If you’ve been following this blog, you might have noticed that I am a big fan of the Liverpool indie/rock / uncategorisable band Space. I’ve written about hanging out backstage with them at a gig in Manchester in March last year, how frontman Tommy Scott looked after me when I had a serious panic attack at another gig in Birmingham, and how they got me through high school. As it happens, they’re releasing their fifth album, Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab (yes, really), next month. It looks to be the best thing they’ve done since Tin Planet in 1998. To commemorate this, and as a challenge, I’m doing a series of miniblogs about Asperger’s Syndrome – some personal, some advice. Each will be around 600 to 800 words. Moreover, each post is going to be named after a Space song and have a different theme. Here’s the list:
1. If It’s Real: yes, it is a disability
2. Neighbourhood: moving house
3. Mr Psycho: emotional difficulties
4. Female Of The Species: not fitting in with other girls
5. No One Understands: the diagnosis
6. Dark Clouds: memories of Barcelona
7. Blow Your Cover: first sexual relationship
8. Influenza: getting ME
9. Life Of A Miser: managing money and other household things
10. Avenging Angels: relationship with my father
11. The Man: coping at work
12. Disco Dolly: festival tips
13. Fran In Japan: role models outside the family
14. I Am Unlike A Lifeform You’ve Ever Met: on books and the imaginary world
15. Bastard Me Bastard You: unwanted attention from men
16. Numb The Doubt: on drugs
17. Everybody In The Madhouse: primary school
18. Diary Of A Wimp: obsessive behaviour
19. Gravity: Dad’s death
20. Juno 54: relationship with music
21. Hell Of A Girl: bisexuality
22. Suburban Rock ‘n’ Roll: the Chester years
23. The English Language Let Me Down: speech and language
24. Paranoid 6teen: relationship with my brother
25. Crying On The Webcam: self-injury and stigma
26. Quiet Beach: the overdoses
27. Fortune Teller: on being childfree
28. Armageddon: on parties
29. Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab: love-hate relationship with food
30. Falling In Love Again: relationship with the Perrys (my current stepdad and his teenage kids, Alice and Tom)
31. Guestlist To Hell: the people who keep me alive
I have my friend Chloe to thank for this – I found out about NaBloPoMo through her, and I wanted to see if I could do a challenge of some kind and stick to it for a month. This year is going to be about challenges; I’m going to Barcelona again, without any family members in the background this time, I’m doing the 5:2 diet, I’m going to go and see Everton play at some point (football matches are hard to deal with), and I’m going to be doing the Race for Life in my father’s memory, along with two friends, Topher and Sarah, and their dogs, Starbuck and Semtex (and we will be walking it, as I have ME and Semtex is a bulldog, a breed not known for their athletic skills!) I also, finances depending, may go to Berlin in the autumn / winter. The horrible Schonefeld experience did not put me off, and there’s so much of the city yet to be seen.
I apologise in advance to any family members I might upset with this. Also, out of consideration to readers, I will be posting trigger warnings / content notes on posts that contain potentially triggering content (e.g. sexual assault and eating disorders).
The Hidden Village of Aspergers 