Do you know the origin of your special interest(s)?

Post Reply New Topic

For example - why rockets and not busses (or vice versa) ? Why photography and not drawing (or vice versa)? Why become obsessed with X person, and not Z person?

As far as special interests - I never heard of the term until I read it on this board. But I have always had something of the sort going on even though I didn't know what it was called.

I have had two main special interests in my life (in addition to my three children, the true loves of my life - but most people do feel that way about their own kids ).

And I just figured out (I think[??]) why those two special interests "stuck", while other interests came & went fleetingly.

Obsession A ~ There's a band I like a lot (to say the least) which, for the first few years I listened to their music, they were in rotation with a LOT of other music - I was a typical fan perhaps, but later (1980 to be exact) it happened. This (for lack of a better word) connection was forged between us (me and the music). (I've always assiduously avoided hanging out with members of that band, because I don't want or need to have them in my life as humans - I need to be able to listen to the music without thinking, 'oh that jerk didn't call' as I'm looking at him onstage & trying to enjoy his work - - I'm not sure if anyone else relates to that? I needed the music more than I needed to know the musicians personally - sort of keeping them on a pedestal, not wanting to know their foibles [at least, not first hand]).

In retrospect ~~ I can pin down the exact moment that I went from just liking their music a lot, to being their music. I tend to live very much in my head, in the upper chakras so to speak - and that's been my experience for practically my whole life so I never really knew any other way of being. But one night I went to see this band (and it was not my first time seeing them, maybe the 6th time or so). And I paid attention - or they caught my attention - and grabbed me (almost physically) sort of at the bottom of my spine, connecting me to the earth - I think that's what people mean when they say "grounded" - for the first time. And I liked it. After all, I'm not all "mind" - I do have a body, I am this body essentially - or it is me, or we are me, whatever - and this organism that I am (in other words me) happens to love the feeling of being attached to the rest of the world - although I never felt it until the age of 23.

They've been doing it for me ever since. And it's been thirty years this year - actually it's 37 years since I first saw them in concert or obtained one of their recordings - but 30 solid years of full-on obsession. It's a very happy relationship and by far, my easiest this lifetime. (Helps that it's not a person, I guess.)

Obsession B ~~ Pulled into the supermarket parking lot, January 1988, with my "best friend" (who has many other besties too, but I digress as usual). Getting out of the car, glanced over to the right and there was this guy standing outside his car, about 100 feet away. He wasn't aware of me (and just to insert, he never really got much awareness of me later either). But I felt like I would be getting to know him and he'd be part of my life.

So we got introduced, and he came to my work & asked me out, we were walking in the deep snow in the dark, we were with friends but they were walking as a pair so we weren't (or I wasn't) so aware of them. This was our first time together (I hesitate to call it a date really, since we hung out at my house, then went for a walk, with friends no less). Anyway we were in this beautiful snowy wonderland, sky sparkling with stars, and then he touched me for the first time (body to body - obviously he'd already touched me a bit, emotionally). It was like putting his arm around me except that he put his hand on the part of my back (sacrum is under there I guess, bottom of the spine) that was the same part of my body that connected me to "everything" when I first got in touch with the music I love. He put his hand there, and THUNK! I dropped all the way into my body (from my spacy hangout in ethereal zone). That feeling - so rare and unfamiliar to me - of being Grounded.

We saw each other for a few months - I was ambivalent as I got to know him a little, b/c he's not very intelligent in the ways that I am, and he's addicted to TV and whatnot. Not super compatible or so I thought. He liked me a lot though. Until one night, I slipped up and mentioned another guy I was seeing - now, there was no reason I shouldn't be seeing that guy b/c My Obsession was still seeing someone else occasionally, there was no pretense of monogamy or so I thought.

Well I guess it's just understood that even though we all know he's screwing someone else and I am too, that we don't actually verbalize the truth of that. I accidentally did say something that reminded him that I was also seeing the other guy - and it wasn't cool, it hurt his feelings, he never really liked me after that.

