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@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Thanks

We go every 4 to 6 weeks depending on what we need. I’m not sure I could do it on a more regular basis!

Hope you have a great Sunday mate

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Thanks! Looks like a nice sunny and somewhat balmy-8°C today. I might put on some shorts and a tube top, grab some rays!

Luck on the Costco trip! It’s a sweets minefield…

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Hey PJ

Mind you don’t get sunburn!

Failed a little bit - got some dried melon pieces & some cookies by way of naughty snacks!

Needed some down time but am here now

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Sounds like a productive trip. You HAVE to buy something naughty, or what’s the point? Did you pick up a tin of pecans or toasted walnuts at least?

I went out to find the sun couldn’t overcome the cold, unfortunately. I suppose I could have managed a slight sunburn if I didn’t suffer hypothermia first.

Hope the rest of your day tops out well!

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Hey PJ

I resisted the nut section on this occasion, might get a big tub next time though!

It was really warm in the car with the sun shining in, a bit cooler outside but I didn’t need a coat on, just a sweatshirt over my usual t-shirt.

Sun is too low in the sky for sunburn mate so you’re more likely just to get hypothermia - so no running around in your beach wear!

Day wasn’t too bad at all thanks, hope you & Aunty PJ had a good day

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic We did, thank you!

We spent the day gaming mostly. Auntie PJ had a surgery on her hand and needed regular breaks.

We’re re-re-rewatching The Great British Baking Show during our rest periods. Maybe someday the baking will catch hold here at home. Pastries seem like the most difficult thing to pull off, then bread. Proving times kind of throw me off.

As for the Costco trip, I really find it hard to believe that you, of all people, managed to resist the nuts… are you not feeling well?!

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Evening PJ

Hope Aunty PJ’s hand heals soon!

I can’t bake to save my life - I have ½ the attention span of a gnat! Good luck with your efforts!

I know! I had a choc urge though & so the cookies won the ‘either or’ contest!

Next time there could well be catering levels of nuts!

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Evening Sir McTuffty!

Thanks for the well wishes. Her hand is… swollen. She has two pins holding her thumb in place. It’s messy!

I can bake, as in “a cake from a box” kind of baking. It just so interesting looking!

Better luck on the nuts next time! Isn’t that what they say?

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Morning PJ

Ooooh that sounds painful, hope it heals as quickly as possible!

I simply get distracted far too easily to bake - & have no sense of time so things carbonise very easily in our kitchen if I cook!

Thanks

Hope you have a decent day today my friend

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Thanks, mate!

She’s a trooper. She hardly even takes the pain meds they gave her. She has something against sleeping, like it’s a waste of her day. Odd bird, is Auntie PJ!

As for cooking, that’s what timers are for, if you can remember to use them. I don’t need them, really. Bake for 28 minutes? *looks at clock* Ok, out at 5:47 PM. Got it. Then I check the time often until it’s time to take it out of the oven. I guess I have that going for me!

Hope your day is pleasant and warm. Pat those kitties for me!

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Kitties are patted & have gone for midday constitutional!

Yeah but I’ll start playing a game & look up - 10 minutes to go loads of time!
Timer goes off, “Ah I’ll just finish this one thing”
Smoke alarm goes off - “bugger! “

Thanks

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Haha! Well, when the timer goes off you need to stop. At the very least, don’t start a task that cannot be interrupted by the timer. The timer is the king. Respect the timer!

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Ah & here we hit the ND / NT membrane.

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Well, that’s out of my realm of expertise! ND/NT membrawhozit?

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic It was so subtle that it completely whooshed by the top of my head!

What does it mean, exactly? Explain it like I was a 6 year old…

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Ok so folk like me with autism/ ADHD etc are covered by the umbrella term of neurodivergent (ND) - ie our brains are wired differently to everyone else who are covered by the term NT (neuro typical).

One of the things that happens with ND folk is that we get hyper focused on things so that we are compelled to complete them. The fact that an outside stimulus - a timer going off, our partners yelling at us to do x/y/z or indeed a 3 minute warning going off - is not sufficient to break that compulsion.
One might say that we are incapable of responding to the alarm if out attention is otherwise engaged.

I also have no sense of time passing & am really not good at estimating how long a task will take.
Also - very much in line with me being a squirrel am easily distracted if not already tied up in a hyper focus event, so that even if I do respond to the timer then if something distracts me en-route, say I see that the cat has thrown up or that the soap dispenser is empty, or thousand other things then that will draw my attention away & the timer will be forgotten (this has happened countless times).

