Sunday morning, lots of snow, over a foot, still falling. Cold. Don't know how cold, my outdoor monitor is buried in the snow, but it says 12 degrees F. Windy. I should probably go for a walk with my camera, but my only shoes are sneakers. Usually wear clogs or sandals, without socks, summer and winter. But not when there's over a foot of fresh snow on the ground!

Here in Massachusetts, all eyes are on Pittsburgh, where our Patriots will play the Steelers for the AFC championship this evening. Two very similar teams, very well matched; but we have the best coach in the league, I trust him to win. But it sure makes me stressed out!

The squirrels have already cleared the snow off my feeders, and are chasing each other all over for access to the peanuts. (http://scoogy.com/wildlife/new_squirrels/) The feeders are low already, I'll have to go refill them, and put some peanuts out for the bluejays, who get very frustrated seeing all those peanuts they can't get at. But it'd wake my roommate, who has a lot of trouble getting back to sleep, so I'll wait a while. Besides, the snow is blowing like mad, doesn't look inviting at all!!!

My brother called again yesterday, we had a long chat. He's working for his son, who, much to my astonishment, has created a company that builds decks 'n stuff. His company had gross income of 3/4 of a million dollars last year. Way to go nephew!

Naturally, he called during the Patriots game. We're big fans here, so I had to split my attention. 20-3 over Peyton Manning and the Colts. I can't believe they shut 'em down that bad! Next week: Pittsburgh. at Pittsburgh.

I never went through adolescence. Puberty, sure, that's a physical thing, but I never got as far as adolescence. My AS kicked in suddenly at age 7, at the same time my family situation turned upside down, and it caused my emotional growth to stop. Since I'm 60, it obviously hasn't killed me. But those 60 (well, 53) years sure could have been a lot more fulfilling! I'm trying to make those adjustments now, since I can see what's missing. But I'm 60, so I sorta say "take me as I am, or leave me be."

My older brother called me today... must have been 2 years, anyway. He lost my contact info, and he had moved to Florida, and never given me his new info. That's good.

I sent him the address of the online family album I created. Covers 1955-58, when I was 11-14. From my parents' pics, many improved with Adobe Photoshop. If you'd like to see them click on Family Album (remember, I'm the younger, dumpy-looking kid) These pics are just a small percentage of the total. They go back to 1938, when my father graduated from the Naval Academy (engineering degree) and married my messed-up, genius mother.

I was in the Navy myself - a Hospital Corpsman. Lasted 16 months. Since finding out about AS, I've decided that that wasn't a failure, I should be proud of lasting that long in such an anti-Aspie environment. Also went to boarding school(s) throughout High School. Flunked out of the first, got the highest grades in the second school without working any harder than the year before, and then settled into a "medium" school where the same amount of work got me medium grades. Was a National Merit Scholarship finalist, Michigan State University invited me to apply. Once they got my grades, they said they'd let me in "anyway." Lasted one semester. Tried again 6 years later... lasted one semester! tried two other schools... lasted 1-1/2 semesters at each... Underachiever (Champion!) with no drive. But I sure like computers. Before that, Amateur (Ham) Radio... still licensed as AF3S, but inactive. Loved morse code, and was pretty good at it. Went all-out in bowling in the 80's, got pretty good (ABC ring for 815 series), but lost interest. Briefly was into stamp collecting (twice), and roller skating. Playground basketball, could shoot well. As a kid, the usual: dinosaurs and Astronomy. But never got to be an expert at anything. Again, no drive. I feel at the mercy of the rest of the world, and have been dumped on so many times that my motto is "Que sera sera" (sp)... Whatever will be, will be. I could go to college now, but to learn what I want to know... computers, of course. A course in Adobe Photoshop would really turn me on! OK, enough for now. But I'll be back, still not knowing if anyone reads this, or even (gasp) finds it interesting.

(Comments)

Hi. I'm Ed, 60 years old, diagnosed with both AS and allergy to fragrance.

Hopefully this will be easy. I don't see a "help" option, so I have no idea what I'm doing! Used to have another blog, entitled "Why Is Our Government at War with Us?" Nobody ever read it, so I ranted instead on rock band Max Creek's forum (http://www.maxcreek.com/new/forum.html) - I'm really into that band (http://scoogy.com/maxcreek/) and I used to work for them, selling merchandise. Started seeing them back in 1989; they've been playing since 1971. Anyway, I was talking about how I don't know what I'm doing. Have to check out the other on-site blogs to see what's possible. And have to dig waaayyy back into my memory to remember HTML.

Lots of people try out the blog feature once, and then never come back to continue. It's too bad, some seemed pretty interesting. Anyway, I'll try not to do that. Actually, I have lots of boring stuff to say, and thanks to Alex and Dan there is a place to say it! Probably never know if anyone reads it, but just writing it may help. I've found a home here on this wonderful site, and I'm glad. I'll knock it off for now, but I'll be back!