Explaining Special Interests out of Love

[Georgia Galaxy]

I'm actually pretty annoyed because most times, when I open up about something I like (My Little Pony for example, which has adult jokes and references that adults will get) the others in my family usually run away because they have to go to work (which I understand now is not personal), say that it's silly, and don't believe me that that's an actual episode. It's kinda rough living with someone who doesn't even "have the time" to sit down and watch movies or TV (she's not into them) and then me who's pretty much spent my whole life fantasizing about fictional characters because I have some social anxiety and feel like I've constantly been judged by the world. That's part of why I feel so safe here, sometimes you guys actually care more about what I say than my own family, which is too busy to actually care or listen to things I'm into. It's the generation gap fellas, just trying to show that I love them here :,)

You usually see me as very optimistic, and I am nice a lot of the time, putting myself second for other people's needs. But this time I'm speaking up. I would love if any of you could talk about your own experiences, if you have similar ones. Even more so if you know the show I'm talking about. I'm lucky to have friends closer to my age (and they're on the spectrum as well!) who don't judge me and accept me for this. Thank you ;P <3

 

[Richelle-H]

Hello Georgia. I have watched so called children's programs since the 50s, both live action and animated; still do. My take on them is they have always had dialog that is above most kids heads. While I have never actually watched a episode of My Little Pony, I am very aware of it. Outside of that, I have watched many of the series on Disney and elsewhere. They all have something in them that can offer entertainment to adults if they do not have their snooty noses turned up in partial disgust at the idea.

Sorry your family is so unaccepting of your interests that they will not even try to meet you half-way.

The world at large tends to judge everyone by individual standards. The fact that you have friends who accept you and your interests is a great thing to have at any age. The world does not stay static and things do change. I have seen a lot of that over my lifetime and so will you. Never lose your sense of wonder, it will sustain you and offer new avenues for exploration as you grow.

 

[Outdated]

I think it's fantastic that you are able to stand up for your own preferences instead of just following the rest of the sheeps. To me that is an outstanding mark of good character.

I was always someone that was very different, in a world that knew nothing about autism, so I had to fight quite hard to be able to be me. People might try to be a lot more understanding these days but the fight never ends. I'm proud of you.

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

Hello Georgia. I have watched so called children's programs since the 50s, both live action and animated; still do. My take on them is they have always had dialog that is above most kids heads. While I have never actually watched a episode of My Little Pony, I am very aware of it. Outside of that, I have watched many of the series on Disney and elsewhere. They all have something in them that can offer entertainment to adults if they do not have their snooty noses turned up in partial disgust at the idea.

Sorry your family is so unaccepting of your interests that they will not even try to meet you half-way.

The world at large tends to judge everyone by individual standards. The fact that you have friends who accept you and your interests is a great thing to have at any age. The world does not stay static and things do change. I have seen a lot of that over my lifetime and so will you. Never lose your sense of wonder, it will sustain you and offer new avenues for exploration as you grow.

Bahaha, snooty noses. That actually makes me feel a lot better. It's very tiresome to constantly justify and explain myself for reasons why I'm watching it (e.g. I wasn't interested when all the new seasons where coming out when I was younger, but I am now!). I'm no longer offended by their lack of interest cause I tend to cry, let my emotions out and be done with it quickly, but that doesn't mean this hasn't happened sooo many times. There's always somewhere else they need to be or some excuse that stops us from connecting :,(

Heh, yeah... I'm glad you can see the reality of it. Even as a kid when I innocently mentioned I liked My Little Pony, I was judged for it at school and of course, boys don't like it. I even mentioned it in high school but instead of getting upset, I just laughed because I know damn well that a lot of people judge this show on face value because they don't know how good it is.

Thank you so much, I'm still quite childlike and I suppose I'm keeping this spirit alive by staying strong and not giving up. By the way, how old are you lol? You might be older than my grandma who was born in the 50s!

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

I think it's fantastic that you are able to stand up for your own preferences instead of just following the rest of the sheeps. To me that is an outstanding mark of good character.

