Aspies For Freedom

usually i just smile back... although i dont understand why they laughed at all, happens alot so

I always just shout "Not funny!".

:!: Mich :?:

LOL I know some women grow a lot of facial hair as they get older but surely you don't just stop being a girl (and what - turn into a boy?) as you get older?  :shock:

Hey there, don't give up. Im 31 and i still think of myself as as girl in some ways. So does my mum i think. i havent had much luck with the relationship thing either and i dont think it is anything to do with my looks but more to do with my maturity.

I am also a sometimes reluctant case of nominative determinism: My surname is Green. and so i am, in name, nature and also if im forced to have political leanings.  
becca

things can be funny later because you can see how many coincidences went into something. it can be funny you had one two three four five six SEVEN people trying to get your attention, although at the time its just plain overwhelming.

HI Jockey, i don't understand what you meant, but it sounded interesting, can you explain? Is it about realising what was happening in the group later when the people have gone?
becca

Heh.  I've gotten used to this.  The ONLY time anyone EVER laughs at me is when I'm not trying to be funny!  And when I DO try to be funny, I get blank looks!

I guess I'm lucky; in about grade 8, I managed to find a sense of humour that others appreciated. Zaniness and eccentricity seemed to work for me. Sure, it means people tend not to take me seriously when I want them to, but I usually solve that problem by not being serious with many people.



Hmm... what would I do if people laughed at me when I was actually being serious? I can't honestly tell you. It's never come up.

I am interested in protecting endandered animals.

What about windmill power?

http://www.otherpower.com/

There it is.  Build your own.

My local newspaper the Western Morning News has been running a sustained campaign against wind farms. Amongst other things they have claimed that a few turbines in the vicinity can have a knock-down effect on property prices. If that's the case, I say stick 'em on every hill in sight and give us first-time buyers a chance! :wink:

The Ramblers' Association (national hikers' organisation) have opposed some planning applications for wind farms. Curiously, one of their member groups opposed an offshore development. Have they taken up walking on water? :lol:

That's the kind of response I just don't get - someone laughing but not out of amusement. Maybe it's a cultural thing, this laughing out of empathy. I've heard that in certain Far Eastern cultures it is the done thing to smile broadly when imparting bad news - it's meant to indicate sympathy. Over here it would be interpreted as schadenfreude.

You haven't mentioned this in your profile. I once asked another AFF member why he hadn't mentioned his green interests in his profile and he replied: The reason I don't is because, (to me anyway), interests are what you do to while away an idle hour. Now if there had been a section for core beliefs, it would have been there.

Back on topic, one recurrent instance of people laughing at me when I hadn't intended to be funny happens whenever I say something along the lines of "I don't know how I'd find the time for X".  Typical response: "Oh, everyone has that problem! Not enough hours in the day! Ha ha!" It's got so bad that I visibiy tense up as soon as I say the words "find the time". To illustrate this, here's an episode from my diary:

Sat 29 Oct [2005]

Went to conference on "alternative economics" in the Cathedral chapter house. There wasn't much opportunity for conversation between the various talks/workshops, but I did manage a brief chat with a lady from the local Lets group (Lets = Local Exchange Trading System, a sort of modern-day bartering in which people exhange skills & services for a local currency). I think that I'd heard her saying that she was a life coach by profession, which intrigued me - not that I was hoping to get a free session out of her, of course. Also the idea of Lets has long interested me. I did once go along to their monthly meeting shortly after moving to Exeter, but that was as far as I went. The big stumbling block for me is what skills I could contribute and how (time being the usual bugbear here). Someone has said that it would be perfectly OK to join Lets & make use of their services for a while before giving anything, but I don't feel comfortable with that - I feel guilty just thinking about it. God knows, I feel twinges of guilt at my not taking a more active role in the walking club - how much worse would I feel freeloading on Lets? It has been suggested - by me, actually - that I offer maths tuition. But would I be able to deliver? What if the syllabus has changed since I did GCSE? What if I'm hopeless at explaining concepts to someone with less mathematical ability than me? What if I can't find the time? Etc etc. These were the issues I'd raised at the Lets meeting two years previously, and essentially I went over the same ground with the lady at the conference. I tried to explain the problems I was having lately with time management, which prompted the usual titter, so I remarked that it only made it worse that everyone finds my plight apparently so funny. The lady insisted that she was expressing sympathy. I didn't know what to say to that; I only reflected (in my head) that I wished people could express sympathy in a way that sounds less like schadenfreude!

So my burning question "Should I get involved in Lets?" got the usual replies: "It's up to you / you'd be most welcome / we're always glad to have new younger members etc." Bit of a disappointment. Something of a communication problem.

ASira, did you mean "patronising"?

Or "paternalistic"?