1000 Pieces: Some Assembly Required

My name is Anthony Dennis. You can call me Tony. More and more I have found that there are things that I need to speak about, and there are times where people aren't willing to listen or don't understand what I'm talking about. In the old days people used to just sit down at a typewriter and vent, writing whatever comes to mind.

This isn't a typewriter but it'll work just as well. plus it's a lot easier to correct spelling mistakes.

I suppose now would be a good time to talk about myself. I'm 21 years old living in a suburb on the west side of Indianapolis with my family. Dad works at a hospital downtown, mom works with the special education dept. at the local high school, I have one sister who's gonna be a sophomore in college and one going into her senior year of high school. I'm looking to return to college and am also pursuing becoming an IHSAA official in the meantime.

Of course, if everything was as normal as it seems on the face this wouldn't be very interesting. And frankly, the interesting part is my head: I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in the summer of 1998. Asperger's is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by above-average cognitive function, bordering on savant-levels, but massively decreased social skills. Unlike true autistic savants ("Rain Man" did a fairly accurate protrayal) I understand what's going on in the world around me. The problem is dealing with it in a socailly acceptable way. Things like looking at someone when they're talking, not interrupting people, and not making odd sound effects at random times are near-instinctual to most, but it's taken years of repetitive behavior to grind those into my brain. Despite all that, it's hard to connect with people normally; they see that I'm weird and will usually have nothing more to do with me.

Of course, that is hardly all-inclusive. I've discovered that I'm a geek, and to a point that has helped me find people who, even if they don't know me personally, share enough common interests that we get along well enough. I'm an avid gamer and anyone who knows me also knows it. Whether it's board games, card games, video games, I always like playing something, trying to outsmart an opponent. (I'm so into gaming that I just interrupted posting this to play euchre with my family.) One thing that I've found out is that especially on the internet, people are a lot less likely to make snap judgements on someone, especially when you know what you have in common. And so I've made friends, met people who think the way I do, and even gotten into some new experiences because of it.

One thing this won't be is a masterpiece. Writing has never been an easy thing for me; in grade school I used to throw temper tantrums because I absolutely refused to do writing assignments. Over the past 15 years it's become much easier, but I do not claim to be that good. One thing it will be is an honest opinion of what I believe.

To quote Keith Olbermann:
"The purpose isn't to throw off heat; it's to throw off light."