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At what rate do your interests change Previous  1, 2  
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Ettina
Phoenix
Phoenix


Joined: Jan 14, 2011
Age: 23
Posts: 1791

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a child mine lasted 2-3 years on average, but my latest interest in psychology has lasted for almost 10 years now. (Intermixed with an interest in genetic disorders, but even then my focus is behavioral phenotypes.)

History of my interests:

As a baby - my first word was 'meowmi' (cat), so I suspect they were my first interest

As a preschooler - the rainforest, at 5 years old I impressed a priest by telling him my stuffed toy monkey had a prehensile tail (I'd tied his tail around my arm)

grade 1-3 or so - Animorphs, a book series about teenage superheros who turn into animals to fight mind-controlling alien slugs. I pretended mean people in my life were mind-controlled, and someday I'd find the Animorphs and join their team.

grade 5-7 - drug addiction, sparked by the anti-drug stuff in school

age 13 to now - psychology, particularly abnormal psychology

age 14-16 and just recently popped up again - medical genetics, particularly behavioral phenotypes of rare genetic disorders
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CockneyRebel
Mick Avory, Sensitive brown-eyed Sweet Pea
Phoenix


Joined: Jul 18, 2004
Age: 38
Posts: 87192
Location: In a quiet and peaceful garden, where gentle Mick Avory-like Sweet Peas grow.

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My main special interests haven't changed since I was 9. Computers (the Internet), the Olympics and The Kinks.
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MONKEY
Sunshine Groovetrip
Phoenix


Joined: Jan 04, 2009
Age: 20
Posts: 9775
Location: Stoke, England (sometimes :P)

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 12:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Depends, sometimes interests last days and sometimes they last years. For big obsessions the turn over is often every 1.5-2 years, but I never lose affection for my old interests. Apart from ASD's, I was obsessed with those when I joined this site and I'm sick of them now.
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b9
whatever..
Phoenix


Joined: Aug 15, 2008
Posts: 8369
Location: australia

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i have an outer ring and an inner ring of special interests.
the outer ring contains all the things i have interests in, and the inner ring is what i am currently engaged in.

i usually am obsessed for about 6 months with each of my interests until i exhaust my self with them, and then i move on to the next interest. but i never really develop new interests that i have not been previously interested in.

for example, i am very interested in thinking of formulae that will generate patterns, and i will produce many patterns for a period of six months until my battery for that interest goes flat. after about a year of not attending to that interest, i will suddenly pick it back up again with renewed enthusiasm and i will again produce many patterns.

i like to compose music and play it and i stay with that interest for about 6 months until the new songs i think of seem similar to earlier ones, and then i lose interest for about a year in that.
i have so many songs i have privately recorded that i am bamboozled by which ones to listen to. i never really listen to completed recordings more than once because my joy is in composing new ones and not resting on laurels.

i have minor interests as well. they may seem mundane and shallow, but i amuse my self with them.

one recent short term interest was trawling youtube for old australian ads that i forgot that existed. when i see them i think "wow! i remember that now!" and i am fascinated by them.

another interest is in searching for film clips (not acted movies) from times that no one alive today can remember. i have looked at and have been fascinated by many clips from the early 1900's where i can watch how life was in times gone by.

i have saved about 30 street life films from around 1895-1905 and i am transfixed to see how those people who are all long dead lived their life.

a few days ago, i found a site which has every copy of the "sydney morning herald" from 1835-1954, and i have been reading all those newspapers one after another since then. it is enthralling to read about the quarter sessions court cases etc and the punishment meted out to offenders, and the crimes they committed.

i have also had a recent and short lived resurrection in my fascination with frank zappa who produced many songs that were genius level, and who also produced a lot of rubbish, and i am trying to sift through stuff i have never seen to collect the gems. he was extremely prolific and wrote more songs than anyone else in the history of music, and all his songs are of a unique style and they do not sound like other songs he wrote.

i developed a lightning strike interest in the corrs, and so i found a torrent with their entire discography and downloaded it, but i have lost interest in them now.

