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snakestardraws · 25 days ago

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Felt like writing a post explaining all my special interests and hyperfixations. I was going to post this during Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month, but I forgor 💀 Anyway, here's my massive infodump about all my interests (under the cut):

Current special interests: These are the big ones. The extremely intense, long-lasting interests that make up a core part of my personality. I define a special interest as something I'm constantly thinking about, talking about, and interacting with over a long period of time. To know me is to know these interests.

Pink Floyd - If I had to name a favorite special interest, this and reptiles would tie for the top spot. My interest in Pink Floyd is all-consuming. I can never properly convey how much they mean to me. I first got into them at age 12 when my mom bought me a Dark Side of the Moon shirt. My overly literal brain couldn't stand wearing a shirt without knowing the band, so I looked them up on Scratch (yes, the coding website lol. YouTube was blocked at our school). I clicked on Wish You Were Here, and my life was changed forever. It was a catastrophic extinction-level special interest canon event. I started consuming more and more of their music, getting what I couldn't find on Scratch through an MP3 download website. I read their Wikipedia page and started to genuinely care about the members and history in a way I never had for any other band. I took a specific liking to David Gilmour. I whispered the names of the band members to myself in bed to help me remember them, I walked around on the playground whispering the lyrics to their songs, I got an MP3 player and downloaded every song I could, I did my big 7th grade history project about them, I made atrocious plagiarized fanart of them, I wrote smut fic about David Gilmour with my best friend, I read Deviantart fics on the family computer in the early mornings. For the next 6 Christmases, I asked for only Pink Floyd merch and spent all of my own money on it. My collection grew from that one original shirt to 15 shirts, 16 vinyl records, 8 CDs, 3 pins, 4 posters, a keychain, a fanny pack, a tumbler, and so many more I can't even count. Pink Floyd was at my middle school graduation party and my high school graduation party. It was a bumper sticker on my first car. It inspired the name of my second snake. Their music followed me from insecure tweenhood to semi-confident early adulthood, playing out of crappy MP3 players and old cellphones and cheap turntables and CD players and car speakers the whole way through. I planned 5 different versions of my wedding to David Gilmour. I saw him and Nick Mason in concert and cried real tears both times. I had the best and cringiest interactions with other fans on Deviantart, AO3, Wattpad, YouTube, Amino, Discord, Reddit, Tumblr, and Instagram. Pink Floyd even got name dropped in my official autism diagnosis report 9 months ago. I could go on and on forever, but I should probably stop at some point. Thank you, Pink Floyd, for changing my life.

Reptiles - Where do I even start with my love of reptiles? I suppose the only place to start is when I was 11 years old. I took a Quotev quiz called "What snake should you get?" and got a corn snake as my result. I had never thought about snakes before and only took it for fun, but this made me start seriously considering them as pets. After months of research and begging my mom, I got a beautiful baby anery corn snake for my 12th birthday. I named him Lloyd and promptly set up a bare bones habitat. From this point on, my obsession would only grow. I watched an insane amount of YouTube videos about snakes, eventually branching out into other reptiles. I researched every species I could, upgraded Lloyd's habitat, visited every reptile event I could, talked about snakes constantly, and drew snakes in class all the time. I got a hognose snake named Algernon when I was 14, but he unfortunately died from cancer a year later. I later got a crested gecko named Milton at a reptile expo when I was 16, a hognose snake named Agnes at a reptile store when I was 17, a Kenyan sand boa named Bartholomew and a gold dust day gecko named Archibald at a reptile expo when I was 18, and a giant day gecko named Alexander from Craigslist when I was 18. They are my absolute favorite category of animal and my passion for them is evident to anyone who ever talks to me. I am forever obsessed with them and hope my collection continues to grow. Reptiles are the most gorgeous, adorable, fun, and interesting creatures I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Thank you, Lloyd, for starting it all.

