A Interweb Buddy Reflection: Pirates

I have made so many friends on the internet. None of us really talk anymore, but every now and then I think of them and all of the wonderful times we had loving the same things and fighting over ships. We were the greatest pirates to have ever lived. We collected treasures like fan art and fan fiction. We Sailed all over the internet discovering new fandoms to join and crossed many ships that we couldn't resist blowing canons through. And when we didn't have canon, we'd go back to our treasures to admire them and assure ourselves that no one could take this from us.

I do still wish that I could meet some of those friends in real life. One I've friended on Facebook and I stalk her every now and then. (Not in the creepy way, I swear.) It would be cool to hang out at a convention or something.

I miss having friends that I have stuff in common with. You can't find people like that anymore. Reflecting on it, it's probably because we're all on the internet. We only emerge from our laptops when nerd cons come to town or a particularly pushy friend pulls us out of the depths of the fandoms.

Thank you interweb friends for being there always.

A Family Reflection: Sisters, Support, and Secrets

Seeing a counselor has been such a refreshing thing. I've officially been self-diagnosed with Aspergers and I'm beginning to accept it. I'm finding that the hardest part is convincing the people that I love that I'm not just making excuses.

I told Sister #1 today. She was trying to convince me that I don't have it. "You're too normal to have Aspergers," she says. Really she just doesn't understand it.

I tried to tell Sister #3 as well. She seemed more supportive, but I can never really tell with her. Here's the thing with Sister #3 though. She recently found out that her boyfriend has Aspergers. But he's not the one who told her about it and he's really sensitive about it. She's been trying to figure out a way to get him to tell her, but results are a thing yet to be seen. 

Sister #3 is kind of the reason I found out I had Asperger's though because after she found out about her boyfriend, she handed me a list to read off to her (while she was driving) so that she could compare and contrast characteristics to confirm him as an Aspie. The list prompted me to do a little more digging and I thought, hmmm, this sounds a bit like me. But it's not a thing I was ready to admit, so I asked for a second opinion from my mom. Mom told me that she'd suspected it for a while. I was pretty upset that Mom had never told me about this before.

Anyway, back to Sister #3. Since I had just found out, I figured, Hey, what if she used learning about my Aspergers to prompt her boyfriend to tell her about his Aspergers? I was trying to be helpful, but I still don't think she believed me. I haven't really talked to her since.

Maybe I should get a diagnosis. After all, how is anyone going to believe I have Aspergers if my own sisters don't believe me?