but all the interests i have on my outer ring i will return to in my eternal routine even though many of them are dormant now.

at the moment i am resurgent in my interest in fractal mathematics and i have thought of many new routines and i am producing them, but i know that only i am as interested in them as me.

no one really understands what i get from my production of a pattern that i like.

i think i am rambling now so i will finish this post.
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darkfuji
Raven
Raven


Joined: Feb 23, 2012
Posts: 107

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

at any rate from 2 days to when i die.
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Wandering_Stranger
Phoenix
Phoenix


Joined: Apr 07, 2012
Posts: 1138

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My first real interest was music - that was around 10 - 11 years ago and it is still a big interest of mine.

My interests don't change that much.
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Adam82
Phoenix
Phoenix


Joined: Jun 30, 2010
Age: 30
Posts: 601

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mine change frequently. They used to last longer when I was a child. But my obsessive Aspie interests can cost me a lot of time and money, so I should try to calm down on them a bit.

Sometimes, I use them as an escape from the stresses and pressures of coping with everyday life. I need to become aware when I am doing this, and calm down on the compulsive spending, and compulsive indulging in my interests.
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DJFester
Phoenix
Phoenix


Joined: Dec 06, 2009
Posts: 970
Location: Minneapolis MN USA

PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 4:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My special interests change very little, if at all.
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ThatKidInTheCorner
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse


Joined: Apr 01, 2012
Posts: 32
Location: CANDYLAND.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very rarely. I gain new Specialist Subjects all the time, but I rarely ever lose them. Mostly they just take backseat to me newest one.
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ocdgirl123
Phoenix
Phoenix


Joined: Oct 11, 2010
Age: 18
Posts: 2447

PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't typically have one special interest at a time. I normally have about 2 or 3, and lots of minor interests. I would say my main special interests change every 2 months-3 years. There is one interest however, that's been my "special interest" on and off for 6 years. That is my longest running special interest.
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Kiseki
I just ran out of Band-Aids
Phoenix


Joined: May 30, 2010
Age: 33
Posts: 1604
Location: Osaka JP

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 1:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BunnyMum wrote:
I remember when mine used to last that long... those were the good old days. Now they only seem to last for a month or two, but I do think I kill them off before they naturally end as I don't want to spend too much money on them (some of my past interests have cost me a small fortune). I'm 39. If I could turn the clock back I would do all I could to stick with some of my interests, especially singing. I would try to turn them into a career. But I only learned I have Asperger's this year.


Same here. I've found that, with age, my interests no longer take over my life like they used to. I wish they would though! I've had interests last only a day or two and the longest nowadays is about 3 months. I am curious if this happens to other Aspies as well and why.
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IdahoRose
Imaginary Friend
Phoenix


Joined: Feb 25, 2007
Age: 22
Posts: 18651

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ocdgirl123 wrote:
I don't typically have one special interest at a time. I normally have about 2 or 3, and lots of minor interests. I would say my main special interests change every 2 months-3 years. There is one interest however, that's been my "special interest" on and off for 6 years. That is my longest running special interest.


We are very similar. I usually have 2 major interests at a time, and they last about as long as yours do (2 - 3 years), and my longest-running one lasted for 6 years also. Well, longest-running one involving a narrow topic - I have an interest in a broader topic that has been going on for 13 years.
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Thebigrage
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl


Joined: Nov 15, 2010
Age: 20
Posts: 135

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My interests have lasted since I can remember I didn't think they went away xD. At least in my mind Video games are one thing that I can see myself doing forever may change though idk.
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1ofMany
Emu Egg
Emu Egg


Joined: Apr 07, 2012
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 7:43 am    Post subject: mine Reply with quote

Playing games on PC for 24 years now. However, my ambition for a carreer changes randomly. Max. a few months.
My interest in people changes every day.
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Neutrino
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse


Joined: Apr 09, 2012
Age: 23
Posts: 45

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 7:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I was younger I could have the same interest for years. Nowadays they usually change every 2-3 months or so.
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