Things You Don't Know About Me

[jamesq]

This is a meme floating around Facebook. It's long-winded enough I figured I'd post the original here on LJ.
I was given a "random" number of nine, so here are nine things you may not have known about me.

1. I didn't start drinking until I was 37. I was teetotal until then.
   
2. I didn't get my drivers license until I was 33. I didn't drive a car again for four years. My therapist figured out that this was a point of anxiety for me and gave me drive a car every weekend as homework to build confidence.
   
3. I'm rather a late bloomer in a lot of things. I blame my largely friendless childhood, where I completely failed to learn basic socialization skills until very late. Basically I was still figuring out basic elementary school stuff well into adulthood.
   
4. Despite the above, I'm not aspy - I'm actually fairly neurotypical. That is to say, my late socialization is an *effect*, not a *cause*. Is it sad that that's something people may not have known about me? It should really be a default assumption.
   
5. Well, neurotypical might be a stretch - I suffer from depression. Currently under control *knocks on wood*.
   Ok, so that's hardly unknown. How about this - I was on Citalopram for the first year after diagnosis since it was so bad. Citalopram has it's side effects, but it was a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
   
6. I jogged for about a year before I told anyone (though my roommate at the time probably figured it out). All the better to pretend I never tried it at all if I failed at it. Thankfully I didn't fail at it since I rather enjoy running - but you all knew that already.
   
7. I'm known in the SCA as James the Quixotic, but if I ever try to get a name passed it will likely be James MacDonald of Skye.
   
8. I want to turn Island of the Sequined Love Nun into a movie. Basically as producer/director. Sadly I lack the wherewithal and talent set to do that. A major lottery win would take care of the former and give me time to take care of the latter.
   
9. I had major surgery to repair my hernia when I was six weeks old. I was also six weeks premature. Yes, these facts are related. I still have the scar, but given its location, I'm not likely to show you unless we're really friendly.

Comments

[haasiophis.livejournal.com]

-You have some very good social skills now, and I'm not aware of anyone who thinks you're "Aspy" - I certainly didn't/don't. I'm not sure you realize how popular you are. I consider you "one of the cool kids" in the Calgary social group. I understand that it is possibly hard for you to see yourself but from the outside... you're very much in the inner circles, believe me.

-I've been on somewhere between 12-15 medications in my depression life (over about 12 years), including Citalopram (which I needed to be taken off of as it was apparently causing organ damage - apparently an uncommon potential reaction in some people). I don't know if this applies for you too but sometimes I have (and now am again - sigh) struggled with being "a medicated person" though I would never judge anyone else the same way - you know how it goes. As you say though, much better than the alternative, and it is important to remember it is a medical condition you are treating with the appropriate medicine. (As I try to remind myself of the same :P )

-Did you know I'm mundanely ACTUALLY a MacDonald from the Isle of Skye? On my maternal grandmother's side.