I was always someone that was very different, in a world that knew nothing about autism, so I had to fight quite hard to be able to be me. People might try to be a lot more understanding these days but the fight never ends. I'm proud of you.

Aww... Thank you so much. I've pretty much always been this way since I was born, probably. Always been really sweet and kind, and most of all - unapologetically me. Most people, even people I saw in high school were actually afraid and intimidated by me not just because I am pretty, but because I'm different and openly proud of it without any doubts. That does make me a pretty awesome person and my family is awesome too, they're not always judgemental like this

Thank you so much! I'm proud of me too! It can be hard to have restrictive and repetitive interests and ways of thinking, but I'm dealing with it very well ^^

 

[Outdated]

unapologetically me

That is a truly beautiful term. I love it.

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

That is a truly beautiful term. I love it.

I know right! When I showed my YouTube channel to a close friend, they really loved how I was "unapologetically me." <3

 

[Richelle-H]

By the way, how old are you lol? You might be older than my grandma who was born in the 50s!

My birthday and age should display on my profile, but in case they do not I am currently 76 and will be 77 in less than 4 months. That makes me a member of the first generation that was introduced to children's TV programming as a daily thing.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

The world at large tends to judge everyone by individual standards. The fact that you have friends who accept you and your interests is a great thing to have at any age. The world does not stay static and things do change. I have seen a lot of that over my lifetime and so will you. Never lose your sense of wonder, it will sustain you and offer new avenues for exploration as you grow.

I'm much younger, but I'll second this point. Stuff I got made fun of for as a teenager was more accepted in college, and is much more accepted now. You don't really know what will change. Lots of kids laughed at me for reading comic books and it was a dorky thing back then. Now, that's not the case. And characters like Deadpool that were seen as weak and gimmicky are really popular. Guardians of the Galaxy was a comic very few people cared about, but the movies were huge.

The fact that being nerdy is cool now is kind of alienating. I guess as you experience these cultural changes, it helps to focus more on yourself and be firmer in yourself. I mean know who you are, not avoid change. That's how I try to deal with it anyway.

It is annoying that people don't take time for our interests, but expect us to meet their own similar needs: usually in the form of small talk, gossip, etc. Cherish your friends, Georgia. It can he hard to find interesting people who share our interests.

 

[The Pandector]

Back before calculators, Bugs Bunny hears a contest on TV, prize to the first caller who can answer the question, what is 392,548,784 times 824,461,912.745. Bugs jumps immediately to the phone with the correct answer. Shocked, the announcer says, ‘Mr. Bunny, that’s fantastic. How did you come up with the answer so quickly?’
‘Easy,’ says Bugs. ‘If there’s one thing us rabbits can do, it’s multiply.’

They knew adults were watching.

 

[Misery]

Aye, I generally know how it goes with this sort of thing.

I tend to get hyperfixated on characters I like as well, or individual games/shows/whatever.

Good example, there's a reason I call myself "Misery", which is the character in my avatar there. Been using that name for years. In game-dev work I've done (contracted) I'm actually listed by that name in the credits. So, that name has a lot of meaning to me. Not the #1 most important character to me (though I dont want to talk about that one right now) but still, definitely a really major one.

Or another example, if you've seen me use or be referred to by the name "Sophie", that name, similar reason though in that case it's not just the specific character, but the entire series she's from.

And of course, I could just ramble endlessly about characters I'm familiar with in general, or my favorite games, or whatever. Like, dont even get me started on Binding of Isaac. That's a 300 page infodump right there.

Overall... yeah, I get really attached, and sometimes those things can have a major impact on me, in a lot of ways.

It gets weirder than that, as I've always been a cosplayer too. I dont discuss that IRL *at all* with anyone other than my closest friend (who has seen me do it) and outright take steps to keep it hidden.

And of course that's just the character/story/show/game related interests. There's also other things I might have an interest in that I dont really share too much. Like, art, right... I've been learning art, and while I usually share what I made... I dont share ALL of it. Not with family, anyway. Love them dearly but they have the collective creativity of a wet sock, so if I present them with something even just a BIT strange, I get just a sort of glazed over stare of confusion. For instance I recently showed on here a drawing I did of a character I just randomly came up with. Went over well here, but IRL, the entire response was "ah". If I draw/show things like flowers or perhaps banners for events or stuff like that, THOSE get excited reactions, despite those being much, much less involved to make than that character.

Or there's the fractals. I make a LOT of those. I usually dont bother showing them anywhere. Even on here, I only share those occasionally. IRL, my mom kinda likes them, but everyone else is, again, a bit lost because they arent basic every-day objects. So even though I have a whole gallery of the bloody things, I mostly just keep them to myself.

There's more than that too.

As for how I feel about it all... honestly I fully know I'm freaking bizarre. But that's fine. "Bizarre" is interesting. "Normal" is boring.

I've lost track of whatever I was gonna say at the end here.

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

My birthday and age should display on my profile, but in case they do not I am currently 76 and will be 77 in less than 4 months. That makes me a member of the first generation that was introduced to children's TV programming as a daily thing.

WoAHH!! That's awesome! You're so understanding and open-minded, plus wise and well lived-in, I really appreciate that. I get along very well with people much older than me

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

Back before calculators, Bugs Bunny hears a contest on TV, prize to the first caller who can answer the question, what is 392,548,784 times 824,461,912.745. Bugs jumps immediately to the phone with the correct answer. Shocked, the announcer says, ‘Mr. Bunny, that’s fantastic. How did you come up with the answer so quickly?’
‘Easy,’ says Bugs. ‘If there’s one thing us rabbits can do, it’s multiply.’

They knew adults were watching.

BAHAHA, I get the joke!

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

I'm much younger, but I'll second this point. Stuff I got made fun of for as a teenager was more accepted in college, and is much more accepted now. You don't really know what will change. Lots of kids laughed at me for reading comic books and it was a dorky thing back then. Now, that's not the case. And characters like Deadpool that were seen as weak and gimmicky are really popular. Guardians of the Galaxy was a comic very few people cared about, but the movies were huge.

The fact that being nerdy is cool now is kind of alienating. I guess as you experience these cultural changes, it helps to focus more on yourself and be firmer in yourself. I mean know who you are, not avoid change. That's how I try to deal with it anyway.

It is annoying that people don't take time for our interests, but expect us to meet their own similar needs: usually in the form of small talk, gossip, etc. Cherish your friends, Georgia. It can he hard to find interesting people who share our interests.

Thank you so much, those are very kind and relatable words! I could be one of the biggest fiction heads in my entire family's history, it's very small at the moment and some of them were cowboys in America back in the older days :O. Some were born in Papua New Guinea (my Grandad Terry, R.I.P.) and his wife was born in England (Grandma Pam, R.I.P.). They were the coolest grandparents I ever had. One passed away when I was 14, the other did December last year. Sounds pretty grim and off topic but it's true, bless their hearts <3 I now have only one grandparent left. And only one aunty and one uncle, really. My family is actually pretty old!

 

[Georgia Galaxy]

Aye, I generally know how it goes with this sort of thing.

I tend to get hyperfixated on characters I like as well, or individual games/shows/whatever.

Good example, there's a reason I call myself "Misery", which is the character in my avatar there. Been using that name for years. In game-dev work I've done (contracted) I'm actually listed by that name in the credits. So, that name has a lot of meaning to me. Not the #1 most important character to me (though I dont want to talk about that one right now) but still, definitely a really major one.

Or another example, if you've seen me use or be referred to by the name "Sophie", that name, similar reason though in that case it's not just the specific character, but the entire series she's from.

And of course, I could just ramble endlessly about characters I'm familiar with in general, or my favorite games, or whatever. Like, dont even get me started on Binding of Isaac. That's a 300 page infodump right there.

Overall... yeah, I get really attached, and sometimes those things can have a major impact on me, in a lot of ways.