But did I let it go - Not Even Close. No, I chased him down even after he was with someone else, and had the lovely position of back-up girlfriend while he was living with her. For some reason I always thought he'd see the light of why we needed to be together. All the women he hooked up with were mistakes (same with all the men I was with). But really, I just kept it up and after a couple of years I got pregnant by him, and I thought that would help him see the light, and if nothing else he would be a good dad I thought. (again I was old enough to know better, but whatever!) actually that was my only planned pregnancy, out of three, so .... anyway... it didn't go how I envisioned it.

He hooked up with a really jealous woman, & totally shunned me for a while - didn't even meet our son until he was two years old, except for a dramatic scene outside a bar when I had the baby with me, but he didn't even look at the baby.

Later he agreed to have our son go to his house on weekends - I always drove, always paid. He was supposed to pay child support, never did. Our son was spending part of the summer there a couple of years ago, and My Obsession somehow talked me into getting back together with him. (Because he'd been single two years "and I know what's out there") - in other words he'd already checked out every other potential sexual partner that would come to him in the middle of nowhere, bringing gifts and food and taking care of his stuff instead of my own (health for example).

My dream come true -- except not. He just couldn't fake it - and I couldn't stand being with him and being scorned/ disliked all at the same time - and USED! So much!

Our son is amazing - a touch of neurodiversity perhaps - he is awesome. His father couldn't be bothered to make a phone call much less stop in to see him. Yesterday I took him up there to see his dad - whoops, he was just on his way to a friend's house to watch the super bowl. (he actually got on his cell phone and called this male friend of his to say he'd be late - we were standing outside around the cars, clearly the boy & I weren't staying, I think we took up nine minutes of his time).

My obsession with this person is over. Many, many things happened over the years that should have made it be over - but it was over *CLUNK* in one moment, end of July 2009, I was lying on the bed in my RV, somewhere in Missouri or Kansas, talking on the phone to him. I had "bent over backwards" for the two years of our renewed "relationship" ~~ really - I did a lot of stuff for him that he should have handled, etc. - spent all my time at his disgusting house, spent my money on his bills, he disrespected me often, he blatantly favored his other kids over our son, he literally never came to my house - no effort on his part to be kind or partnerish (my bad, I know!). I think he did fix my car once - but, whatever, he does that for the nextdoor neighbor too.

And after all that, he asked me to do an errand for him on a day I was scrambling like crazy - like moving (which I wasn't ready for, directly related to spending too much time doing his stuff instead b/c it was an "emergency" every damn day) anyway moving out of my house into an RV with three kids and a tenant that didn't wanna leave, and the closing was that day , that overwhelming kind of crazy day - and I told him I didn't think I 'd get to it, but he said I should try. I did totally forget all about it - total overload.

Then about week later on the phone, I could totally tell from his voice he was hating me so I said - "You don't like me very much, do you" - and he paused.

"It's not that . . . [longpause] .... it's just, as a partner, I need someone more dependable ......"

OMFG.

And that was the end of that. Obsession lifted! Yay!

So, how'd you get your special interest(s)??


Edited as usual due to perfectionism, specifically a sentence fragment and some improper use of brackets/parentheses.

I remember standing in the living room and realizing how well i could mimick the singers in the Oklahoma soundtrack..but i had already been singing a whole lot anyway..

That's a very good question, which in my case, I can't answer.

This is a neat and fun topic---thank you for listing it. I will share a couple of mine.

1. Electronic Music (later other musical instruments)---The year was 1973 and I was 8 years old. My family and I were at Walt Disney World. After dark, as we were leaving the Magic Kingdom, I was struck with a magic that has never left---the world of synthesized music. The Electrical Water Pageant began on the lagoon, and I became entranced with the Baroque Hoedown music by Perrey and Kingsley. If you choose to watch the video of it I found on the internet, you might understand how I as an autistic child became fascinated by this. Electronic music in 1973 was a new thing---it was the first time I had ever heard anything like it. And when you combine that with the brilliantly lit floats with all their animations, I was spellbound. By the time I was in college in the mid-1980s, I had collected nearly 30 synthesizers and played them regularly. Even today, at the church where I play organ, I keep a synthesizer atop the organ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u92dPpcd0A

