Greets and salutes.

Let’s get started, finally. I say “finally” because the idea of writing an auto-bio has been bantered about for a very long time. The spark was lit many moons ago by a dear friend, my journalism professor. Since then the candle (i.e., the idea) has fluctuated between raging inferno to barely a spark, but it has never gone out. Notice how there’s some simile used here; there’ll be more. Lots more. Typically, if you chat with someone about Asperger’s, the idea of simile, context, insinuation and metaphors comes across as a foreign concept. That is, you may be reminded that “Aspie’s aren’t particularly up on the idea of such concepts; instead, they’re very literal, perhaps even to a fault.” This is one of many instances where “not everything is as it seems,” or, more specifically, “not all Aspie’s are identical.” That headline on the front page is screaming at you “We’re not all the same!” and the caption under the picture reads “if you’ve met an Aspie, you’ve met one Aspie.”

I’ve digressed, which I am wont to do. It’s my discretion, after all, or, my “digretion.” I shall be using digretion constantly throughout. It makes things interesting, and besides, there’s just too much to a story to simply stick with the main plot. Words like “digretion” will also pop up throughout; fiddling with language is a little pet hobby, passed on down. It’ll probably stop here, because the kiddo’s don’t particularly care for it. I should mention that they’re Aspies as well, both of them. Yes, three Aspies in the household, and none alike. Refer to the first paragraph. That leaves one non-Aspie, my wife, who demands and deserves empathy for having to deal with the rest of us. (She, by the way, also has a blog at www.thecardboardkitty.com).

This blog will essentially take the place of the hard-bound paper version of an autobiography that got sparked eons ago, as mentioned. One of the main stumbling blocks preventing such a book from existing already has been the timeline. I have excellent recall of events going back to about age 4, but quite often I’m confused about some of the earlier events. It’s all my folks’ fault, really, because they didn’t sit still in one place when I was little, and then of course there are the family details they’d rather leave out anyway, so putting it all together in a cohesive fashion is akin to trying to finish a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing and some bits from other sets mixed in. I’ve asked plenty of questions, gotten different answers, so much of the time I’ve had to figure it out myself. So here’s the official disclaimer: if I get anything wrong, especially about the early days, it’s their fault for not setting things straight in the first place. So there.

One day I discovered one of Isaac Asimov’s autobiographies (a famously prolific writer, producing more than one), and his style appealed to me. He must have dealt with the same problem, so he went about writing smaller chapters within chapters that didn’t necessarily tie in together, sometimes random things that deserved recording but didn’t fit, yet still helped to paint the overall picture of the man. It might make for some confusion on the part of the reader (face it, if you’re reading Asimov’s autobiographies and you’re on page 900 or so, you’ve made the commitment), but I find it to be a good solution to the timeline problem. The blog format, as opposed to a printed version, lends itself to the random. Well, we’ll certainly find out, as I’m just getting started.

So far you’ve read that there are three Aspies in the house, one NT (neuro-typical), some reference to the Outback, and Asimov (probably the only time I’ll reference him, however). There are a lot of holes to fill in. I appreciate your visit, and welcome you to stay.