初め - Start

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a long time now, but never really knew what good it would do. Lately I've been reading a lot of blogs written by Autistics, though, and I keep wanting to post something, even though I don't feel nearly as eloquent as people like Autistic Hoya's Lydia or Yes, That Too's Alyssa.

Because yeah, I'm Autistic. And it just feels important to me to have something like this out there: a pretty nice life, as experienced by an Autistic girl.

Posts will likely be highly random. I have only vague, scattered memories of most of my past, for reasons that are entirely unknown to me. Each year of my life has a couple of images that stand out, and the rest is just a blur of uncertain recollections. I piece together most of it by borrowing other peoples' memories and using them to fill in the gaps, but there's so much that I'm missing that I have no way to recover. That's another reason I want to do this: it's not really a journal, but it might help me to hold onto things that I feel are important as I move into 'adulthood'.

People's names will be changed; I don't really have anything to hide, but I'm not comfortable with handing random strangers that much access to my life. If you know me personally, though, you'll recognize me. It won't be hard.

The basics:

I'm 25 as I write this--although I generally look like I'm 14-18--and I'm almost finished with my General Studies Associates' Degree. And all that that implies. I barely top five feet. My skin is so pale that 'ivory' colored foundation makes it look like I have a tan--which would be a pain if I actually wore makeup--and tinted an odd shade of yellow for indeterminate reasons. My hair is waist-length and brown, with white streaks in front to make me look like Rogue from the X-men, thanks to a high-school obsession that still hasn't died down. My eyes used to be blue, but now they're more gray. My ancestors came to the US on the Mayflower; before then, they were mainly Welsh, with a smattering of half the countries in Europe mixed in. I'm straight and cis. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or Mormon) and identify as Liberal for the most part. I'm studying Japanese and Asian Studies in preparation for a career as a translator. I dress all in black, usually jeans and geeky T-shirts, but my favorite color is plum. I'm severely nearsighted with astigmatism. I have comic-book superheroine boobs. I eat almost everything with chopsticks. I knit occasionally and reluctantly, love origami and calligraphy, and make chainmail out of soda-can pull-tabs. I have a deep and abiding love for the manga and anime D.Gray-Man. I love snow and bunnies and city lights at night.

And yeah, I'm Autistic.

Welcome to my life.