It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on drawing. Not to worry, however… I’ve been working on that amidst my musical journey:
This character is named ‘Stuart Yoshihiro’, he is a music student who studies piano and composing at college (I have to take some practice shots of my local Conservatorium, for chapter II). This explains why I have been going out and observing pianists, and chatting to some. I do find that many exhibit autistic traits like myself.
No, again… to stress. Not all of them. Although, I would say a majority do. The pianists who stand out in their pianism are very eccentric. I love that.
Those of us with Asperger’s (High-functioning ASD) find it difficult to initiate eye contact with others. Personally speaking, as an autistic person myself… eye contact is very difficult.
I have to push myself to maintain eye contact, and I often do so, with strangers in public so as to disguise myself. However, in doing so… I tend to overload my ability to process what I am experiencing.
The struggle with eye-contact has to do with that extra layer of processing. The micro nuances of socialization. The eyes can convey very much, and at times… staring into people’s eyes is extremely intense. I don’t remember the way people’s faces look, to be honest. It takes me a long time to remember what someone looks like, facially speaking. Since, many people exhibit a single emotion in different ways. There aren’t people who smile the same way, for instance.
The world presents itself intensely to me, as an Autistic person. This is attributed to what many would call “Intense World Theory”, a new concept which requires a lot more research… that may act as an integral puzzle piece to how the ASD individual consciousness processes their reality.
In sharing a little of my experience… the world is strange, and people are strange to me. I often feel misunderstood, and I feel that I can come on a little bit too intense for people’s tastes. I can, at times be blunt… and I tend to deviate away from being stereotypically feminine–or passive. It can be off-putting to many. Trivial matters, such as popular mainstream media do not appeal to me, and I’d rather exchange philosophical constructive concepts over chatter which is–say like… anything ‘trivial’. For example, pointless gossip or celebrity bullshit.
It is for that reason, I tend to relate very well… to high-functioning autists like myself.
Meryl Keioskie 