The Autistic Arbiter

PLEASE NOTE: This post contains a major spoiler for a classic piece of literature. If you haven't read said work and intend to do so, feel free to stop reading at any time. First of all, allow me to apologize for the delay between my previous post and this one. I recently started a new job and have been quite busy. I've had the title of this post in my head for a while. I'm sure most of us have heard of the title characters from Robert Louis Stevenson's famous nineteenth-century novella. Though I've never actually read said work in its entirety, I'm familiar with its premise. The novella, entitled in full Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , takes place in Victorian London and tells the tale of two men - the kind scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll and the violent, evil Mr. Edward Hyde. The reader eventually comes to learn that Jekyll and Hyde are in fact two different personas of the same individual. I find that the dichotomy between the two is an appropriate metap...

Well, everyone, it's Thursday. And that means it's time for another post. "But why, A.A.?" you ask. "Why Thursday? Does that day carry any special meaning for you?" In a word - no. But if you look at the publication dates of the two previous posts, perhaps you'll notice something. A pattern, even. You see, they're seven days apart. Seven days. One week. I don't recall having done that on purpose, but since the pattern has been established, it only makes sense to continue it. I love patterns. From alliteration to palindromes to symmetry, I find beauty in them. They comfort me. They make sense to me. Consider the following arrangement: Let's ignore the box sitting off to the side, and just focus on the eight "XS" boxes. Why are they set up in this manner? How does a 2-3-3 arrangement make any sense at all? Now consider this alternate arrangement of these boxes: A 3-2-3 arrangement is symmetrical and palindromic. But look - there are t...

"I wear my sunglasses at night so I can, so I can..." Everyone knows this line from Corey Hart's famous 1983 song aptly titled "Sunglasses at Night." Though no specific instances of hearing this song as a boy come to mind, having a mother who graduated from high school in 1985 meant that '80s music was ubiquitous in our household, so it was probably played many times on the radio or the record player when I was growing up. In recent days, I've been thinking of these words in a new way. Even before receiving my official diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, I would sometimes find myself wanting to "retreat inside my own head," so to speak. This would usually happen when I was particularly upset about something. In an attempt to close myself off from the world around me, I would don sunglasses and/or industrial ear protection and just go about my business. Once I no longer felt filled with too much of what I describe as "negative energy,...

Over the weekend of April 28-30, 2023, I had the privilege of participating in Washington Youth Soccer's President's Cup as a match official. The competition took place at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Washington, approximately 150 miles north of where I live. I packed two bags for the two-night, three-day trip. The brown bag contained my regular clothes, while the blue bag was for my referee gear. I decided to get the air in my tires checked and, if necessary, topped off before hitting the road, so I stopped at Les Schwab, which provides this service free of charge. (Sorry about the glare in the pic; I stayed in the car during the inspection.) After Les Schwab, I went to get some gas. My 2008 Toyota Prius seems to average ~42 mpg, so I figured I'd be able to make the entire round trip on a single tank. Spoiler alert - I did it! After getting fuel for my car, I needed fuel for my body, so Jersey Mike's Subs became my next stop. I'd never eaten there before...

When I think about it, the title of this post is appropriate. Yes, it's my first post on this brand-new blog, but in a way, it is a re-introduction.  You see, I've just recently learned something about myself - something that others have hinted at for a while, but that I was hesitant to accept without a professional's input. Something that explains a lot about my personality, behavior, and how I interact with the world around me. If you haven't figured it out by now, the name of this blog should give it away. I am autistic. More specifically, I have autism spectrum disorder, level 1. This is the condition previously known as "high-functioning autism." Level 1 ASD can be difficult to define because it can present differently in each person. In my case, for example, I have an IQ in the 99th percentile, but tend to say and/or do things in public or while interacting with others that most people would find odd or even inappropriate. I often fail to look at people ...