Steven Universe - My friend first recommended Steven Universe to me when I was 11. I watched a couple of episodes, but didn't really like it and didn't look into it any more. Years later when I was 17, my favorite YouTuber Athena P talked a lot about how good the show was and I thought I might as well give it another try. After suffering through the messy first half of season 1, the show finally connected with me, and I was obsessed. I shared it with my sister after I finished the show and she loved it too. I couldn't stop thinking about it and talking about it to everyone I met. I made my own gemsona, read and wrote a huge amount of fanfiction, drew fanart, joined the subreddit, and started consuming all the content I could relating to it. I absolutely love Steven Universe. It's gorgeous, simple, complex, comforting, emotional, hilarious, and overall an incredibly well-made masterpiece. It connected with me in the deepest possible way and helped me learn a couple of new things about myself. Something about the way these silly little rock characters are written has me in a chokehold, and this show will always have a special place in my heart because of it.

A Clockwork Orange - This interest has developed fairly recently, but I can already tell it's going to last a while. I discovered the movie when I was reading the Wikipedia page for the movie rating system and saw that a movie called "A Clockwork Orange" used to be rated X. I was intrigued and frightened by this idea, so I read the page for the movie and found it fascinating. I first watched the movie on April 3rd, got so hooked I had to watch it again immediately afterwards, and have since logged it 60 times on Letterboxd. I have also read the book, looked at numerous fanfictions, watched countless analysis videos, drew some rudimentary fanart, and am currently writing a couple fanfictions myself. I cannot explain why this movie captivates me so. It's dark, spry, unflinching, twisted, unique, iconic, humorous, intelligent, beautiful, hypnotic, perfectly shot, and of course, ultraviolent. But it's not the violence that captures me, which a lot of people I tell about the movie seem to misunderstand. This makes it my most controversial current special interest. I also love the book almost as much as the movie, with the exception of that goofy ahh ending. Ultimately, a wonderful piece of media that I can't look away from, no matter how hard I try.

“Undercurrent” interests: I define these as interests that didn't quite make the cut for special interests, but are still more dear to me than a regular interest. I don't constantly interact with them, but they are always in the background of my mind.

Travel advisories - These are the advisories posted by the U.S. Department of State on which countries are safe to travel to. They are organized by Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4, and each country is given reasoning for the safety rating. I got obsessed with reading all the advisories on the site starting at age 16. I even memorized each country and and made a Google Doc color-coding all of the countries by level. I've noticed a common theme with many of my interests, which is that I love anything that can be categorized. That's why learning about these advisories is super fun and addictive to me.

Product recalls - This is somewhat related to my advertising interest. Starting at age 7, I loved watching law firm commercials alerting consumers about product recalls. This interest continued on because I found it so fascinating. Now I look up recall commercials on YouTube and stay on top of new product recalls using Google. They are categorized by level of severity and released to the public in a variety of ways. I don't know why they give me so much dopamine, but they're so fun to watch.

Commercials - This isn't my most intense interest, but it's definitely my most long-lasting one. According to my mom, I loved commercials even as a young toddler, and that love has continued to this day. Whereas most autistic people seem to be less susceptible to ads than normal, I am extremely susceptible to them and love to analyze why a commercial is persuasive. I can't even explain why I like them so much. They're just incredibly fun and pleasurable to me, to the point that watching them feels like I'm on crack. When I was younger, I used to memorize and quote commercials all the time, record infomercials on the DVR, and even film my own commercials with my mom's phone. They will always have a special place in my heart, and they're the reason I want to seek a career in advertising.

Passports - I became obsessed with the designs and rankings of world passports at age 17. Unfortunately, the only online communities for passports are about sexist "passport bros." Thankfully, I can enjoy the beauty of passports outside of those communities. I was thrilled to get my first official passport and stared at it for hours. My favorite websites about passports are the ones that line them up by color so you can click on information about them. I wasted so much school time looking at that site...

Rollercoasters - I have been fascinated with the workings of rollercoasters since I was 6 years old. The different types of coasters, lifts, and restraint systems are just so cool! The weird thing is that I'm kind of mixed on riding them, since a lot of them are extremely fun, but some of them are scary. But the topic of how they work and how they're put together is so fascinating. My favorite coasters are The Rattler and the Incredicoaster.

