Dec 7 2012

On the Job

Rosemary

Not the DayJob, but the real deal, here at the Library — where my favorite carrel has returned to its proper configuration, without my asking.

Back in the bio’s. Your random quote:

“Every so often, someone asks if I would undergo some yet-to-be-discovered treatment that might end my Asperger’s syndrome. Such questions have become politically fraught, and my answer is a complicated one. I wouldn’t wish the condition on anybody — I’ve spent too much of my life isolated, unhappy, and conflicted — yet I am also convinced that many of the things I’ve done were accomplished not despite my Asperger’s syndrome but because of it. I’m sure that it’s responsible, at least in part, for my powers of concentration, which permit me to absorb a congenial subject immediately, write an article in an afternoon or a book in a summer, blotting out everyone and everything until the project is completed. I’m sure it’s one of the reasons I take my work so seriously (I find it far easier to forgive any personal insult than the slightest outside meddling with a project that has seized my attention — do not disturb my circles!).”

Parallel Play: Growing Up with Undiagnosed Asperger’s, by Tim Page, published by Doubleday, 2009

Another thing that caught my eye in this book is that the author spent some of his childhood in Storrs, Connecticut — just down the road from where I grew up.

"Storrs was dripping with LSD throughout the rainy fall of 1970.  Our high school was right on the UConn campus, and a freshman dorm unit called the Jungle, traditionally known for its beer parties and its intense overcrowding, briefly became the local pleasure dome."

This guy was there about the same time I was, as well.

In other news: I checked out that book by John Haines (The Stars, The Snow, The Fire), and I’m finding it fascinating. The far north has interested me for a long time, and here’s a real insider’s view, written by someone who knows how to use his words.

Other other news: I picked up the audiobook version of James Branch Cabell’s Jurgen on sale at Audible for $1.99. Score!