This is a non-medical, sometimes humorous blog about my life with Asperger Syndrome. In it, I will share my experiences in hopes that it will help anyone who may have questions or concerns about some of the unexplained things that have happened throughout their lives. I hope you will find it both informative and entertaining.
As this blog is an on-going narative, the new reader may wish to start at the beginning (March 02, 2009), and follow through to present by using the calendar located in the sidebar.
Please visit the page entitled “Mark’s Art” to see some of the work I have done over the years. I am available for hire as a professional, free-lance artist/illustrator. You can also listen to some of my original music by following the link provided in the sidebar.
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I would love to hear from you. Please leave your comments and I will respond to them as soon as possible. Thank you.
Tags: artist, asperger syndrome, illustrator
This is very interesting! For the past year, I’ve come to realize I must have a touch of AS, though not to an extreme. There have been so many instances in my 51 years that point to it. For example, I can tell you what I had for dinner on June 17, 1975 but I don’t remember what I had two nights ago. I’m an artist myself and focus on extreme detail, the more complex, the better. As for music, the more notes the better. On the other hand, people see me as shy, aloof, unengaged. Though my social skills are pretty normal, it all seems an act.
Thank you for blogging! I’m interested in reading more!
Danny: This is exactly why I began this blog. There are many of us out there who have been confused or troubled through life. Worse, we have often confused and troubled those closest to us. The realization of my condition has really helped me understand a lot about why I’m the way I am, and why I have viewed the world the way I have all my life. I do hope you will visit often and stay late. Your comments and insights are always welcome.
Yes indeed, I saw your artwork and was immediately drawn to your sense of vibrant color and of course, detail…great stuff!
In my artwork, I always strive for photorealism, in drawing and painting, always trying to get it as photoreal as possible.
And for a while there, I had a career as an artist! Computer game art, which I comfortably adapted to, and made somewhat of a career and a name for myself, thereby focusing on my skill, enjoying the money, having fun and ignoring any asberger-like symptom because I didn’t know anything about it…in fact, I relished the fact that people would marvel at my toothpick fort.
I liked and appreciated the attention…Life was good.
But after I got laid off, I’ve been like a fish flopping out of the water, and dying…I asked myself, “did losing my job turn me into a loser, or expose me as one?”
I had concluded that it exposed me as one after an endless job search…but I tell myself with earnestness ‘that’s not true’…there are factors, imbedded factors that may have inhibited trying harder…I ended up working at a grocery store which sapped my energy even more.
It’s hard, in these tough economic times for anyone going through these things….and I think there are quite a few that have a touch of AS in one thing or another.
Ha, just go to a ‘Yes’ concert, my favorite band, none of my friends like them, but a stadium of 15,000 can’t be wrong.
These are indeed difficult times for many of us. Jobs and money are not in great supply. I sympathize for you and with you as to the difficulties of being an artist. It can be a very up and down experience. Up, in that we are admired for our talents, but down inthat there are tons of people who are either in more demand or are more talented than we. Thanks again for your kind words concerning my art. Photo realism is something I have never been able to achieve. Luckily, I’m happy to leave that very tedious task to others. I have the patience to make something look recognizable, and that’s about it. but we all have our weak points. If you will continue to follow my blog, I intend to veer into some topics not related directly with AS. Like my wife says, I have an opinion on everything (even things I know little or nothing about), so I may as well begin to share a few of my more salient thoughts as time goes by.
Hi Mark,
Best wishes to you on your new venture. I look forward to your daily blog!!! Sincerely Jean
Again, great posts about the experiences of AS…have you heard of John Elder Robison? He wrote a book called “Look Me In The Eye” about living with Asperger’s…
Lately, in my own experience anyway, I came to discover that a unique experience or activity can trigger a flood of memories, a torrent even.
About a month ago I planted a garden of tomatoes, squash, peppers, et c. which I hadn’t done in years…and as I was digging in the dirt, I immediately flashed back to 1962, when I was 4, when my dad planted a garden and I ‘helped’…A flood of visceral information filled my brain, right down to the smell of the cilantro, “this is spice…and over there, carrots and radishes, we won’t pick them yet…”
Not only that, memories of when Marylin Monroe died, I remembered in great detail sitting in the back seat of my uncle’s white Mercury, “Marylin Monroe died!” and he turned around, “Whaaaat?!” I even remember it was Coleman Avenue we turned onto at the time and the lady with the yellow hat on the corner who was fanning herself…all these things were buried in time until I started working on the garden.
These memories are all there, I think maybe in everyone…I’m not sure if it’s AS or if it’s due to some other thing that unleashes these torrents…but, like a computer, the human brain stores memories…in folders and files long forgotten, and I will never cease to be amazed by the capacity of the human brain.
Danny: Thanks so much for your thoughts and insights. It seems like many of us are feeling our way around on this topic. God bless those who are diagnosed at an early age, as they and those around them are able to avail themselves of information concerning AS. For some of us older ones who are just now discovering what in the world has been going on in our lives all these crazy years, it’s like turning on a light after years of darkness. Blinding at first. Then gradually, things begin to gain focus. I hope that by relating some of my experiences, you and others will flash on similar or varied incidents in your lives as well. Some humorous, some sad, and some downright ridiculous. Feel free to share those experiences, just as you have now, and know that you have a listening ear, and a cadre of friends who will no doubt appreciate your insights as well. With AS, there does not appear to be an iron-clad laundry list of traits, but there is an astounding litany of sorts among we who live with it from day to day. A familiar tune that we all keep humming. Kind of like those people in “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind,” who couldn’t stop drawing and dreaming about the same thing. Everyone, as part of the human race is similar in countless ways. Break that down by race, and you get even more specific. By families, even more so. Those of us with Asperperger Syndrome are definitely family. Please consider Glitchbucket.com your reunion headquarters. Come again often, invite a friend or two, and don’t forget to bring a covered dish.