Dæmonism - This is the practice of creating a sentient mental animal companion inspired by the dæmons in the book series His Dark Materials. When I was 13, I read the book series and became obsessed with it, but especially the aspect of dæmons. I found a specific Amino community for dæmons with instructions on how to create/find your own. So at one windy spring track practice, I found my own dæmon. He appeared as a sunbeam snake I named Sisyphus and we started talking. We talked every day and grew incredibly close, and we are still incredibly close to this day. He tried out many forms and now appears as a marbled polecat. I plan to talk more about dæmonism on my sideblog @daemonforest!

James Bond - This one was almost a special interest, but I feel like I can't call it that since I haven't seen all of the movies and don't like some of them. I also haven't read most of the books and don't like the ones I have read. With that said, I absolutely love James Bond, and I have ever since I was 14. The action is actually interesting and gripping most of the time, the villains and their plots are so cartoonish, the music slaps, the jokes are good, the Bond girls are sometimes cool, and of course there's James Bond, the titular bitchular himself. He's cool, charismatic, mysterious, clever, fun to watch, and overall iconic. My favorite movies are Dr. No, You Only Live Twice, Casino Royale, and Skyfall. My favorite Bond actors are Sean Connery, Daniel Craig, and Timothy Dalton.

Star Trek - Another that just barely edged out of the special interest category. Similar to my James Bond interest, I feel I can't truly claim it as a special interest since I haven't seen all of the shows and don't like some of them. All the same, I absolutely love Star Trek, especially The Next Generation. I first watched it when I was 16 and fell in love with it. It's intelligent, beautiful, and engaging, with many thought-provoking concepts explored through complex and lovable characters. My favorite characters are Data, Spock (all iterations), Uhura, Picard, Janeway, Elnor, Seven of Nine, and Tuvok. My favorite shows are The Next Generation, The Original Series, Voyager, Strange New Worlds, and Picard. My favorite episodes are The Offspring, Silicon Avatar, The Inner Light, Patterns of Force, The Trouble With Tribbles, Subspace Rhapsody, Tuvix, Deadlock, and The Void. I'm currently making my own Star Trek fan story/comic using anthropomorphic cats.

Current hyperfixations: I define a hyperfixation as something that grabs my interest with extreme intensity, but for short periods of time. Upon getting into something, I can immediately tell whether it's going to be long-lasting or not.

Ball pythons - This falls under the category of reptiles, but ball pythons specifically are a hyperfixation right now because I'm getting 2 of them on June 7th. Since last week, I have been researching everything I can about them and talking about them to everyone within earshot.

PVC pipe fittings - This became a hyperfixation last month after my dad asked me to rebuild his sprinkler system with him. We had to work with PVC pipes a lot and they instantly fascinated me, specifically the pipe fittings. Googling pictures of them gives me immense joy.

Past special interests: Interests that used to intensely dominate my life, but no longer do. Even after an interest stops being a special interest, I never lose it. It just becomes a regular interest instead (with the exception of problematic interests I try to get rid of).

Lalaloopsy - My mom bought me my first Lalaloopsy at age 5. From that point on, I was obsessed. I collected over a hundred minifigures, constantly lined them up and played with them, made up my own Lalaloopsy OCs, watched the cartoon, played the minigames, and even bought the collector's guide so I could circle all the ones I wanted. My interest started to wane at age 11, but I am still very fond of them.

Harry Potter - Yeah, this one didn't age too well. My mom read me the first book at age 8 and I was hooked. I quickly devoured the entire series, watched all the movies, collected a bunch of merch and side books, watched those mid Fantastic Beasts movies, visited the theme park, played the Scene It game a thousand times, read a ton of fanfiction, and even made up a self-insert character who I wrote fanfiction about and shipped with Harry. My interest started to wane at age 16 because of JK Rowling's transphobia. I actually knew about it at age 15, but didn't care because I was kind of transphobic myself at the time. But as I mentally matured and realized I was being a dickwad, I realized I couldn't continue this interest because it would only support her. So I still reread the books occasionally despite their problematic content, but I have joined many people in officially renouncing the franchise and refusing to talk about it (outside of this post, of course). Fuck JKR.

