An Introduction

Felis Interruptus, or my Meezer hates it when I type

Learning curves- don’t ya love ‘em? I do, because for me, learning things is a lot of fun, and the sense of satisfaction that comes from mastering a new task- be it teaching cats how to catch kibble in midair, or figuring out the font settings on this Substack (I prefer sans-serif fonts)- never goes away.

That last sentence is a free home demonstration of how a mind that runs on coffee, cat hair and ADHD works. Yes, I do tend to jet off to grab and haul in other ideas and stuff them on the page, and I tend to abuse or over-use commas, dashes, parenthesis and brackets. I’ll refine that as my style develops, but right now, I am writing stream of consciousness with a bit of gentle editing here and there.

So, who the heck am I, anyway? And where the heck should I start? How about a short list of interesting stuff about me? It’ll serve as a kind of sneak preview of things I want to write about and share with y’all.

• I am an autodidact. I love learning new things. It’s a major through line in my life. Some of the things I have learned have become hobbies, than careers. It’s also my secret weapon when I am in trivia contests, because of all the intellectual lint I’ve picked up in my life and travels.

• I’m an Air Force brat and a disabled Air Force veteran. That means that the first thirty-something years of my life were full of fascinating experiences of culture, place, people, and insights. I also helped beta-test the Internet.

• I’m retired. This is a state of life that I am still getting a handle on, six months in. The story of how I went from being broke and homeless in a foreign country to being able to retire early, major debts paid, is a long and winding one, but is definitely a learning experience.

• I’m a nerd. Or a geek. Or both, depending how the word is used. My understanding is that nerds are generalists, and geeks are deep specialists. And since I have a tendency to want to learn all the stuff about things I am interested in, that probably makes me both.

• I have autism and ADHD. Oh, and albinism, too (blame my father and “Operation Hardtack” for that). I was not diagnosed with the first two until I was an adult. A USAF flight surgeon who was an opthamologist confirmed the latter while I was still serving. Aspergers wasn’t even a diagnosis when I was a kid. And as a girl I did not exhibit the ‘typical’ kind of autism that got little boys labeled ‘difficult’, or in extreme cases, institutionalized. I was just ‘brilliant, but eccentric’ according to a note on my elementary school report card.

• I was a ‘weird kid’. Gordon White of Rune Soup always asked his podcast guests if they were ‘weird kids’- from a metaphysical point of view. I was weird- and some of my interests- particularly in magic(k), occultism, and psychic subjects- got me into some serious difficulties in my later youth. Not because of anything I did- but because of other peoples’ perceptions of it.

• I was also a weird girl, because I generally hated ‘girly’ things. For a brief time, I hated being a girl, mostly because of the increasing restrictions on my behavior. My parents and relatives succeeded in sanding off the roughest parts of my autistic behavior (tiptoe walking and droning on in a monotone voice were the ones I can remember). I did suffer physical and emotional abuse, but I managed to out-stubborn the lot of them.

• I’m an occultist, and have studied the subject and its many variations of spiritual practice since I was a teen. Today, I am considered an Elder by quite a few peers. To be honest, I am not sure what to call myself now. I am trying the label ‘Magical Generalist’ on for size. “Generalist” will stay, but magic is just part of all the so-called paranormal, psychic, and liminal outlier things that I am deeply interested in.

• I am an audiophile. This is in spite of really debilitating tinnitus and misphonia.

• I enjoy writing, and telling stories. I’m better at telling them digitally than in person, but I can do so, with enough practice. I’ve gotten used to the sound of my own voice, but I still cannot stand being on video. So, you might see some still photos of me, or hear my voice behind the camera, but I have no plans to become any kind of video star.

• I love cats. And they love me, except when I am typing. At least one of my three felines has what I call ‘keyboard misphonia’. His Siamese howling is almost operatic in its pitchiness. I’ve learned to close the door to my study when I’m in the middle of something.
  
  This just scratches the surface, but at least you know what you can look forward to as I spin up this Stack-o-Matic thingy and fine tune it. Stick around- I’ll get this font thing solved, along with adding pictures. Maybe even some of Yours Truly.
  
  Thanks for sticking around, Dear Reader. (I’m going to have to refine that salutation to suit my own style of addressing all y’all.) Subscribe if you want more.