In a nutshell

Augusten Burroughs regarding his brother (who wrote the passage I quote in my previous post):

"Asperger's Syndrome is on the Autism spectrum, so what that means is that he likes machines, he's real smart, and he's sorta rude."

Conversationally Handicapped

From Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison:

My conversational difficulties highlight a problem Aspergians face every day. A person with an obvious disability - for example, someone in a wheelchair - is treated compassionately because his handicap is obvious. No one turns to a guy in a wheelchair and says, "Quick! Let's run across the street!" And when he can't run across the street, no one says, "What's his problem?" They offer to help him across the street.

With me, though, there is no external sign that I am conversationally handicapped. So folks hear some conversational misstep and say, "What an arrogant jerk!" I look forward to the day when my handicap will afford me the same respect accorded to a guy in a wheelchair. And if the respect comes with a preferred parking space, I wouldn't turn it down.

Wanna know a secret?

On May 1, 2010, I watched the movie Adam. It is about a young man who has Asperger's and how he finds love, all that.

After seeing it, my main impression was, I could totally date a guy with Asperger's.

On May 30, 2010, I met a guy with Asperger's.

So my secret is...it kind of started as a dare to myself. Don't get me wrong, it went BEYOND that pretty quickly. But that's definitely how it started.

Puzzling

So, does this summer's crop of girly pop feature more metaphorical references to puzzle pieces than usual, or is it just that I am more sensitive to these references now that I can't escape autism in any aspect of my life? (Puzzle pieces are a symbol for autism awareness.)

Miranda Cosgrove:
when I'm kissing you my senses come alive, almost like the puzzle piece I've been trying to find falls right into place, you're all that it takes...

and Katy Perry:
I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece; I'm complete

And how does it fit into this that for the last three months, my mom and brother have been working on a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and on multiple occasions while waiting for a late date I sat down to work on the puzzle, and never once found a piece that connected?

Never...

I guess I should have seen it coming.