Cats - Cats were my favorite animal starting when I was a baby. We've had a least one cat my entire childhood (our current one is named Tiberius) and they have always captivated me. We had an informational book about cats that I would go through and circle all my favorite cat breeds. I'm not as obsessed with them anymore, but I still love them dearly.

Ninjago - When I was about 11 years old, I saw the Lego Ninjago movie in theaters. My best friend at the time introduced me to the original Lego Ninjago show and despite the rough first season, I was hooked. I was especially interested in Lloyd and developed a crush on him, eventually naming my first pet snake after him. I watched every episode, collected a bunch of the Lego sets, made a Minecraft skin of Lloyd as an NPC, made fanart, Warrior Cats crossover fanfiction, and even smut fanfiction shipping Lloyd with Kai and Legolas from Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, it really fell off in season 8 and the spinoff show looks terrible, so I only watch it occasionally now. But it was a good form of bonding with my friend and my sister, and I had a lot of fun with it while the interest lasted.

Warrior Cats - I consider this distinct from my cat interest because it's a specific series, but it was just as intense. My mom got me Into the Wild for my 10th birthday because her siblings loved the series, and I instantly fell in love with it. I read all of the books that were out at the time, including many manga and super editions, wrote copious fanfiction, drew even more fanart, made my own OC, and even made a second OC after I outgrew that one. The second OC, Snakestar, was made when I was 12, and she is still my main OC/fursona to this day. I'm not as obsessed with the series anymore and haven't kept up with the last few arcs, but I still enjoy rereading the books and using my current Warriorsona.

Wings of Fire - I got into this series when I saw my friend at the time reading one of the books on a church road trip when we were 12. I asked to borrow it, but I was pretty confused since it was the third book in the series. However, I still really enjoyed it and decided to draw the dragons like my friend did. They were a lot better at art than me, but we still had fun drawing together. I made quite a few fan tribes and character designs before reading the rest of the series, including one main dragonsona I drew excessively. When I was 14, I finally read the rest of the books since my sister was reading them in school and loved them. I now own all of the books, graphic novels, and drawing books. I also made an updated OC, a lot of art, and a lot of fanfiction. I still love the series, just not as intensely as before.

Past (hyper)fixations: Hyperfixations are transient by nature, and these are the numerous subjects I used to hyperfixate on but no longer do. Even after I stop hyperfixating on something, I never lose interest in it – it just becomes a milder regular interest. Because there are so many, I'll just write the age I got into each one.

Sea cucumbers (12), chameleons (10), microbes (5), Arthur (8), World War 2 (13), Armin Meiwes case (16), Rasputin (13), 9/11 (16), Everywhere at the End of Time (14), dog attacks (14), rare dog breeds (12), liminal spaces (16), Minecraft (8-14, but the hyperfixation hit when I was 9), Everlost (12), The Count of Monte Cristo (11), catalogs (12), furry fandom (15), lucid dreaming (15/16), Glorb (17), oud (17), graffiti (18), PSAs (16), sex toys (18), cocaine (18. NEVER AGAIN, COKE KILLS.), website data breaches (18).

Other: Things I didn't know how to categorize. They're not exactly special interests or hyperfixations since I don't think about them or interact with them a lot, but they are extremely present in my life.

Pompompurin - I became obsessed with this little yellow dog guy on my trip to Japan when I was 16. There was merch of him everywhere, and I quickly bought everything I could that featured him. Now I have numerous stuffed animals, keychains, pins, minifigures, purses, stickers, clothing articles, and even a giant 3 foot tall Build-a-Bear of him.

The color green - This has been my favorite color since I was about 12 years old. I know everyone has a favorite color, but autistic people seem to get a bit more intense about their favorite colors than other people. Basically, if I can get something in the color green, I will, and it has taken over my entire life. My favorite shades are dark green, sage green, and mint green. It's so comforting to me.

Whew, that was a lot of infodumping! If you somehow read this entire thing, thank you so much! I didn't really expect anyone to read it since I wrote it mostly for my benefit. Have some pizza while you're here 🍕

💚 Thanks for reading! 💚

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