Long time no write

A lot has changed over the years. I like to think I’ve grown as a person, but I know I still have quite a few faults I need to work on. I think I’ve gotten calmer, more patient, not rising to baiting…

But I think I’m more accepting of myself than ever before. I’ve come to terms with who I am, and while I’m not sure I can really trust others anymore, at the same time, I think it frees me up to help people more. I don’t worry about how they view me, I can focus on taking care of myself and my family. If people don’t like me, they can either talk to me about why, or they can shove off. I don’t have time for people throwing random insults.

Both of my boys are now diagnosed autistic, with my eldest also ADHD. None of that was a surprise. Since they’ve gotten older and communication is better, life has gotten a little easier, although new difficulties pop up, especially with schooling, but we do what we can to cope. It’s hard to tell if they like school, but I’m prepared to homeschool them just in case. My eldest has experienced bullying, and I’m proud of him, because he made the bully into a friend. It was a strange outcome no one expected, but I love it.

I’ve mostly been focusing on my family, my hobbies, especially my writing. I’ve written over 1.5 million words since 2014, and I think I’ve gotten a lot better since I started. That’s the whole point, lol. And I mean I’ve gotten better in many ways concerning my writing, not just better at writing, but better at using my writing as a tool to analyze myself, to see what’s really bothering me so I can work on that better.

One of these days I’ll post my work online. Maybe. That’s still something that’s difficult for me to do, both for how personal my writing is, and how I still lack confidence that people will like it. I suppose losing a lot of friends and support over the years has affected that as well. I may not care as much about what others think of me, but there will always be this small negative voice inside me, poking me, especially with things that are so personal to me, since I use my writing as therapy.

Even though it’s been years, I do still feel sadness, or sometimes anger, at things that happened with that group that was supposed to be a support group, or people I thought were good friends who just cut off all communication with no reasoning at all. I think that sort of thing will stay with me for a while. That stuff changed who I am, it changed how I see the world, and I really try to make that change a change for the better, but I cannot deny the feelings of bitterness, resentment, anger… not so much hatred, though. Confusion, but I don’t hate them. They were caught up in something, and I think it must have twisted how they see the world, that they deemed their actions as good. They honestly didn’t see themselves as doing anything wrong, but that power went to their heads and others followed them.

They tried to destroy my social life by spreading lies, but I never really had a social life anyway. I feel better without that pressure to make myself liked, to try to fit into a group… it made me realize that it’s impossible for me. They always want to change who I am to fit who they want me to be, and I would rather be me. My husband loves me as I am, my children and parents and brother and other family members accept me for who I am and don’t want to change me. They’re the ones who matter. I know my boys are going to be feeling this social pressure… they already do. Back in kindergarten, my eldest said he wanted to be a girl because the girls there said he can’t like tea parties, only girls can like tea parties. Well, guess what, tea parties are gender neutral 😛

At a loss

I feel rather lost, really depressed, confused… and I don’t know how to feel. People are turning on lifelong friends over misinformation and lies and differing opinions, as if people’s opinions somehow changed over night and they’ve suddenly become horrible people to avoid.

One friend, I don’t know what to think. She hasn’t really spoken to me in months now, I don’t know if I did something wrong or if there’s something going on in her life, but I know things have changed to where I’m not in her circle so much anymore. I can usually tell when someone’s attitude toward me has changed, I just can never figure out why. And right now I’m not sure whether I should pursue it, if she’d even tell me, or if I should just accept that this is how I am.

I can never really keep friends. The most they last is 2-3 years before leaving me. I have one friend who has stayed true for 16+ years now, he’s not going anywhere, aside from dying… Another person I guess is sort of a friend? We’ve known each other for about 14 years, though we don’t always agree on politics and it’s gotten a little… tense, I guess, between us with all the stuff going on.

I rely on facts, evidence, statistics, reason and logic, stuff like that, to get an idea of how the world is. I have a hard time with emotional arguments, they don’t make sense to me if they’re not back up with facts. For some reason, this has cost me quite a few “friends” off Facebook, and now I feel like it may have cost me someone I actually really care about, because the last few times she’s commented on anything of mine, it’s been heated, and I don’t understand it at all. I don’t get it. I keep trying, but I feel like I’m missing something, because I can’t understand social stuff very well.

