Top 12 of '12

In honor of the culmination of the year 2012 (WE SURVIVED A MAYAN ALIEN ATTACK, OR WHATEVER THAT WHOLE THING WAS ABOUT!!!), this is a countdown of my top 12 favorite posts I made during the past year.

Yes, this is my blog's version of a clip show.

Enjoy!

12. The Self Aware Aspie  (12/23/12) - how a diagnosis helps an Aspie and others understand their situation.

11. Feeling Out of Place (8/15/12) - I get the feeling that I don't belong.

10. Friday Night Anti-Socialite  (11/3/12) - I am EXTREMELY uncomfortable at a social gathering.

9. Like I'm Not Even There  (4/6/12) - Nobody listens to my awesome ideas.

8. Perfectionism (7/15/12) - Why can't everything be right?

7. The Dentist (1/25/12) - I suffer through a trip to the dentist.

6. Dunkin Donuts Ruins My Day (1/10/12) - It's the little things that drive me mad.

5. Hi, Nice to Meet You. By the Way, I Have Aspergers. (10/15/12) - How does one drop the Aspie bomb?

4. I'M NORMAL!!! (for once) (10/16/12) - I surprise myself with my unexpectedly rational behavior.

3. The Challenges of Being an Aspie and a Parent  (6/28/12) - You think being an NT parent is hard?

2. Unseen Health Risks of Aspergers (2/23/12) - A doctor's office can be a scary place.

1. Facing the Truth  (8/6/12) - Aspies will save the world!

Me Jelly?

So my wife is posting on her blog again, and of course she is instantly getting more attention than I am. It is only fair, though, since her blog is cooler and she's so much more awesomer than I am anyway - except for when it comes to making up words, I'm much more bestier at that than she is.

Seeing her blog has given me a few ideas and some inspiration on how to make my blog look nicer and a little bit more interesting. So over the next little while (when I have free time, which is hardly never), I'll be tweaking the look and feel of the site. Hopefully I'll settle on something that's better not worse.

I do need your help on this, dear readers. Please email me and let me know what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd like to see. If you'd like me to post a link to your blog, please send it to me. And don't get too annoyed if I decide to try and include the advertisements option to the blog. Don't hate me for being a sellout.  :)

Agree to Disagree

How am I supposed to tell someone that they are a self-centered jerk without sounding rude?

I read a blog post recently where a parent was explaining how they don't enjoy doing things with their kids, and they would rather just be the one who took care of their needs. The parent was looking for support of this idea, asking rather insistently if they were the only person who felt that way. Although I can guarantee that this person is not alone in feeling this way, that does not make it right.

If you look at your kids in this light, you are basically treating them like a chore - taking care of their bare maintenance needs and nothing else. The parent becomes a simple caretaker, a person that the child can only go to when assistance is required. There is no choice in the relationship (I don't know about anybody else, but I want my children to enjoy spending time with me and - GASP! - actually choose to do things with me). In time, the child will begin to sense this relationship and withdraw from the parent, only to reappear when the child needs something.

Of course, I wrote none of this in the blog's comment section because I was afraid it might have sounded callous and insensitive. My Aspergers makes me extremely proficient at sounding insensitive. I'll write it here because I don't think anybody reads this crap anyway.

This fear of "rubbing people the wrong way" creeps into many of my daily interactions. I'll go along with a lot of stuff just to avoid rocking the boat. I also find it difficult to express my actual opinions when talking to people; I usually just allow them to express theirs and then critique them (once again, coming off as insensitive). I assume when people express themselves (like in the blog I mentioned above) that they want people to agree with them, and disagreements are going to start fights

 I really don't like pissing people off, so most of the time I avoid the confrontation and either pretend to agree or ignore the whole situation totally. I do need to learn how to say no, disagree with someone, or express my true opinions without worrying how other people will react.