My family thinks I might have
Asperger's Syndrome, which is basically high functioning
autism, i.e. my social skills are absolutely crap, despite being quite smart, and reading lots
hyperlexia. I'm most annoyed with myself, now I'm a statistic. It also explains my truly useless
body language skills, and all round crapness at remembering people's names. My aunt, a psychiatrist, apparently told my dad to look it up on the internet, and when he read it, it all made sense, apparently. So, I am soon to visit a psychiatrist. I'm 20, I have no real doubt I'll be diagnosed. I'd read about the disorder before, and thiught that it might be what I had, but it never occured to me to tell anybody. If it really is Asperger's it's pretty mild. I was just reading a book,
The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Nighttime, written from the viewpoint of a 15 year old Asperger's sufferer, which was loaned to me by my Dad. On reflection, I should have gotten that he was trying to hint at something, but then again I don't get hints unless they're laid on with a trowel, and not even then, a lot of the time, another bit giving weight to the diagnosis. Another thingy with this is that you're naive, or sort of easily lead. I'm not naive, it's cop on that I'm lacking, but I suppose it's the same thing in the end.
I had a great time myself last night. I went to one of Limerick's three rock bars The High Stool, and I had a great time. I spent €30 total. I bought two miniatures in the offie before I went in (€1 for 50 mLs of 40%, called poitin, tasted okay, better than some vodkas) and I mixed those with Diet Cokes when I went in. After the second drink, I gave up on avoiding the dance floor and went out on it. I did the usual idiotic rocker/mosher dance which involves lots of headbanging (which is why my neck hurts like hell) and writhing. Then the headline act came on this Czech band called Squall. I did some catcalling at first, werewolf howling, but they didn't take themselves too seriously, and asked for vampires, mummies and zombies in the audience. Their first song was absolute crap, pure guitar wanking, very technically accomplished, and a chore to listen to. After that it was excellent, although it would have been better if the vocals had been audible. One amusing thing they did towards the end of their set was to do a stop start thing, so me and all the other (about 5 or 6, all a group) people dancing acted like it was musical statues, y'know stop when the music stops and you've got to try and be perfectly still. After the band were done I bought their album, for a €5. I made sure to tell them they rocked ... with the exception of the first song. Then they had the "disco" where reasonably rock music was played at first, Jimmy Eat World, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, which I really enjoyed, but then it degeneratyed into pop, so I left for the front bar. I got myself a beer. (I must have had two or three while I was dancing, I'd put them on the amps and grab a gulp during a pause in the music.) I actually sat down next to a girl, after asking if the seat was free of course, and started chatting. They took the piss out of my accent but that was okay. I had a conversation with a complete stranger, and got a cute girl's number