I’m good at pretending, and I think people forget that I’m pretty much just going by script and information from past experiences that may not apply to all these new ones. I don’t know if I’ve somehow inadvertently hurt my friend, or just pissed her off, or if she’s grown bored of me, or if her life is just throwing her for a constant loop for the past few months and she’s been aloof with everyone.

My paranoia and anxiety are convinced I’ve screwed it up though.

It’s just happened so many times, what’s one more to add to the list?

I feel like I should just give up on having friends entirely. I’m obviously not a good enough one myself.

Powerfully Angry (warning: language)

Wish I’d come across this sooner. Especially since I was essentially attacked and told to shut up and if I was going to speak it was going to be about one thing, and one thing only, because otherwise I was minimizing this problem somehow… couldn’t get a single clear answer out of them. I wish I could have pointed them to this, and told them to F Off.

the fool on the hill

NB. I talk about some ignorant and hateful parenting in this post. However, some parents are absolutely wonderful, invaluable parents as well as amazing examples of NT allies. Please refer to my sidebar for links to some of their blogs, marked with a (P).

So. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of talk on autism acceptance pages, on parent pages, about tone. About how we’re so angry, about how we have to be nice to people or they won’t listen to us, how “for the good of the movement” we have to engage on the ignorant person’s level.

The thing is, up to a point, those people are right. On a purely individual level, a lot of the time, if you get defensive and upset, people won’t listen to you. They should. But they won’t, because you’re “angry.”

Anger is a scary thing for most neurotypicals, never mind us autistics. We don’t…

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Self exploration through writing

On the way home from the store tonight, I was thinking about how most characters in books have certain virtues and talents that get them through life and hard times, such as being courageous or have a great voice (like in the book Fairest), or how many fairy tales the princess has to be beautiful and that’s what helps her, while the men are strong and brave, and don’t back down, they don’t give up. Steadfast.

So I was thinking about my characters. Since I started my writing exercises last year, I’ve focused mainly on one character, and though I do have others, they’re pretty similar. And, well, they’re similar to me, because I have a hard time writing outside of my personal experience. I can write characters that already exist, or base a character off a real person, but since my writing exercises are for me alone as a form of therapy, my characters take on traits I either see in myself or wish I had. When I write these characters down, and look at the story from afar, I can see things so much clearer than when they’re in my head, when I’m examining myself. I have to step outside of myself in order to see me better.

Claire is definitely not perfect. She has anxiety and depression, feelings of worthlessness and the strong overwhelming desire to be worth something. And in her desire to help in any way she can, she’s also afraid of messing things up, which in turn can mess things up. I noticed she has a strong maternal instinct, she has the desire to protect and to care for others, even if she doesn’t know them. She’s a nurse and a fighter, tending to the wounded after fighting a battle. She’s also practical to a fault, one some might call a “stick in the mud.” I don’t get to test out my prowess on a battlefield (and I’m sure I’d be bad at it), but I do know I’m good at taking care of people. It’s like some sort of auto-pilot comes on and I just go…

I do have a strong urge to protect people, and to help them, and to make their lives better in any way I can. I don’t know why, it’s just how I am, despite that I pretty much don’t trust anyone and am constantly on my guard. And as strange as it is, I’m loyal to a fault as well. Those people who have hurt me over the years, the people who have backstabbed me and betrayed me… I have continued to keep whatever secrets they may have told me, and I refuse to go on my public scenes to complain about them, and even here, I don’t mention names. I guess in a way, I don’t even hold it against them, really. I can still be civil with them, even if I can never trust them again. If someone else is fine with them, who am I to besmirch their name? What happened was between them and myself, no one else. I think there are maybe two or three people who I have told anything to over the years, and I’ve told them because I know they won’t say anything to anyone else and they won’t seek out any sort of payback for me. I do not need anyone attacking anyone else because I said something.