I hope this helps, it’s a hard concept to get across, people like Robert Kennedy & the orange oaf think we just need 4 years on a wellness farm to put us right - it won’t, we were born like this & develop strategies to mask our differences so that we better fit into the NT world - some of us get very good at that so we appear to be the same as everyone else, just a little weird. It took 56 years to catch me out- & that’s only because I sought an answer to why I was different.

If you’re interested in the core ways autistic folk can be different then do a DDG search on “Triad of impairments” which splits the most common ways autistic folk differ into 3 distinct areas. To be formally diagnosed one has to exhibit behaviours in each of the areas of the triad.

@Tim_McTuffty @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic You know, you can train yourself to get .. well, not the time right, but somewhat annoyed after a specific amount of time?

Sure, took me about 6+ years to imbue the "3 minutes is ENOUGH!" timeout, but it works? Or at least if you dont want completely oversteeped, bitter and too strongk tea.

As a tea junkie, one will eventually get there.

And from there to like: 10 minutes! The bloody cookies are only allowed TEN! MINUTES! .. is doable xD

@Tim_McTuffty @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic On that occassion, I just finished baking cookies. And after the first baking was kinda bit TOO dry, it somehow worked with the "lets go to the kitchen after 10ish minutes" angsty nervousness inner itch ..

.. so talking from very fresh experience xD

@Tim_McTuffty @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic If you like your tea not bitter and tangy, then you gonna learn eventually xD

My MAIN advantage is: I'm using a smart watch. Nothing is better than some slight tugging on your wrist ..

... vs. some clock or smart phone that may be sitting somewhere in the distance, to be easily ignored or just forgotten about. Worse, sometimes these alarms dont ring or just go silent ..

@ginsterbusch @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic I have to admit to wearing a smartwatch too, & it does help a little, but not as much as I thought it would.

But hey it would be a boring world if we were all the same!

@Soldusty @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic Morning Verðandi

Exactly - I am much the same, I have an app called ‘Due’ for my reminders & I too get to the end of the day & sigh as I reschedule stuff for the following day

Hope you have a good day today nonetheless my friend

@Tim_McTuffty @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic
Yup, seems to be a feature not a bug, even though it very much feels & reports as a bug when ye olde brain takes notice.
Have been known to reschedule the same things for days or weeks in a row .

Edit:
Morning/afternoon friend.

Hope your day is progressing well.

I'm not with it today

@Soldusty @UnclePJ @actuallyautistic I know what you mean Verðandi!

Day is not bad so far thanks

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic No problems at all PJ, don’t stress over it. I have no memory of telling you any of that before so it’s fine my friend!

I glad if I helped, it’s something that a lot of folks cannot get their heads around - it’s like with depression where folk just think all those of us who suffer from it should “just cheer up!”. The level of education on MH issues is criminal in the the UK & US by all accounts!

Thanks I did sleep ok, hope you did too, luv to Auntie PJ

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Thanks, and I’ll pass on your luv to Auntie PJ. She was in fine spirits this morning, after a good nights sleep.

I’ve learned so much about MH from here and other online communities. So much that I never understood. That I never even heard of. It’s not taught, except for at university if you actually specialize in it.

Much of what I’ve seen is the same, “Buck up buttercup!” And, “Have you tried just being happy?”

Fortunately, I don’t suffer from depression or even get very anxious (unless there’s undue pressure at work or home life). So sometimes that preprogrammed attitude about giving those that do suffer from MH issues comes out in the form of dumb advice. Usually, if the person points out their condition, which I understand can be arduous in itself, I’ll apologize and knock it off.

That’s a bit of a novel, so I’ll cut it off here and wish you a fine afternoon, mate. Cheers!

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic I could bor enough for hours with my thoughtsa nd experiences regarding MH, but I like you so I wont!

The best advice about MH advice is if the person is a long term sufferer then don’t bother with advice, just listen to what they say and ask how you can help. Because they will have heard 90% of any advice a lay person can give them about 90 thousand times already.

Sometimes just someone to talk to is enough - I know this from personal experience.

Hope you have a really good day my friend

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Thanks!

I try to be a good listener, but sometimes my mind likes to wander and my mouth is a traitor that likes to run on and on.

For the record, I’m not bored by any conversation, especially if I’m learning something.

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic I think lots of folk suffer from that - I certainly do, & I have the added problem of not recognising the signs to shut up. One of my ‘Social Communication’ impairments.

I’ll bear that in mind, be careful what you wish for!

@Tim_McTuffty @actuallyautistic Well, let’s not go so far as to call it a wish!

If I have a wish, I’d not so blithely whip it out on that.

@UnclePJ @actuallyautistic You spoil all my fun!