive factor that I did not even consider initially. I still have to remind myself to drink, but having enough bottled water on my desk when I am at the university, or making a big pot of tea when at home makes this quite easy. I know that most people probably think it is weird for an intelligent 26 year old to wear nappies, especially I am not mentally retarded and considering that I have decided to do so, even though I managed (barely) without. But then again, those are common stereotypes again. It it considered to be normal for mentally retarded and old people to wear nappies past the toddler age, but society expects everyone else to be 'toilet trained'. But then, I don't really care too much about what others think, and most people will probably never know (unless I tell them). I was just curious, are there others having similar problems interpreting the signals from their bladder, or am I the only one. I hope this was not too personal for anybody and that I did not offend anyone, but then again, i did put a warning on top...

The weird thing is that I have both extremes. Most of the time my sense of smell is very weak, and I will smell only strong odors. Rarely though, is seems like I can smell everything... ...that can be very confusing. For some reason (normally) my sense of smell is always 'better than average' for certain scents, but useless for everything else. I am always extremely sensitive to the 'old fish' smell. I will eat sushi and extremely fresh fish, but anything else makes me gag. Walking through the perfume section of a store is also horrible, even with a blocked nose, those smells are extremely strong.

This is easily solved (unless its battery is empty). Call yourself... Constant places do not work for me, but I managed to contain the 'area' of where I put my keys. If I am in the Lab, they are either hooked to my trousers (their 'standard' location) or optionally on the desk. In my dorm room, I have them either hooked to my trousers or sitting on my bed. With the 'chaos' in my bed it still makes for some searching, but since it is a small area, I can usually find them within 5-15s. Shoes? Who needs shoes... I only wear shoes in the chemistry building, since it is mandatory there... ...walking barefoot is amazing... Getting (and staying) organised does not seem to work for me either, so I keep the most important things in set places and let everything else be... ...I just go through all my paper stuff once or twice a year to throw out unneeded stuff... It works 'sort of', but it looks anything but organised... ...my room is a total chaos, but amazingly most of the time I find what I am looking for... ...just thinking about what I am looking for, I get a picture of where I have last seen it... ...most of the time that is enough to tell me where to look... I am a lot more organised within the filesystem of my computer... ...probably since it is much less effort... ...I whish I could install 'locate' in 'Real Live'... ...but then again, that is just about how my brain works... ...as long I see something every now and then, I can locate it relatively well... ...but when somthing sits somewhere where I will not see it on a semi-regular basis, it just falls off my list of locatable items...

I do not think you can. Not properly anyways... We are just too different from anything they know.

A few hours ago I started my daily routine of getting lunch and checking mail. Normally I would go to the UFO (University Food Outlet), buy a sandwich, cherry coke and a pcket of crisps. Then go on to the mail room to check for mail, eating the sandwich on the way. After that back to the laboratory. A few days ago I stood in front of closed doors when trying to buy dinner, and found out that the UFO opens until 17:15 during the holidays (I ordered food that day). Today I stood in front of closed doors again, well bevor 17:15. After a while I found two identical A4 sheets of paper, with easter egg grafics printed on, informing me that the shop will be closed until Wednesday next week. Slightly unsettled I proceeded, without lunch, to the mail room, only to find a similar (less decorated) piece of paper, telling me again that the mail room will reopen next Wednesday. I am always amazed how such 'little things' can throw me off course that much... ...it seems like the whole university is closed, even the chemistry building is on 'limited access'. I am very happy that I have a keycard, so I can at least get into the laboratory.

Hi Anamda, in my opinion some components point towrds AS, but as I am no professional and only have your post, I can only tell you what I think. I am a Member of Mensa, and have noticed that due to my high intelligence I can be very good at hiding some autistic traits or compensate for them. Group work 'can' work, if I concentrate hard on the group interactions. I see this as an 'emulation' of NT behaviour, but just like with computers, emulating a system eats up a *lot* of resources. This is one of the main reasons that I hate group work, I spend 90% of the time on the interactions and not doing something 'wrong' and only 10% on the task at hand. Most of the time I would have been a lot faster on my own. I also studied the NTs (and their weird behaviour) for quite a while now, and I usually have a good idea why they do the things they do. The only problems are, that this does not work on the fly and that I also have to do this 'actively'. I can probably pass for an NT on 'fist glance', but once people get to know me, they ususally notice that I am weird (I really like that word). It is only really a set of 'subroutines' that I have built over the years, that use my shear 'processing power' and skill for abstraction to be 'partially compatible'. This only really works when there are no 'stress factors', if there are, all this 'emulating' can suddenly 'break down'.

I don't get that one.

I tiked that box recently too. Yes, it did feel kind of weird (not ticking it would have felt 'wrong' though), especially since all my differences just cannot be summed up by one box/label. Probably not even a set of labels. I often seem to have trouble filling in forms, the 'gender' section is easy, since it can be answered by looking at ones anatomy. The trouble that I have, is that I often do not fit into the categories or assumptions that are the basis of the form. I am just too different, my path in life has just been too different from the norm to fit into a form. Well, I still try my best, and the sections that I just cannot answer, I just leave blank. I have also disclosed my AS to my tutor (one of the few people that I see on a regular basis here at University). Doing reserch now, instead of going to lectures has definitely improved my 'university experience', since I am much better at working things out myself, or just teaching missing skills to myself (possibly with a few pointers) while solving a (real world) problem than 'being tought'.

I will be early, have a MacBook and an iPod Touch with me (my constant companions) and a yellow couriers bag. I hope there are not too many people there... Chemistry, more specifically Physical Chemistry in the field of solid-state NMR. .oO( I play around with the magnetic moments of atomic nuclei ) See you tonight then... Frederik

Great, I am planning to go to the next meeting. Maybe I will see you there.

Not really. I lose touch with anything that is more than a day away. It would also be quite cruel if I hat brought him here. Cockatiels need to live in groups (even if it is only a Group of two). I never missed my parents after the first day when I was at bording school as a child.

Yes. He had to stay in Germany though, because: No pets allowed in accommodation Beurocratic difficulties bringing a 'parrot' into the UK