And as weird as it is, I would still help those who have hurt me. If I had the means and they needed my help, I would help them. That’s just how my family is. I can’t imagine being any different. And it shows in my characters a lot. They’re lonely, protective, desperate to be worth something, and willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of others. They are not heroes, they are in the background helping the heroes. They don’t want attention and if they can help anonymously, they will, because just the knowledge that someone might be happier, even just for a moment, because of something they did, it’s worth it. Even if it’s just smiling at someone who looks like they’re having a bad day or buying someone a coffee, or even just leaving a piece of artwork for someone to pick up.

I want to make the world a better place, I want to help people in any way that I can, and what better way than to go out into the world and touch people’s lives? It would be better if I wasn’t so… anti-social and socially awkward, and an outsider. Even if society deems me to be a freak and unfit to join their ranks, even if they bully me, and people like me, I will continue to do what I can to help others. I think that because there is so much pain even here in the states, that’s more reason for me to go do things to help out. I know the states has it easy compared to many, many other countries, but this is where I am, and where I can do the most good for now.

Misunderstanding

There’s a lady on talking to me right now and I have no idea what she’s meaning. It feels like she’s trying to tell me to stop talking about how being bullies isn’t helping anything… I know my posts tend to be long but they should be straightforward… I thought that my post would be taken as a “Don’t be a hypocrite and bullying is bad.” But people are commenting all sorts of other things on it that go deep into philosophy, and then this lady PM’d me and has just now blocked me because she apparently doesn’t agree with me? I don’t know… it doesn’t make sense to me.

I *know* not every person fighting for equality is the same as these extremist SJWs. I know not every feminist is a man hating person. I am complaining about the people who ARE. Why is that wrong??

Edited to say that despite saying she appreciates things about me and thinks I’m a good person, the lady who blocked me was afraid I was going to screenshot her and send the screenshots to my supposed MRA groups, groups for reverse racism (I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised those exist), and groups to make fun of liberals.

#1, I have never been, nor will I ever be, in groups like that ever again. I was in Sanctimommy Said What and I saw what kind of a shit hole that turned into with everyone turning on each other… And then when that other group turned on me, I just quit groups altogether except things that post pictures of cute fluffy things. I’m done with groups.

#2, I don’t side with anyone except those who strive for equality between everyone. If everyone is too busy bitching about how bad they have it, they can’t see the solutions. I don’t want to make fun of people, I just apparently have a poor way of trying to show flaws in all extremist thinking. I want to figure out why people think the way they do, and I am such a stickler for as much honesty as I can that maybe it makes me seem… I don’t know… I pick on all sides, but sometimes I guess it seems more one sided? I don’t know. I just hate that the people I thought were on my side are just as bad, if not worse, than the people they claim to hate.

If someone on my newsfeed posts something incorrect, I can’t really scroll by. If I see it enough, I’ll make a post about it. Maybe it’s more a reflection of what people post? o.O

Maybe I should just become a hermit and say screw the world, let it burn. Why should I even try to make a difference if no side will have me?

Those closest hurt you the most

Recently, I followed my brother onto this facebook page where this guy posted a comic depicting a man and a woman, and she give him her number, and as they walk away, the man is thinking, “I hope she didn’t give me a wrong number.” While the woman is thinking, “I hope he doesn’t rape and murder me.” Below that was written, “Today on “We’re Past All That” a critical examination of how men are really hurt when women don’t trust them and how it’s important that we really consider those feelings.”

My brother started commenting against the comments claiming that men are rapists and are not to be trusted, and then I joined in, because this is a completely unfair assessment that only damages any kind of equality we’re trying for. My brother stated that the comic was an unfair example, and that a better thing for the man to be thinking would be “I hope she doesn’t falsely accuse me of rape.” My brother has spent the past 6 years having to deal with the repercussions of that.

We were called rape apologists for saying that most men don’t rape, and that saying it’s fine to mistrust men is the same as saying it’s fine to mistrust black people. Neither one is ok. They claimed we were trying to dismiss women’s experiences by saying that not all men rape… even though it’s more like 5% of the population that does. 5% is not most, it is a mere fraction. Why should millions of men be accused in the minds of women of something they will never do?

It builds up a barrier, something we’ve been trying to tear down. It sets us back, and the people who claim that no man is to be trusted are just trying to raise up a new power in place of the old. No one group should ever be in charge, nothing will ever get better that way.

