Bad Wolf

I am a surprisingly young (to me, anyway) 66, soon to be 67, and was not formally diagnosed with High Functioning Aspergers until around the age of 61 or so. This explained much that was different about me all of my life and often confusing and disconcerting - particularly in my youthful and adult social relations (or lack of same [grin]). My Aspergers seems to have given me far more than adequate compensation by granting me both unusually high-level computer programming abilities (I have "grokked" computers in fullness since I first was introduced to them) and musical gifts (I was a professional guitarist and studio musician for years before getting totally involved in programming and still play for one or more hours every day).

If I had a magic button and all I had to do was push it to make me neurotypical - I wouldn't touch it!

Computers/programming, reading, playing and listening to music, ham radio, motorsports (road racing and auto-crossing), photography, digital video/audio.

I am recently retired, but have basically returned to my youthful roots as a nomad - forever on the road. I travel with my wife of over 40 years - also not neuro-typical, born with type II "ultradian" rapid-cyling bipolar affective disorder. We live in various parts of the country (and occasionally abroad) while I take short-term consulting software development contracts 3 to 6 months at a time to supplement our retirement funds. Between them, we enjoy just coasting in neat places to live. It beats the hell out of retiring to a "seniors community," or living in a trailer in Homestead, FL. We are currently living in Jacksonville Beach and will be here until the late spring, when we are returning to our old island haunt in the Florida Keys - Big Pine Key (where we might just be tempted to settle down for good).

"Giftedness is not what you do or how hard you work. It is who you are. You think differently. You experience life intensely. You care about injustice. You seek meaning. You appreciate and strive for the exquisite. You are painfully sensitive. You are extremely complex. You cherish integrity. Your truth-telling has gotten you in trouble. Should 98% of the population find you odd, seek the company of those who love you just the way you are. You are not broken. You do not need to be fixed. You are utterly fascinating. Trust yourself!"

--Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman