The care and feeding of your special interest

[artfull dodger]

Many of us struggle to meet daily needs, let alone feed our special interests. How do you all feed your special interests? For me, today I stopped by the model train shop that is selling my smaller HO scale trains that due to failing eyesite, I can no longer enjoy them very well. I am using these funds to purchase more of the larger "G" scale or garden trains that are weather proof. I have a small loop in my rock garden and a loop that runs overhead in our living room that I can enjoy during cold or rainy weather. Just sitting and watching these big trains run is soothing to me and can help me avoid a shutdown or meltdown. They are not cheap, so my ability to add new ones to my collection is limited. Thankfully the rest of the items that go along with them in the garden other than the buildings, are cheap to free and provide me hours of relaxing entertainment. I can run them alone or invite my friend over. This is only 1 of my 3 major special interests and all 3 take $$. I tend to switch from one to the other, trains in the summer, RC cars in the winter mostly but can be year round sometimes. My antique garden tractor only needs fuel and the occasional oil change. Here are a couple pictures of my outdoor garden railway, its set in Austria. I have a Dr office building on order that will have the sign on the door for one Dr Hans Asperger. Mike

 

[clg114]

Many of us struggle to meet daily needs, let alone feed our special interests. How do you all feed your special interests? For me, today I stopped by the model train shop that is selling my smaller HO scale trains that due to failing eyesite, I can no longer enjoy them very well. I am using these funds to purchase more of the larger "G" scale or garden trains that are weather proof. I have a small loop in my rock garden and a loop that runs overhead in our living room that I can enjoy during cold or rainy weather. Just sitting and watching these big trains run is soothing to me and can help me avoid a shutdown or meltdown. They are not cheap, so my ability to add new ones to my collection is limited. Thankfully the rest of the items that go along with them in the garden other than the buildings, are cheap to free and provide me hours of relaxing entertainment. I can run them alone or invite my friend over. This is only 1 of my 3 major special interests and all 3 take $$. I tend to switch from one to the other, trains in the summer, RC cars in the winter mostly but can be year round sometimes. My antique garden tractor only needs fuel and the occasional oil change. Here are a couple pictures of my outdoor garden railway, its set in Austria. I have a Dr office building on order that will have the sign on the door for one Dr Hans Asperger. Mike

I'm lucky. My obsession is machines, of all kinds. I have always made my living working on or with machines. I really like what I do, it is not really work. By the way, as I've said before, I think your trains are fantastic.

 

[JuniperBug]

Your train/garden set up is beautiful. I don't know much of anything about trains except that they sound nice to run and riding a fast, uncrowded train is quite fun. Here is the HSR I love to ride here in Taiwan.

Back to your set up, it's wonderful and I'm happy for you that you have the means to build it thus far. The plants and the accessories seem to intermingle into one big scene. I would definitely enjoy watching your garden train!

 

[royinpink]

Oh wow. That's really wonderful.

Um...special interests are something that has been hard for me to maintain. Until recently, I was too anxious and depressed and struggling to keep up with the day-to-day to really have proper special interests. Still trying to find a balance.

 

[A BROUHAHA]

My special interest is firearms and I am pretty fortunate in my special interest as I have managed to make a career of it. I am a gunsmith and am presently repairing firearms in a professional capacity for the U.S. Army, I am truly a kid in a candy store.

 

[Häxan]

I haven't had much chance to catch up on my special interest this past year and it is really taking it's toll on me. For me creative art and photography is not only my special interest but also my livelihood but the stress and pressure I have been under has caused me to shut down and block everything positive out. I am working hard at resolving this issue, I am optimistic that things will get better if I put my mind to it.

 

[A BROUHAHA]

I have gotten to nurture the range side of my obsession a little more than I usually get to as of late as ammo is quite expensive so I usually will only get to have one or two good range days a month. I got to go out the past two weekends though and yesterday got to spend 6 hours out there doing a bunch of long range shooting, managed to burn through 500 rounds. It was a pretty good day but it's not typical, I just make up for it with tinkering with them a lot.

 

[clg114]

My special interest is firearms and I am pretty fortunate in my special interest as I have managed to make a career of it. I am a gunsmith and am presently repairing firearms in a professional capacity for the U.S. Army, I am truly a kid in a candy store.

My special interest is machines and for the last fifteen years I have been collecting firearms. Most of them are well built, precision machines and that is my main attraction to them. I like Eastern European firearms particularly, Macs, Toks, CZs and others. Most of my collection are handguns, but I have a few long guns. For me, range time is only half the fun. I have just as much fun field stripping and cleaning. I have thought about gunsmithing, but my eyesight is not good enough for such precision work.

 

[A BROUHAHA]

I love the warsaw pact firearms, they are elegant in their simplicity and the cz's hold a special place in my heart.

 

[clg114]

I love the warsaw pact firearms, they are elegant in their simplicity and the cz's hold a special place in my heart.

I have not seen your Llama, but my Llama is Max 1, 1911 in 45acp.

 

[Berianireth]

My special interest is neuroepigenetics and molecular neuroscience. I have chased after people in Pharmaceauticals, sent out job applications around the world, and I am now even considering joining the military in order to ensure that I'm able to continue pursuing research in this field. I've kind of nearly died pursuing it already because I don't have too many connections and the job market is terrible right now. If I were to decide hey no biggie and get an unrelated job to pay for stuff I'm convinced my world would come apart. ^.^

 

[A BROUHAHA]

I am now even considering joining the military

Assuming you are in the United States, the military has pharmacy techs and such that are Soldiers at the military hospitals. If you decide to join you'll have to go through as a combat medic and then get the additional course for the pharmacy tech job pending it is available. That is of course unless you have a degree and seek to be come a medical officer of some sort.

The biggest hurdle in all of that for an Aspie is going to be your ability to cope with change and stressful situations. If you decide to do it I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Naturalist]

After several very taxing weeks, plus many months of not doing much to "feed" my own special interests, I finally "took stock" and decided to afford these interests more priority in my life. I started by identifying my interests:

*archaeology
*natural history collections
*painting (more particularly, investigating chemical properties of paints and mediums)
*violin practice
*writing about my special interests

Then, I identified ways to indulge these interests on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. The "natural history collections" interest seems like it should be easy, since I am the manager of such a collection as my job; however, lately I have become more a manager of people (interns) rather than the collections, and I despise that. So here is what I did:

*followed Twitter / Tumblr feeds relating to my interests. I wasn't really much for Twitter or any other social media, but my students showed me that you can follow people you don't know who share your special interests, and that has been very beneficial. I don't post much but I do read others' posts on my lunch hour. It is a good way to stay current with the subjects I care about, because lots of people post news items. This can be done on a daily basis. Reading books about an interest is another thing that can be done on a daily basis if you schedule, say, an hour after dinner or before bedtime to do this.
*On Friday evening I will make a list: one thing I want to accomplish with each interest over the weekend. Then I choose the goal I most want to achieve, followed by the others in consecutive order. This way if I don't get to each project before the weekend is over, I won't feel as much of a failure because at least I did what was most important. Also, I scheduled time to work on my interests: an hour in the morning and two hours in the evening, after my son is in bed.
*I will also participate on a monthly basis on archaeological excavations (there are some local weekend digs). Over the summer I plan to spend more time working with the collections I manage, while the students are away. And once a month I hope to take one Saturday to update my writing blogs with things I have jotted down in a notebook over the course of a month.

I just started on my new plan so will see how it goes...

 

[Berianireth]

Assuming you are in the United States, the military has pharmacy techs and such that are Soldiers at the military hospitals. If you decide to join you'll have to go through as a combat medic and then get the additional course for the pharmacy tech job pending it is available. That is of course unless you have a degree and seek to be come a medical officer of some sort.

The biggest hurdle in all of that for an Aspie is going to be your ability to cope with change and stressful situations. If you decide to do it I wish you the best of luck.

Thanks. I am actually in a doctorate program but struggling with my interpretation of others' directions. And apparently my teaching is not up to par. I'm hoping military work would at least be very direct... and the financial support should I lose my funding through my program is a nice bonus. I'm not sure how I'll deal with the pressure but usually I'm quite efficient when something sends me into survival mode.

 

[Datura]

On Friday evening I will make a list: one thing I want to accomplish with each interest over the weekend.

What a great idea! I make lists of tasks in general, but setting aside time just to pursue one's interests sounds wonderful. I spend too much time dealing with mundane concerns or burying myself in the net, much to the detrement of my other goals.

artfull dodger
My grandfather used to have a model train set. He hand machined everything and made the trains large enough that you could sit on top and ride them around the yard. I'm sure he would have loved your setup.

But how do I feed my interests?

Music: I play in a band and we practice every week. Would like to make some time for my own personal projects though. I also don't have as much time to search out new artists as I once did.

Evolutionary Biology: I like to read books on the subject and watch documentaries online. I also have a more general interest in science, but this is my favorite area. I am currently making plans to go on a paleontological dig.

History of Anime: I did have a list of Anime in chronological order that I planned to watch. I only got so for before life got busier and I just didn't have time to watch that much television. I would still like to move forward with this project, but might have to pair back a bit. Those 52 episode seasons take a while to get through. And yes, it is very important to me that I watch these landmark anime in order.

Role Playing: I love to read role playing manuals and contemplate different aspects of the hobby. I played in a group that was meeting weekly until recently. I also just started my own Numenera campaign. My ex-boyfriend and I also like to geek out talking gaming theory and postulating new rule sets.

 

[A BROUHAHA]

Thanks. I am actually in a doctorate program but struggling with my interpretation of others' directions. And apparently my teaching is not up to par. I'm hoping military work would at least be very direct... and the financial support should I lose my funding through my program is a nice bonus. I'm not sure how I'll deal with the pressure but usually I'm quite efficient when something sends me into survival mode.

You may want to talk to a recruiter about the physicians assistant program, it may be a viable option for you.

 

[NaomiJ]

My special interests are my Pagan religion (especially blogging about it and creating tarot sets and painting around Pagan themes etc) and my studies of sociology of religion. My studies are a problem as I often indulge them so much that I become a workaholic and can exhaust myself and cause problems with my health issues. So it's about balancing all the different aspects of that, for me - reading, writing, doing the fieldwork and interviews, etc. The other interest, in Pagan things, is easier to enjoy (as it's not my work) but harder to find time for, as a result. I try to do something about it every week, including some writing and some other creative stuff. My third interest is various cult TV shows and sci fi reading. I'm good with the TV shows as that's easy but reading good SF books can be hard when I'm very tired from my health problems. Always worth it though. I should try to always have a SF book on the go!

 

[ShaylaTheRoo]

Let's see... my special interests are...
-Crochet/yarn
-Old Germanic religious lore
-Epic fantasy novels/games with extensive background lore (such as A Song of Ice and Fire, or Bioware games)

For the most part, I just read research for Germanic religion online, though I do have a few books I'm thinking about getting (if they have Kindle versions), so it can just sometimes be time-consuming rather than expensive. I'm actually using this knowledge to write a story in November (for NaNoWriMo) that's a retelling of some of the major events in the Eddas.

While we wait for the next ASoIaF book, I've started in on Wheel of Time. Also not a super expensive hobby (I don't get to read terribly often, really), necessarily, but definitely time consuming - book 1 of Wheel of Time is 800 pages. Back in the day when I didn't have any real responsibilities, I could binge read a book that size over a weekend, but now my weekends are full of cooking and cleaning. So I've just been slowly worming my way through whenever I have time, particularly before bed when I'm winding down.

Crochet and yarn... I may have a problem with, ha ha. I have this thing with crafting where I cannot rationally figure out a reasonable amount of supplies to have on-hand (I really did have a minor crafting emergency where having yarn on-hand saved the day, as I didn't have a lot of warning before my cousin's baby shower and I wanted to crochet a small blanket). My favorite project to make is washcloths in various sizes using cotton yarn, and will pick up working on one of those any time I'm feeling antsy and need to occupy my hands while watching TV or something.

But, it's fascinating to research various yarn compositions and how some materials work best in different situations. I've heard this one cotton/linen blend yarn feels scratchy when wet, and that might be great for exfoliating, whereas an organic cotton I sometimes use is ultra soft and fluffy and better for delicate applications.

I'd love to learn to knit, but I have a lot of trouble where I think I just knit way too tightly, and because I learned to crochet first I have some trouble figuring out how to hold the yarn most effectively.

Recently I'm thinking that I don't enjoy crocheting with acrylic yarn, so I'll likely see if I can find anyone that wants all of it to free up where I'm storing it. That, or just donating it somewhere, since I really don't want/need it (well, okay, I may make a few duster covers, as I read the acrylics work best due to static, but I don't need a full tub of it around just for that, ha ha).

I've also been considering selling washcloth sets, if only to cover the cost of yarn and keep the hobby expenses under control. Not sure if I'll ever bother to do this, as they often really just end up in gifts so I don't have to try to think of things to buy for people, but it's a nice thought, ha ha.

 

[Etzelaire]

I am now interested in app development, sounds like a nice opportunity to benefit from this rotten economical model.

 

[ShaylaTheRoo]

I am now interested in app development, sounds like a nice opportunity to benefit from this rotten economical model.

I've also been looking at app development (I bought a Mac just to learn to do apps on their devices, because they're crazy and proprietary like that). I haven't had nearly as much time as I'd like to give it a proper go since working full-time in a cube farm stresses me a lot, but I think I'll be moving to telecommute job soon and that will hopefully translate to having more time/energy to research different programming languages.

Then again, I really like database design more than anything - I've been trying to compile all of the rules to the Dragon Age tabletop RPG into a database, but I'm holding off now until they release the "ultimate edition" rules - but a database by itself isn't really all that exciting (to other people, I find the logical structures involved in database creation to be extremely interesting) unless you built an app to function around it, ha ha.