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Childhood.

RemyZee

RemyZee

Mystic Turtles
When i was six I was given a children's book about knots and how to tie them--it showed you step by step instructions for tying a maritime knot, horse halter knot, bow ties etc. I was so obsessed with the activity of learning to tie knots and spent inordinate time practicing. . When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I'd say a knot maker. People would look at me weirdly, thinking I was totally cute and weird at the same time. That's the first time I ever noticed that people saw me as weird or different. It was so cool to love knots and it was such a beautiful peaceful thing to try to learn to tie them. What were your obsessions as a child.
 
RemyZee said:
When i was six I was given a children's book about knots and how to tie them--it showed you step by step instructions for tying a maritime knot, horse halter knot, bow ties etc. I was so obsessed with the activity of learning to tie knots and spent inordinate time practicing. . When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I'd say a knot maker. People would look at me weirdly, thinking I was totally cute and weird at the same time. That's the first time I ever noticed that people saw me as weird or different. It was so cool to love knots and it was such a beautiful peaceful thing to try to learn to tie them. What were your obsessions as a child.
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You know how to make a shadow puppet of a dog? With your thumb as the ear and your pinky as the barking mouth?

Here's something fun. Grandpa taught me how to harness a horse at about that age, by giving me a couple feet of twine, and having me put out my hand like a dog shadow puppet. The dog shadow puppet is the horse's head and neck.

He taught me how to wrap the twine around my hand and where to secure it. Long boring afternoons, you might find me at about that age, maybe just a year or two older, sitting out on the back steps, tying up my left hand, pretending to harness a horse.
 
America! Have no idea, but I went all out with American things. The irony is that I have never been there!

And books.
 
Software.

My first computer was bought to me as used when I was about 7 or 8 years old.

It came with a lot of games. I found most of them boring and too hard (never liked anything that requires quick reflexes).

When I noticed (during the same year) that some of them were written in Basic-language (probably written from some computer magazine's code-listings, which were popular back in 80s), I began fascinated by how the games were made and learned with a Basic-instruction manual to turn off sprite collisions to make characters invincible, create my own levels for games etc.

Back in mid-80s it would have been relatively ok to be a little electrician, but being a computer nerd, that knew a lot of about memory maps, and remembered powers of two up to 2^16 = 65536, was a pretty much begging to be beaten at school yard. Luckily I wasn't particularly small or weak either :D
 
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Plants. In kindergarten once we were taken on a trip to the green side of the city. My teacher told mom she was surprised when I could name all the plants on the hill.

And I could spend endless hours sitting in the cold petting Grandma's orange dog and turning him from a ferocious beast that wouldn't allow anyone to touch him into a gentle pooch. I love everything about dogs, their smells, their feels, the way they behave, the noises they make, the way they are loyal if they feel like you're their parent and they can rely on you, how efficient they are at so many things and how intelligent and language\sign proficient they are. When I go into a room where there are humans and a dog I end up hanging out with the dog. My parents never got me a dog regardless of the begging. I sometimes would have a bowl and pretend that I was the dog and that pissed my parents off.

Thinking about this part of my childhood is such a sweet feeling.
 
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I had an obsession with teddy bears. I just loved teddy bears. They made me feel safe and secure. Still do now.

That's about it. I just had normal interests at the normal NT level and played with my toys like a normal child. I didn't have an interest in taking things apart or learning how they worked.

I think I learnt to read at age 6 but didn't have an interest in reading, no matter how much my mother encouraged me to read. When I was 9 I felt more comfortable reading books that were aimed at 5-year-olds.

I had 3 big encyclopedias in my bedroom that made an excellent foothold to reach the toys from the higher shelves. 🤷‍♂️
 
I loved anything and anyone foreign. We had an extensive library at home, so I was able to indulge my interest by reading about countries, history, culture, and geography.
 
The first obsession I remember is the dictionary around ages 6-8. I also liked reading encyclopedia. When Jurassic Park came out, I was obsessed with biology textbooks and learning DNA as well. I went through a Babysitters Club phase before getting obsessed with programming as a 14 year old.
 
Cryptid said:
Same-same. Built a door alarm for my bedroom to keep my sisters out. Forgot to tell my mom. I had to pick up and re-fold all the clothes she had thrown in the air when the alarm went off.
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Great to see I'm not alone in this. It started in the second grade. it was like that point in the Dilbert series, where the pediatrician told Dilbert's mom, "I'm afraid.....your child is going....to be.............an engineer." She burst out in tears and started sobbing.
 
Plants, animals, science, and the original MacGyver series were probably some of my biggest ones as a child. I had quite a few of them. Some are long lasting and reoccurring others have been more short term. The ones I listed are from the long lasting and reoccurring category. As an adult photography seems to have become a commonly reoccurring one as well.
 
Books, l planned to read every book in the children's library. Cat's cradle that you did with string. There was a horse that was pastured next to our house. I rode him bareback, it was a very nice horse. We didn't have electronic devices, so we played outside, played with string, etc.

 
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Aspychata said:
Books, l planned to read every book in the children's library. Cat's cradle that you did with string. There was a horse that was pastured next to our house. I rode him bareback, it was a very nice horse. We didn't have electronic devices, so we played outside, played with string, etc.

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This is lovely. I remember cat's whistles.
 
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