A GIANTIC Hi, to all you

Smartalex · Toucan Joined: Apr 12, 2012 Age: 28 Posts: 259

My name is, well, you can call me smartalex (quite often the alex is replaced by a swear). I'm no aspie. I love to socialize, talk and tell jokes. I'm in grad school studying for my MAT and I'm thinking about going into special ed.

I have a girlfriend who thinks she's an aspie. I met her in the library and I got a really awkward stare from her, and I thought, "was that the 'I find you attractive' stare. I couldn't tell." I started talking. I made jokes, and I am a person who thrives on joking and social interaction. I define myself as funny. For the first two weeks of talking to her, I only got an odd stare when I was joking and I had to even explain that I was joking. Honestly, I felt depressed at the time that I was no longer funny. She has a dog, who can be rambunctious. I suggested I could biting the dog to establish 'alpha-male' dominance and, this was a joke. She looked at me and with a scared and confused look and wanted to know why I was wanted to bite her dog. She took my joke literally. I had to tell her it was a joke. I really like her. She really likes me and, she really believes in me, which, I've never had before.

My earlier interaction with aspies were horrible and I only now realize how horrible I was. I live in the state of IL and I understand by privacy rules, I shouldn't state that but the unversities of IL; UI, UIC, SIU, ISU are HUGE into engineering. My brother older brother was a computer engineer and, I visited him often at UI. When I was a boy, I quickly understood that these 'engineering' students were the polar opposite to me. I found their awkwardness and shyness funny. I used to love to get in their personal space, touch them because I knew they hated it. I asked them tons of technical questions rapidly then before they'd answer, I'd make a stupid remark like, 'why don't you make a computer out of playdough!' They'd be shocked and frustrated. They were often OCD too. I loved going to their perfectly arranged desk and messing everything. I did not know what an aspie was as a boy and I do not know 100% if the kids were aspies, but I'm pretty sure now.

I cannot tell you how sorry I am now for being such a jerk. I was an immature boy and that was the only reason I picked on them, it had nothing to do with them. I was at fault.

Anyway, my girlfriend is studying library science to work in public libraries. She told me she thinks she has often wondered if she had aspergers. Sadly, she also told me that public libraries are becoming more social centers do to less printed books AND, librarians NEED to be social directors. That sucks.