tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post8954713622078757172..comments2024-03-19T08:40:36.481+11:00Comments on Life with Aspergers: University Life - Part 2Gavin Bollardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13833941398375568706noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-25396604579493464402015-05-10T00:10:31.756+10:002015-05-10T00:10:31.756+10:00I hear you on the group work thing.
In my electr...I hear you on the group work thing. <br /><br />In my electronic design class I designed, built and demonstrated a radio station made up of used parts from salvaged radios, the receiving kind. I even designed the printed circuit boards and did the soldering. Basically I did everything. Everyone in the group was happy to go for the ride. We all got an A+ and one of the guys kept my radio station! Bummer. It only worked for 12 to 13 minutes before you had to stop and restart it. At which point in our demonstration we ( I ) would switch to displaying it's schematics while someone restarted it. lol<br /><br />...anyways. Miguel Palaciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02311154354365423829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-38285655696590963492015-05-07T04:48:50.218+10:002015-05-07T04:48:50.218+10:00lol The first Windows system I used was 2.5. It s...lol The first Windows system I used was 2.5. It seemed experimental. I still preferred GEOS much more. But windows 2.5 was better than DOS-SHELL, when it didn't crash. lol<br /><br />My first puter was a TI-99-4A. That's how I leant Basic. I would load it on cassette. This is before I could afford to have a floppy drive. lol<br /><br />My modem was a 300 BAUD one with an acoustic coupler for the phone. It was a snails pace but it was exciting to connect to Many a BBS and also connect to FidoNet, which is where I got my first eMail addy that wasn't some long number like CompuServe. Woohoo!!<br /><br />Years later, my 1st email address was fanfare@cyberspace.org I had it for many years. Too bad I couldn't keep it. Miguel Palaciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02311154354365423829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-91844128495743605872015-05-04T19:34:01.943+10:002015-05-04T19:34:01.943+10:00After my 1st 3 years, I too had to whittle it down...After my 1st 3 years, I too had to whittle it down to one or two subjects per semester. All in all it took me 10 years to graduate with s bachelors. It was well worth it and the secret is to make sure I was always enrolled, even if it is I only took in the very least one subject at a time. Because logically, eventually, I simoly graduate, which I did. Soon thereafter I got a promotion and was treated with more dignity and respect at work. The usual bulky even stopped bullying me and a couple of years later he asked me to be his mentor. Today he doesn't bulky people anymore! He even asked for forgiveness. I think he originally regarded me as "retarded" and highly underestimated me. Miguel Palaciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02311154354365423829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-5952176502273955272012-09-20T16:59:49.759+10:002012-09-20T16:59:49.759+10:00Have to say, as an Aspie my degree is psychology (...Have to say, as an Aspie my degree is psychology (I enjoy it) and I have done (and enjoyed) sociology and philosophy. I am capable of getting passionate about the topics without needed to have any direct "feel" or "Association" with the groups I am talking about. They are all variables in a complicated big picture.<br /><br />I don't think the logical answer is always "what is best for the state" I like sociology because there is no simple answer - there are too many variables. So I don't think that this makes sociology lesser than a science subject (or that 'science' is always the best mode of thought[or rather I just think science is broader than chem/bio/physcis]). <br /><br />Sociology and philosophy are undervalued, they facilitate critical thinking skills. Which is right up the ally of many Aspies - you just have to see the puzzle of it.Artemisynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13470247565665319114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-76143688267598470982011-06-08T21:19:55.152+10:002011-06-08T21:19:55.152+10:00I definitely disliked group work - still do. I am ...I definitely disliked group work - still do. I am the solo programmer who has to do the whole task myself. Fortunately that's possible in my job.<br /><br />Like another poster I really liked sociology. While I did not do brilliantly at the subject at uni, I did learn the difference between individual and social facts, and I have worked in applied social research positions in the public sector for most of my life.<br /><br />I actually had to withdraw from uni after failing most of my subjects in second year - even though I had passed the HSC (I'm in NSW too) with a score that would have got me into medicine. I was anxious and depressed, and definitely not coping with the unstructured world of university, after the smaller, more tightly knit world of high school.