It gets weirder than that, as I've always been a cosplayer too. I dont discuss that IRL *at all* with anyone other than my closest friend (who has seen me do it) and outright take steps to keep it hidden.

And of course that's just the character/story/show/game related interests. There's also other things I might have an interest in that I dont really share too much. Like, art, right... I've been learning art, and while I usually share what I made... I dont share ALL of it. Not with family, anyway. Love them dearly but they have the collective creativity of a wet sock, so if I present them with something even just a BIT strange, I get just a sort of glazed over stare of confusion. For instance I recently showed on here a drawing I did of a character I just randomly came up with. Went over well here, but IRL, the entire response was "ah". If I draw/show things like flowers or perhaps banners for events or stuff like that, THOSE get excited reactions, despite those being much, much less involved to make than that character.

Or there's the fractals. I make a LOT of those. I usually dont bother showing them anywhere. Even on here, I only share those occasionally. IRL, my mom kinda likes them, but everyone else is, again, a bit lost because they arent basic every-day objects. So even though I have a whole gallery of the bloody things, I mostly just keep them to myself.

There's more than that too.

As for how I feel about it all... honestly I fully know I'm freaking bizarre. But that's fine. "Bizarre" is interesting. "Normal" is boring.

I've lost track of whatever I was gonna say at the end here.

Aww, that's very interesting and I'm glad that you do Cosplay! I've thought about being Girlfriend from Friday Night Funkin cause we are kinda similar, but I've felt shy about it < : ) I would also do a great Fluttershy from My Little Pony, who's like me as well.

Woah. I can totally relate to your art struggles here, when I was starting out my family thought mine was too similar to anime. But now they think it's super original because I've spent three years developing it, and it's at this peak this year despite not being posted online much due to low storage. I don't draw as much as I did in school because of tiredness and interest in other activities (like music, keyboard and watching shows) but I'm still very good at it <3

I think you said everything just fine, but just remember we can have an Infodumping Shootout someday where we say random facts about random things to each other and see how many we can do! ;P <3

 

[Outdated]

Or there's the fractals. I make a LOT of those. I usually dont bother showing them anywhere. Even on here, I only share those occasionally.

For what it's worth which probably isn't much, I really enjoyed the fractals you have posted on here, especially the one with skulls that you posted for @Rodafina

They go far beyond simple maths, they are art.

"Bizarre" is interesting. "Normal" is boring.

This is also my experience.

 

[Misery]

For what it's worth which probably isn't much, I really enjoyed the fractals you have posted on here, especially the one with skulls that you posted for @Rodafina

They go far beyond simple maths, they are art.


This is also my experience.

I dont know that the skull thing counts, if it's the one I'm thinking of. The really blocky skull with red lines flying all over the place.

That one isnt pure fractals. Basically I took a random image of a skull from the internet, then took one of my already existing fractals, and simply smashed them together using MJ to see what would happen (though the fractal I used was chosen specifically because it seemed like it would merge well). Just the result of a mad science sort of experiment.

Getting an actual, *real* fractal that is itself shaped like a skull? Not actually possible, I bet. Though I did manage a couple of horrible meat faces on two separate occasions, but those aint exactly what fractals are meant to be. Even the renderer didnt like those.

 

[Outdated]

Even the renderer didnt like those.

That was the comment I was laughing at. I wish you could click several emoticons for a post. You posted I think 3 different fractals for Rodafina, I can't remember well enough to call up the post now, but the one I liked was where you had a whole heap of skulls spaced out in fractal coordinates.

I've really enjoyed quite a few of the others too but that one stuck in my memory.

 

[Rodafina]

That was the comment I was laughing at. I wish you could click several emoticons for a post. You posted I think 3 different fractals for Rodafina, I can't remember well enough to call up the post now, but the one I liked was where you had a whole heap of skulls spaced out in fractal coordinates.

I've really enjoyed quite a few of the others too but that one stuck in my memory.

I remember it. I saved them. This one?

 

[Rodafina]

These were the other ones…