2. Roller Coasters (Amusement Parks)---The year was 1971 and I was 6 years old. The amusement park was Coney Island in Cincinnati, Ohio. (I was probably there a couple times before that year, but this is the year that I remember). I became fascinated with the Shooting Star and Teddy Bear roller coasters. Though I rode the Teddy Bear (kiddie coaster) I was too afraid of the Shooting Star. This was the event that began my obsession with roller coasters. After they tore the roller coasters down after they moved to Kings Island in 1972, I used to ask my parents all kinds of questions about the layout of the old park and how the roller coasters' layouts were made. I used to set up things (playground type stuff and lawn chairs etc.) in the backyard at home trying to create the amusement park. By the time I was in high school, I had memorized (without trying) the statistics of every roller coaster in North America. Today, I am working on an HO scale model of a tourist town in my basement complete with an amusement park based on Coney Island's layout. Coney Island had these Gingko trees that lined their midway/mall. Those trees fascinated me like you cannot imagine. It must be the shape of them. Here is a picture I found of them on the internet at old Coney Island. Interesting to note is that my appeal to them is largely due in part to the straight lines they formed---I have always enjoyed lining things up.

The roots of my interest in politics (since 11-12 y.o.):

It begin by two different ways - an interest in Walt Disney comic books (since 6 y.o.) and an interest in World War II (since 7 y.o.). The roots of these interests - the first, because it was the most popular comic books in my country; the second probably because there was much movies about WWII in television at these times (nome of my these interests could be considered "strange in focus" - probably they were two very usual interst for a boy of my age, but I suppose it were "strange in intensity")


- about 9/10 y.o., the interest in WWII becomes a general interest in History and the interest in Disney cartoons created an interest in Economics (influence of Uncle Scrooge!); and these two interests (History and Economics) "merged" with each other, creating my interest in Politics (strangely, today I am an anti-militarist left-winger...).

I was seriously obsessed with the Beatles when I was younger...I eventually outgrew it, but it was such an all-consuming obession that it limited my ability to absorb and appreciate other rock music when I was younger...(up till my early teens)...(I did like other genres though..like classical and show tunes)

I have a memory of crawling on the floor and listening to the end of Sgt Pepper where the record gets stuck in a groove and repeats the same line of nonsense over and over again....I was crawling at that age....I also recall dreams I had about the Beatles dating back to age 3...I had reoccurring dreams after watching the BeeGees Sgt Pepper movie in the theater....
I was 5 when John Lennon was shot. I don't remember feeling sad about it, but I remember where I was when my parents told me....

I was exposed to other music because my parents are audiophiles...but I was the most profoundly affected at a young age by the Beatles...and I didn't really choose it.

My mom tried to get me to like other bands...she didn't really get into the Beatles till she was older because when she was young she was turned off by their mass-popularity...

Horses, I don't know... when I was little I fell in love with one, and I've loved them ever since.

Chess, that's easy. I was in remedial maths, but the maths teacher had hopes for me, and taught me to play. I used to spend many happy hours visualising strategies, and being anywhere other than where I was. Not saying I'm a chess genius, but I can picture it, and each game tells a story. I like that.

Languages... that's also easy. I grew up in a polyglot household. It fascinated me that most people were limited to one language, and I felt as though I were a different person depending what language I was speaking in. I loved to feel the shapes of languages in my head, and imagine the patterns. I'm still in love with the shape of languages.

Music... I suppose that started so young I can't pin it down.

Sci fi... probably watching Star Trek and Dr Who as a child.

Literature... a place to escape when I was a kid. I still live in literary fiction most of the time.

Sorry. I can't explain the origin of mine. My special interests pick me. I have no say in the matter. I really have no idea why one thing and not another becomes a special interest. All I know is that almost all of them have some sort of trivia base where I can categorize information and memorize facts. But I've never been able to figure out why something I discover turns into a full-blown special interest whereas something else just stays a basic interest. I can describe in great detail the discovery of my special interests, but I have a very superficial understanding of why they're special interests at all and not just something I like.
-OddDuckNash99-

The Kinks:

One of my first memories was hearing 'You Really Got Me' on the radio, many times a week, at the age of 4. I played the song to my mum on a blank tape at the age of 14, and said, "I remember hearing this song a lot, when I was little." It's still one of my favourite songs. I'd also lay awake at night, whenever my parents and their friends would listen to The Kinks and other old British bands, between the ages of 4 and 11. I started buying the music at the age of 12.

