the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

I have started reading "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" and cannot put it down. This first-person account of a 15 year-old boy with Autism is so cleverly written that I cannot even put words to how I feel about this masterpiece. Having worked with children and adolescents with Autism, I am slightly familiar with how they think and some of their behaviors. The author, Mark Haddon, is so spot-on with his descriptions and narratives that it becomes undeniably and uncontrollably easy to imagine that you are living inside the head of this 15 year-old boy, Christopher. His random and sporadic - yet intense - thoughts are highlighted superbly, and I love how the story follows a line of thinking that is so common in Autistic children and adolescents.

July 9th addendum...

For the love of God I lost this book on an airplane and had to wait two weeks to receive my new one from half.com. Now that I have it in my possession again, I am praying to the airplane Gods that they do not develop sticky fingers EVER AGAIN.

A conversation with my dad in Jamaica - in which he admitted to me that he thinks I'm ADD and always have been - coupled with a recent experience at the health club has made me realize that I might identify a tad with Christopher. Christopher details his experience of "going somewhere new" and the unfortunate fact that he "sees everything," is easily overwhelmed, and often finds himself unable to concentrate. Yesterday I decided to exercise during peak health club hours - something I stopped doing several years ago because I could not handle the overwhelming sense I felt from so much movement, so many new and utterly annoying people, loud music, bright lights, and so on. I was essentially unable to function yesterday and was reminded within five minutes why I ceased attending the health club during these times. Not only do I pay attention to every little movement and sound, but I cannot hold my attention to one particular thing when my mind is that overly stimulated by my environment. When I don't have much to do - say like sitting in an airport waiting for a departure - I enjoy the stimulation. However, when I am intent on getting from point A to point B in whatever it is I am doing, I become overbearingly uncomfortable by the over-stimulation of my senses. I practically forget what it is I am doing, begin to feel useless and immobile, and then almost send myself into an undesired state of panic...

I don't know though. I may be full of shit. I often feel this way in large crowds, but mostly because I feel claustrophobic. Maybe it's because I don't typically like the kind of people who go to health clubs.

I do know this though. I don't like a lot of people so maybe I just don't want to be around a lot of people. I can be socially awkward and I practically embrace it. I like quiet at times and I'm okay with that. I like solitude at times and I'm okay with that too. I enjoy having very few close friends, while engaging my two cats in conversation almost more than any two humans. I'm okay with that.

So, Christopher, I feel your pain. I think a lot of people feel your pain (on an obvious smaller and less detrimental scale) and worry that there is something "wrong with them". I think we should embrace this individuality, and just be hopeful that more people will become like us so we don't have to deal with their nonsense anymore.