Drastic (or whatever) ways for enjoyment

[Friend4any1]

Has anyone with ADHD and/or Autism, besides me, get determined to arrange things for options of entertainment?

When I was younger, I watched videos in a specific order; “The Mask” (animated series derived from the Jim Carrey movie) [all three videocassettes], “The Mighty Ducks: The First Face Off” (a special connected with a Disney series) then four live-action features. EG, “Jurassic Park”, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, “Men in Black”, and “George of the Jungle”. OR it would have been the first of three “Mask” tapes (“The Mask is Always Greener On The Other Side”), then “The First Face-Off”, then a FOX Kids Video with a two-part “Spider-Man” episode “The Hobgoblin” and the complete classic STAR WARS trilogy.

Later, the DVDs became part of another “maneuver”; “Snow White” (disc one THEN two out of the set of 2), “The Wizard of OZ” (disc one THEN two out of the set of 2) then 2 live-action movies, each in a double-disc set. It could also be “The Mask” (original Jim Carrey movie in a single-disc edition), “The Mighty Ducks” (original Emilio Estevez movie in a single-disc edition), “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (an animated movie in a single-disc edition), “Treasure Planet” (an animated movie in a single-disc edition), “Finding Nemo” (disc one THEN two out of the set of 2 arranged for an animated movie) and a live-action movie arranged like “Finding Nemo”.

Of course, I eventually grew out of that.

The playlists that came with iTunes; “My Top Rated” and “Top 25 Most Played” became something or other; I made playing the soundtrack to “The Wiz” a chore, though it should be just played to enjoy; to have fun with!


Now, I like to play certain audiobooks while doing things that ought not be chores; reset plays and records of when the videos were played in iTunes while the audiobooks play.

I would play any of them while I walk or do stuff in my kitchen, but some are more or less memorized then others.

 

[kay]

Not sure this is what you are asking about but my cousin, my sister, and myself had a very particular way to see a film. We'd have to get into the theater as early as possible, count seats so we could be as exactly in the center as possible, and we didn't get up until after the very last bit of credits had finished.

 

[SusanLR]

I may know what you mean. Just your avatar shows perfectionism. Four purple books on each end with four blue in the middle- exact middle.
I had a ritual of aligning my shampoos, soaps/bodywashes, and after bath lotions/body mists, in a certain order in the cupboard under the sink. Certain ones had to be used on Monday, the next set Tues. etc. A different set for each day of the week. I didn't really grow out of that but was forced out of it when I had to start living with someone else and don't have the money now anyway to make my daily groups of 3 for the bathtime.
Same with toothpastes, mouthwash, brushes, face cleansers and creams. Had to be one for each day of the week and each day different. If I had to deviate, it was not right. Each day had a colour too. Like Mondays I had to wear something mostly brown, Tues. mostly light green, Weds. mostly blue, etc.
I know now that is OCD. I'm not that bad now, but, still have my exercises in the impossible I call them. Like keeping my rock displays or figurines in perfect symetry. When I have to move them around to dust them it can be half a day project to get them back just right.

 

[Alaska]

I am mostly the opposite of OCD, but have a few things that approach it. I like some of my art supplies in a certain order, color coded. I even have special little plastic drawers for them. When I do Asian style art, everything has to be set up in a certain way.

My scissors, calculator and a few other things have to be in magnetic holders that I spent some time making, when I am not using them. I do not like for anyone else to touch my vacuum cleaner, but that has a good reason. If you do not know how to operate it, it can be easily damaged.

 

[Bolletje]

I hate watching an episode of a show if I haven't seen the previous one, or haven't seen it recently. I have to start at the beginning of the season, or if it's been a long time, I have to rewatch all previous seasons. The same with movies and their sequels, or book series. I usually reread all books in series when a new sequel is published.

Same thing with computer games. I wanted to play a bit of Borderlands 2, because I recently bought all the DLC. However, some of the DLC references DLC from BL1, so now I have to play BL 1 and all its expansions, and then I can start a new play through of BL2. Because obviously I can't drop into the middle of an old game.

 

[Idahocalypse]

When I was a teenager, I had a very specific ritual that went into watching my anime DVDs. I would only watch the parts where my favorite characters had good chunks of dialogue and I would fast-forward through everything else. The two series I was into at the time actually had better than average English dub voice acting, so I made it a point to memorize the names of the cast members and would mentally recite their names during times of anxiety.

But with changing technology, sometimes one has to change methods of indulging a special interest. In my case, I noticed that on streaming services, the videos will usually start buffering if I try to skip around the episode. So instead I will usually just watch the first several episodes of a favorite series over and over. I'm aware that they still sell anime DVDs, but it's not practical to buy them when I have a much larger number of favorites and the prices of the box sets are ridiculously expensive.