I didn't know that. I thought a selfie was a photo you took yourself, of yourself ...but it can contain as many other folks (celebrities are very fashionable) as you can squeeze into the shot.
If you struggle with Asbergers, then this lack of confidence in your ability to 'read' other people and their subliminal meanings will happen. The fact that you're doing so well interacting with people should make you proud. What you are doing is learning to do rationally and consciously what non-Asbergers people do instinctively. That adds a layer of difficulty to your life, for sure. But you are really digging in and making a go of it. I think the best thing you can do is what you've already done here on the forum. You've let us know about the Asbergers issue. That means we won't mind if you sometimes pick up meanings which we didn't intend. We'll be more than happy to explain what we've meant, when you let us know you didn't make a connection. The same in reverse. If you say something that sounds a bit 'off' to us, we'll ask for clarification. It's us knowing your situation that makes all the difference. You try to present yourself rationally and courteously, even though you must occasionally be angry or hurt or confused by what somebody has said. That's another great plus for your character. You may well spur people on to think carefully about what they say and to process what they hear with a more open mind. That's a gift.
Oh no, my feels!!! Too much nice. Yeah, I do think Asperger's has something to do with it. I think it's to a degree compensation for when my awareness was at rock bottom for ages. My family went to this holiday cottage for a while and while there I suddenly hit a maturity bubble and my self-awareness grew. And I realised more care was needed. And now I'm painfully aware of my inadequacies in this area. But I deal. I always deal. I'm too happy and optimistic to get bogged down in this.
I just discovered that one of my all-time 'heroes' has Asbergers, and it's not something I would have guessed about him. Mind you, I've never actually met him, so how would I know? But that's Michael Palin, the hilarious Monty Python guy, the occasional actor, and the presenter of TV travel programmes like Pole to Pole. He is unofficially known as Britains Nicest Man, and he's been married to the same woman for 49 years. He certainly has learned to deal with relationships, both professional and personal. He also has lots of friends. I'm in awe. Like yourself, he always appears happy and optimistic. It turns out that he probably actually is.
Grammar Nazi Moment; it's Asperger's not Asbergers. That's a South Park Joke. Ass-Burgers. I remember that episode fondly.
I recommend multiple of my ideas! #shameless self promotion. You know, one of my pet peeves is how I seem to be the least negative person in my family, overall. Not always, but I do seem to be the most perky generally. And the only one who appreciates the true-beauty-of-hugs. PHILISTINES!!
Hehehe it's an easy mistake to make when something with a powerful popular culture influence intentionally mispronounces it and many people don't notice because it sound so similar.
People on Twitter who've set up auto DMs (private messages) for new followers. Inevitably something like: "Thanks for following! Check out my book for just 99 cents on Amazon sales link" No. Tweet interesting and/or funny things and I will assume your books will be interesting and/or funny and go and buy them. DM me a sales link and I will unfollow you and assume your book is shit that you have to beg people to buy.
Just saw that and it sparked a memory. Who says that soul-mates need to be of the sexual-attraction sort? I once wrote an email to a webmaster of a site, whimsically because the views there represented my own views. 'Whoever you are, you are my sister.' Ten (or fiveteen, don't remember..) years later this girl is still my very best friend, and the one who understands best.
You're right, that happens as well. I have a best friend whom I met one day, and we were inseparably best friends the next. Friends at First Sight. That was in 1967—and while we're separated by an ocean, we still talk on the phone once a week or so, and have never been 'apart'. We still are best friends. However, both of us found our 'romantic' soul mates as well. And it's a very different thing. It's very difficult to explain.
Why does everyone in every fantasy universe have a completely unique name? We all know several people named "Michelle" or "Adam" IRL, but in all of Middle Earth there's only ever been one elf named "Luthien", or whatever.
Even in non-fantasy novels you don't tend to have characters with the same name though, do you? I would avoid that (unless using it for comic effect) because it'd be confusing for readers.
HUGE pet peeve: People who say that a language sounds "angry" or "aggressive" or "violent." German and Russian get a lot of flak for this, and I simply don't understand the reasoning. All I can think of is the people saying this are completely closed-minded and refuse to hear the language in question any other way.
My girlfriend is Russian, and she sounds angry whenever she speaks it. I can't work out if it's because of the language or because the only time she uses it around me is when she's talking to her parents.
A Norwegian friend of mine thinks Finnish sounds angry because of its hard 'k's and extremely rhotic 'r's. I'm not offended at all and I can understand why he feels this way. I suppose some sounds just sound harsher to the human ear as they're closer to the noises and grunts we make when we're angry (growling, grumbling, etc.). e.g. kurwa from Polish is a a great curse word 'cause it's got that explosive k and rough r. In Finnish we have perkele which also combines r and k. In fact, it often sounds like rrrrkele, when people say it super angrily. The ugliness of the r+k combination has also been recognized by the native speakers because our word for love, rakkaus, sounds incredibly ugly and looks deceptively similar to the word for rape which is raiskaus. The fact that my friend and some others attach negative meanings to Finnish reveals more about the way we react to sounds than us being close-minded, imo, although sure, it can be a part of it. Plus, considering how immensely difficult my mother-tongue is, I can understand angry and frustrated reactions to it.
Define "begging." (May be guilty of something along these lines because of impatience to see what people think of his blog.)