<br /><br />I did better when I went part time and studied at night. Like you, I found mature-aged students easier to relate to. I eventually attempted a PhD, but spent six years trying to write the first page of my thesis. I really cannot organise myself for a big project like that. But I thorooughly enjoyed burying myself in the uni library and reading lots of books about subjects that I wasn't studying formally.Lenni Kamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-19930745565639601782011-06-08T19:24:55.581+10:002011-06-08T19:24:55.581+10:00Absolutely hilarious - the video girl was hitting ...Absolutely hilarious - the video girl was hitting on you! Haha! She was probably thinking you were a challenge!! Anyhoo...'live and learn'. By the way, Im NT but find group work as loathesome as you do, for exactly the same reasons. One question I have - why do people with Aspergers find it so hard to organise themselves? I ask this, looking for strategies to help my daughters with. Is organisation a skill they will never learn?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-11488730218634646562011-06-08T14:15:59.471+10:002011-06-08T14:15:59.471+10:00Good point Serena and thank you for picking me up ...Good point Serena and thank you for picking me up on generalization. Sociology was definitely not for THIS aspie but individual difference mean that it could be perfect for another.Gavin Bollardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13833941398375568706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-5999174352087069522011-06-08T13:07:50.431+10:002011-06-08T13:07:50.431+10:00I can relate to most of this, but saying that Soci...I can relate to most of this, but saying that Sociology isn't for aspies is a pretty blanket statement. <br /><br />I excelled at Sociology. Even if I don't tend to understand most people in a face-to-face sort of way, I have always been fascinated by human interaction, which I have always credited for my ability to blend when I am forced to be in groups, even though group situations take a lot of of me and I need days to recover from them. <br /><br />Maybe this is a gender difference thing. I don't claim to know.Serenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16634339002042494410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-23507875757748961332011-06-08T11:48:11.760+10:002011-06-08T11:48:11.760+10:00Hey, I've been lurking your blog for quite som...Hey, I've been lurking your blog for quite some time, I'm only coming out of the shadows because what you've said about university has totally hit a chord within me. <br /><br />I had a much similar experience with university, in fact I'm still having it, as I haven't graduated yet. (I'm studying psychology by the way).<br /><br />I started with computer science and failed miserably, dropped out after only two months, then spent the rest of that year and the next trying to get my life in order, or as close as possible, the only thing that finally gave me enough confidence to go back to Uni, was that I enrolled in French classes at the Maison de France and was placed with adults only. Which was brilliant. <br /><br />The only two exceptions were these two guys, friends to each other, that picked on me really badly over my eccentricities, until one day another classmate told them to cut it off. As it turned out my saviour was my uncle's old classmate at junior school and recognised my name, so he decided to step in and take me under his wing.<br /><br />I already got rambly, sorry, I just wanted to tell you that so far I've really liked your series on University life, they sound pretty familiar to me.<br /><br />At first the worse was getting organised and talking to others, group work is still hard, but I now have a somewhat close group of people I work very well with. What really kills me, though, is picking up a book and reading for my class, as in, when I'm obligated to do so, unless I really like the subject, I don't do that much studying out of going to class. Papers and reports are a different story, though, I love doing those.Narkitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04454139111703214821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-91921697112567710522011-06-08T10:19:59.053+10:002011-06-08T10:19:59.053+10:00I genuinely can relate to the dislike of "gro...I genuinely can relate to the dislike of "group work." I hated it too. I generally took it upon myself to do the whole thing and then let the other group members sign on to it. This tack, unfortunately, made me a very popular person to be assigned to a group. <br /><br />I can also relate to the perfection angle. I wrote my 90+ page Master's thesis on a typewriter. If I made a mistake on the last line of a page, I would rip the page out, wad it up and start from the top again. Since I'm not a perfect typist, I ripped up many a page.The Rambling Taoisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04730292897416827840noreply@blogger.com