And of course my brother and I got banned, and then my mom sent me a screenshot showing me that my cousin apologized for our behavior… Great. How sweet. Apologizing for our behavior, knowing exactly what we’ve been through? Our position is as valid as theirs, but we were apparently invading a “safe space,” which happens to be a public page. PUBLIC. Safe places are private. Technically, there are no safe places… just look at what happened to me last year…

This is why I trust no one. I just didn’t expect it from family, especially the cousin I’m closest with.

Mother’s Day

First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day. I know for a lot of mothers, it ends up not as planned, but I can hope.

I would have been fine if my husband had said he’d be too busy with homework to do Mother’s Day. But no, he had to go and say he wanted to do something special with me, then later mentioned how he needed to go get me something. Then today happened and I’m just trying to figure it out. I can’t find any excuse.

Instead of doing his homework, my husband played video games almost all day. When he wasn’t on the game, he was watching tv and playing on facebook, and even got a two hour nap in. I worked really hard today, weeding the yard, tending the kids, doing dishes, laundry, making food, getting HIS mother’s present ready, etc… I have to say by the end of the day my mood has soured a lot, and my mom starts asking if she needs to kidnap me for the day. 

So I asked my husband what we were doing for Mother’s Day. He said, “I need to do homework all day.” Then I said, “then mom’s going to come kidnap me.”

He replied, “so that means your going to leave the kids here, with me, so I can’t get any work done.”

Am I right to be hurt and angry? It feels like a big slap in the face, like he’s the only one who matters, his needs and wants, him him him. Why would he tell me he wanted to do something special and then dick around all day and decide homework is more important? I don’t know what to do or say. I don’t want to talk to him. I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong thing, but what is the wrong thing?

How to Determine if Your Religious Liberty is at Threat in Just Ten Quick Questions.

Very well put!

The teenage diaries

I did have a bit of teen angst in my old diaries, but the depression made everything worse. Some people on facebook were sharing things about shows where people can go to share their old diary entries and make fun of their teenage selves, and so I went to look at mine, but I can’t laugh at it.

I still feel the pain, so well. I remember the knives, the pills, the darkness… and the darkness’s sweet embrace that was always just out of reach… My entries either read as a Captain’s Log play by play on things we did, or it’s a whirlwind of confusing emotions and me trying to process it all, ending with how exhausted, emotionally, I was, and how I was just tired of the pain.

“Oh that the darkness had taken me! I would welcome that darkness with open arms, if only to be rid of the pain… silent agonies… ripping at my heart, tearing my soul apart… and there’s no one to tell…”

I wish I could laugh at my teenage self for well, being a teenager, but I remember it too well. And besides, I wouldn’t laugh at a teenager who came to me upset over something I thought trivial. That’s what being a teenager is about, experiencing new and very extreme emotions, and trying to figure them out. Sadly, some teens have to deal with things like anxiety and depression along with everything else. And I cannot laugh at that, and I feel bad because I should be able to laugh at myself. I can laugh at stupid things I’ve said, like “I’d rather die than commit suicide!” (I think I was 9?). But I can’t laugh at the pain I was in, and everything else I wrote was pretty boring, like a news article.

“I wonder what plane I will fly in next. I sort of know, but I don’t know what it looks like. As big as a 747? That’s what I flew in on the way here. I don’t feel like I’m in Korea… I don’t know what I feel. Except that I feel no fear. None. I get a little nervous here and there… but not like I thought. I feel very comfy with not being able to speak the language (the security guards wear berrets!) 🙂 I wonder how it will go when I meet up with Wang Xin. Because it will be her country and language. Such an old and complicated language too! I hope I can learn it well and fast. My brother seems to have a knack to pick up languages. He speaks Japanese quite well, though for some reason doesn’t like Chinese. Oh well.”

When I write, it’s to transfer information, or to try to organize my thoughts or just get my feelings out. Like when I have a conversation with someone, phrases mean things to me whereas they’re just filler for other people. I don’t say things I don’t mean, and I don’t ask questions unless I really want to know the answer. My journals are the same, cataloging my days, my emotions, and what happened when. I have stacks of notebooks full of stuff, and it’s interesting to watch me go from being excited about having people to hang out with, to being flat out confused as to why they suddenly stopped caring about me, why they were lying to me, using me, and back stabbing me. It made me so cynical and now I don’t trust anyone.