Routemasters:

I went to Victoria, BC for the day with my pre-school, at the age of 5. The whole bunch of us got to go inside a Routemaster bus and look around. It was neat, being on the top. I think that was a defining moment, for me.

Books: I learned how to read when I was four years old, and I loved it.
I went to library often, and read plenty of books.
I couldn't stop. I read books every day.

Cats: When I was about three years old, we bought two cats.
One of them disappeared, and we gave the other cat to a woman who wanted him.
I missed our cats, and started to read about them. I realised that I loved cats, and I got one when it was my 11th birhtday.

Photography: I wanted a camera for my birthday once, but I wasn't interested in photograpy yet then.
I visited photography forums and desired to be as good as the members.
I improved, and now is it one of my biggest interests.

The Swedish language: I moved from Norway to Sweden and then I wasn't good at Swedish at all.
I borrowed books about the Swedish language, and I was so fascinated.
I love the words, the grammar and how it sounds.

The English language: Only a few months ago, I looked in my old school books to see how good I was at English.
I could absolutely nothing about this language. I was so poor in English, so I started to practise.

Iceland has been one of my longest-running special interests in my life and I recall very distinctly my first memory of this country, when it made known its existence to me.

I was perusing our atlas, a very large one, and it was quite battered and bruised if I recall correctly. Eventually I found the land mass that represents this nation and so investigated, taking a closer look.

Finding Reykjavik to the south-west of the land, I began my attempts to pronounce it, but at that time it seemed impossible, I couldn't produce anything fluid. Of course I was extremely young. But anyway, it made me curious, what is this place like, really, standing on its own, so small, seeming so obscure, with the impossible place name.

Saying that it was a large atlas, there may have been additional names far harder to pronounce than the capital. lol But Reykjavik stands out in my mind.

I saw a game boy color and Wario Land II once in a toy magazine when I was 5-6.

Joy Division: The fist man I loved turned me on to this band, and I loved them. Became obsessed with them to the point where I would collect rare pictures of them for hours online.

Space: Since I was little I would get this odd feeling from the night sky. Its like nothing I've ever felt, like the feeling of deja vu except you feel like you KNOW whats out there, and that you know everything. Its otherworldly I swear, but I love getting that feeling.

Epilepsy: My favorite Author, My favorite singer, and my Chihuahua have epilepsy. Just fascinating to read about.

Art: When I was a kid I was not very social at all, but when I would draw, others became very impressed by my ability. Since then its been my communication tool. I am good at focusing on one thing for hours, and art allows me to do that.

I agree with glider18... What a fun idea for a topic! Here are the origins of my obsessions:

Anime - It all began one weekday morning when I was around 8 years old. I was channel-surfing for something to watch before going to school. All of a sudden, an episode of Pokemon caught my eye. I sat through the episode, completely mesmerized by it. It was a cartoon, but it wasn't anything like I was used to. After watching the credits, I recognized the names of the creators as being Japanese. From that moment on, I watched as many Japanese cartoons as I could find, including Digimon, Cardcaptors, Tenchi Muyo and Hamtaro, to name a few. I just loved the art style of anime, especially the big, soft eyes and bright colors. When I was 11, I befriended a Japanese-American girl. Although she was NT, she obsessed over anime as much as I did. Our favorites were Rurouni Kenshin and Inuyasha. We did lots of fanart and fanfiction together. The fact that we formed such a strong bond over anime made me love it even more. Although my friendship with her ended on a rather nasty note, I continued to love anime for several years afterwards.

Bizarre Movies/Cult Classics: This obsession is brand-spankin' new. It all started when I realized I was getting tired of anime and needed to try a different medium for entertainment. I remembered seeing a brief moment from Edward Scissorhands on TV several weeks earlier, so I went and watched the entire movie. I fell in love instantly, and knew I had to find more movies like it. In addition to Edward Scissorhands, I've seen Sweeney Todd, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Repo The Genetic Opera and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, all of which I absolutely love. I'm going to see Alice in Wonderland with my dad when it comes out next month. Even though it's already getting so much hype that I wouldn't call it a "cult classic", it's still right up my alley of bizarre, offbeat movies.