Whats your most recent ASD moment?

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Yesterday. I had to attend. I Had to go sit at a table with twelve teachers &/or bereaucrats, while DS was discussed, I was called 'mom' - as though I wasn't sitting right there, he was officially given an IEP, and I was asked "important" questions about him. I never know which questions should actually be answered and which are 'just for show', and should be answered with a platitude. My face was red the entire time. What a nightmare to have all twelve people looking at me, and being expected to know the answers.

I always thought in turn, up until now, these were the places where cars got hit by other cars, in the result of which their passengers lost their life.

Being in a meeting with two people, one of them said "it's time we draw this to a close" and I carried on waffling for a bit. Shortly after they both stood up, towering over me and I sat there for a few long moments, before realising they were expecting me to stand up too and show them the door. I mean I've heard of missing subtle social cues but come on! (In my excuse though I was very tired that day!)

"You are quiet. Do you actuallly talk to people?"

I was surprised to recently hear the "quiet" remark ( again). I spent time (much time) over several days in small talk and deeper conversation with a fellow; and I heard "that" again.

I'm usually really taken aback when I hear this. But recently it flashed up in a different way. I finally understood this to mean initiating a conversation and wanting to chatter-box away into someone's ear - to seek an ear.

I was too literal in my thinking.

I don't see those markers very much but I have seen them. I am not sure what I thought for sure. I don't think I thought someone died literally where the marker is planted into the ground because that is pretty precise and car accidents are bigger than that. I thought they were car accidents that happened in the area of the marker of the accident.

Then just now I realize they could be car accidents that happened in the far left lane too. I think I assumed the accident happened in the general area of the marker.

Most recent was a year ago or so. A girl I liked basically asked me to take her out to lunch after our classical mythology class was finished, but she didn't say that, she said things that seemed unrelated to me like "Boy, I sure am hungry. Oh, but I don't have any money!" and "K., you have a credit card, right?" I just wan't getting it, and I realized what had been going on right as she turned away from me and walked off in a huff. I had been trying to work up the nerve to ask her out for over a week.

edit: The reason it's been so long is I've found a treatment that's extremely effective for me, but it also happens to be an illegal psychedelic drug.

My friend told me how she was pushing 200kg now, I thought she meant she weighed 200kg, well it turned out she meant she was able to push 200kg with her legs (she's a cyclist). I think she was a bit offended that I assumed that.

I hit myself in the face and scratched my glasses while spinning a curtain string.

when i went to the shop today to get some pastries, the cashier girl must have recognized me (because i go there often), and she was effusive in her manner, and i was not amenable to her attitude at the time, and when she asked me how i was, i did not register the question and i said "yes 2 cinnamon donuts and one sausage roll with a portion control tomato sauce thankyou". she got cracking with my order so it was not a total disaster.
when i left the shop, after a number of minutes, i thought "maybe i just wasted an opportunity to know someone", but the sausage roll was delicious so that fully compensated for the potential regret. as long as someone from that shop serves me, i will continue to get delicious pies and sausage rolls and vanilla slices etc. as long as they wear gloves.

Was at a bar last night with my roommate and a guy came up to us and started chatting. I thought he was quite young so I said so- "You're young though, aren't you?" He said "I'm 28." I responded "Oh, that's old."

My roommate started laughing and said "That's rude!"

So then I felt embarrassed and responded "But you are younger than us."

Today I decided to replace the burnt out bulbs in the instrument cluster in my truck. However, at night I noticed that some of the bulbs were brighter than others. So, I just got done balancing the bulbs in the cluster so that all of the main bulbs are originals taken from idiot light positions and all of the idiot lights now have the dimmer new bulbs in them. This way, everything should light up evenly and all will be right in my strange, little world.


* Edit* It seems there are two types of bulbs used, a 1.4 watt and a 3 watt, so now I am having a further moment of aggravation trying to figure out just where the heck I can buy the 3 watt bulbs because they look a little brighter and thus, newer. If I go full on crazy over it, expect to see me going to a self service junkyard to pull gauge clusters out of similar vehicles just to take the bulbs. I really need to join another automotive forum so I stop posting this annoying stuff here.

This is a different sort of ASD moment, and I'm not sure if this counts.

A few days ago, I was on the subway. It wasn't a particularly crowded subway car -- probably less than a dozen other people there. There was this one man who appeared to have severe classic autism. There was a woman with him, who appeared to be some sort of caregiver. For most of the ride, he'd been sitting quietly, making the occasional noise. Then he got up from his seat, and started moving away from his caregiver while making noises. She followed him. She was leaning towards him telling him, "It's okay, we're getting off." Each time she leaned in his direction, he recoiled, making noises of protest.

Then, as she tried to get to him, he came right over to me, and touched my hand. He took no notice of anyone else on the train other than me. He seemed to specifically seek me out, as if he felt compelled to make some connection with me. Perhaps he sensed something in me he recognized, some common ground between us. When he touched my hand, I was surprised, but oddly not put off or repulsed as one might expect. I simply withdrew my hand gently. I was too preoccupied by matters completely unrelated to that particular situation to come up with any response. In retrospect, I wish I had reciprocated in some meaningful way, such as briefly putting my other hand over his before withdrawing.

I'm particularly intrigued by the aftermath of this fleeting wordless exchange. After this, his caregiver was obviously embarrassed. She took hold of him, and did not relinquish that hold as they got off the train a moment later. Yet he was not resisting her. The agitation he had been demonstrating before had vanished. His contact with me seemed to have calmed him somehow.

I just thought that was interesting.

Job interview. Mall management/sales position. As always, the interviewer commented on how quiet my voice is, and questioned if I would be successful in sales. I pointed to my exceptional sales numbers in a prior position, and asked if she had ever taken any basic sales courses, because she ought to know that you engage people more directly when they're forced to lean into your physical space, creating a false sense of intimacy.

It works (HELLO, I'm autistic, I watch people like it's my job! lol) but I think it weirded her out. Oops.