I will not become attached to anyone again. I will not be used unless I say so (there are some situations where I’m meh about it, and will allow it because it’s no big deal). And since I can’t tell who has selfish motives most of the time, I treat everyone the same. I expect nothing in return, so when I get nothing, I’m not disappointed. I expect people to ditch out on me, because it’s happened so many times. For once, I’m not upset that my husband didn’t get me anything for my birthday. I would prefer it if my birthday ceased to exist, I think. I have more important things to worry about than whether or not someone forgot the day I was born. Again.

I may be rather jaded and bitter and cynical right now, but I won’t let that get in the way of wanting to help people. I just wish I had more to laugh at in my journals…

Internet interactions

So this past week or so, I’ve been having some strange interactions online with some people who are rather antagonistic. One instance involves Person A adding Person B to a group without asking if Person B wanted to be added. Person B then left the group and Person A asked why. PB said he never asked to be added and didn’t want to be part of the group, and they got into an argument about it.

PA then posted on his wall, wondering why PB got mad, because it’s not like some notifications can hurt, right? I tried to explain that by adding without asking, he was taking control of the situation away from the other person, and people tend to react negatively to that. PA thinks that the only way they’ll know if they want to be part of a group is by adding them, rather than inviting. He doesn’t care that people don’t like that, he’s going to do it anyway because it doesn’t cause them any physical harm. There’s a lot more to it than that, and needless to say PA has a few of my friends, and my brother even, pretty mad. My brother asked me if I was going to let PA get away with what he said to me. I’m not that good with words to properly retaliate. Another of my friends wants to beat the guy up.

Another incident involved a forum where this person posted about depression being a disease, not just a mood, and people need to stop the hurtful comments about it. One person on there posted that you can cure your depression if you think positive thoughts, and if you can’t, then you just have a weak mind. He said I lack awareness and that I’m a defeatist for not believing thought can cure something I’ve been trying to think away for around 17 years. I’m just weak willed, you know?

Another person brought up pornography to take a shot at something the OP said elsewhere, and they asked for someone to define it, so I did, and they attacked me and said my art was “far from good *yawn.*” When I asked why they said my art was bad, they replied with, “Quote me where I said your art was bad, I never said that.” So I did and they insulted me further -_-

One person was saying “I guess it’s really a matter on what type of connotation you give to “weak” or “cowardly.” I don’t give those things a negative or shameful connotation when it comes to things like this.” Concerning depression and suicide. So what is this person thinking, that they can get away with telling people they’re cowardly or weak and that the people should accept it because their connotation isn’t the same as the majority of humans on the planet? Our entire history is full of fights with those words used as insults to goad the other person into doing something stupid. You can’t just magically change those words to be light and fluffy good things.

Other people are saying you can’t blame depression for suicide, because it didn’t physically kill them. I can understand this a lot more, but I pose the analogy of a mind altering drug. If someone was given a mind altering drug and went on a killing rampage, people would say the drug was to blame. The person would still be held accountable, I’m sure (depending on the circumstance), but the drug wouldn’t be shoved to the side, it would be listed as a reason for his behavior. A reason for him killing people. Depression isn’t much different. These people wouldn’t kill themselves if their minds weren’t in an altered state. Just because it’s all internal and no one is injecting a drug into the person, doesn’t change it.

I want to try to bring more awareness to mental health, but I didn’t expect so many mean people all at once. And I didn’t even post the thread. But hey, it’s not really that surprising. There’s a horrible stigma still that goes with being depressed. Well with any mental illness. Any illness. Any state of being. People will judge, and think they’re right, that their opinion is the only one that matters, on any aspect of your life, even if they know nothing about you but a blip of words. I find that many people will take a small bit of what you said and fill in the rest with their assumptions, never mind that it wasn’t what you said at all. They only read/hear what they want and nothing anyone says is going to change their minds about it. So bizarre.

I try to stay open minded, and try to see things from different perspectives, but I’m fallible myself, and I know I make mistakes. I may not like the feeling I get when called on it, but I would rather be correct than be an arrogant ass.