PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I bought a metric shit-ton of these non-valved N95 respirators both on Amazon and at Home Depot because I like them better than the reusable cloth masks and surgical masks. They form a tight enough seal around my mouth and nose that my glasses don't fog up unless it's really humid or something; However, they (A) are not valved and can become increasingly difficult to breathe in life as the hours go by, and (B) lack the foam rubber cushioning that goes against your face...

 

The non-valved N95s with yellow elastic straps, like the one pictured above, are almost exclusively what I wore on the floor during my seasonal job at the Halloween store; They were okay, but as stated above they became increasingly hard to breathe in over the course of a 4-hour shift. They also tended to get a bit moist when I sweated...

 

I get a lot of people who aren't TW members reading this thread, and I suspect it's because they look up keywords like "Aspergers Syndrome" or "Autism" and my thread pops up in their search results; Valved N95 masks like the ones I prefer to wear may be a bit too big for children younger than about eight years old, but for adults on the spectrum who have sensory issues with wearing masks, I highly recommend them!

 

I also hated wearing masks from probably the age of 9 until I started wearing middle school, and I don't remember what the issue was then; Honestly, neither do my parents, but it was most certainly an autism-related sensory issue...

 

From mid-1996 to mid-1998, we lived in Mountain View, California while my dad was stationed at Moffett Field; We moved to Virginia Beach in the summer of 1998 when my dad got transferred to Norfolk...

I believe we left California in like...June 1998...?



Anyway, that's not important...

My mom enrolled me at this summer art class at a closed-for-the-summer elementary school (not the one
I'd gone to; Not even sure it was in the same school district). I believe that each class lasted a week, and the first one focused on painting. That went fine...

The second class I enrolled in focused on rock carving and sanding if I remember correctly, and masks were not required at first...

 

One day I noticed that the instructor had a dust mask at her desk; It looked just like the standard disposable dust masks, but it was made out of cloth or fabric of some sort and was reusable if I remember correctly. I asked her what it was for and she said it was for when she was "seriously carving". I couldn't help but wonder if I would have to wear a mask too, and a short time later my question was answered...

The teacher began distributing disposable dust masks, and we each put our name on them; We would be reusing them for the duration of the class, which again was about a week.

I distinctly remember one female classmate complaining about the smell inside her mask resulting from writing her name on the mask with a Sharpie marker, and I think that was part of the issue I had...

I wore the mask for a few minutes, and I am embarrassed about how I ended up acting...

 

I threw a fit. I would like to say again that I was only 9 years old, but how I acted was no way for a 9-year old to be acting; I actually started crying and basically had a meltdown. It wasn't a temper tantrum, but I am still embarrassed to this day about how I acted...



However, this thread is supposed to include everything about growing up with and living with an autism spectrum disorder, including the struggles and moments I'd rather forget; I want people reading this to learn from my experiences!

I honestly do know why I threw a fit; I'd never worn a dust mask or any kind of respirator before, and I think part of it was that it was just kind of sprung on the class a couple days in. It was unexpected, it was a new experience, and I think it was a bit of sensory overload. I didn't get in any trouble, but I was pulled out of class to calm down; My parents came to get me early, and once it was determined that continuing the class and doing the activities without wearing a mask was not an option, I was transferred to another class going on at the same school.

I forget what the class I ended up in was called, but the big project was making a large model of a Mayan pyramid or temple and painting it; My pyramid actually survived well into the early 2000s until it got crushed during one of our many moves and I reluctantly let my parents throw it away...

 

I should also note that while I was initially diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) at like 2 or 3 years of age, I was not formally diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome until November 1998, after we'd been living in Virginia Beach for a few months. My pediatrician, a Dr. Casey, diagnosed me...

The mask fiasco happened in June or July of 1998, when we were still living in California; I had not been diagnosed with AS yet, but my parents, teachers, and fellow students all knew something was up with me. I was in fairly regular contact with the kids from the class I'd thrown a fit in, and I'm both amazed and relieved that they didn't tease me. More often than not, the quirks that came with AS made me a target for bullying well into high school, but the kids who witnessed my meltdown over wearing a mask didn't really say anything about it...

In the summer of 1999, my parents signed me up for a pottery class; One of the first things I asked was if I had to wear a mask, and my mom assured me that she'd made sure I would not have to wear one before enrolling me.

 

It is a long story but l will shorten in for time sake. My Mom was a real estate agent at the time and the dog belonged to an important client, it mauled their son badly. They needed it out of the house while their son healed so my Mom volunteered to give it a temporary home at our house and the result was it attacking me too.

 

They didn't euthanize the dog?!?!

 

After it attacked me it was.

 

As most people on TW know, I am a Navy brat; My dad joined the Navy right out of college in 1982 and retired in 2007 as a Captain. He was a navigator on P-3s; Trips to the hangar were a regular occurrence, as was getting to go aboard the airplanes!

I loved going on the P-3s, and even though all of them were virtually identical it never got old, especially going into the cockpit and sitting in the captain's seat!

Anyway, P-3s have oxygen masks for use in case of emergencies like the cabin becoming depressurized; I was probably like 6 the first time I saw one, and at the time they looked to me like a WWII-era gas mask. They didn't even look like the oxygen masks fighter pilots wore; They were full-face monstrosities that covered your entire face, and I was fascinated with them...

On more than one occasion, starting when I was no older than 7, my dad let me try on one of the oxygen masks on the P-3; I was not the least bit scared of them, and it was fun to wear the thing. Even after the 1998 art class fiasco, I can remember willingly trying on an oxygen mask on one of my dad's P-3s.

I cannot remember the last time I had a serious problem wearing any kind of mask or respirator, but I can tell you that almost two years into this damn pandemic I do in fact have sensory issues if I have to wear one for an extended period of time.

 

Sounds like that dog had psychological problems; Doberman Pinschers are not predisposed to be mean!

 

It's possible that you didn't bug out because yout old man was there with you.

Merry Xmas my man.

 

Another issue I have with masks is not having to wear one in itself, but when people decide to be assholes if they feel you are not wearing one properly; I had only one significant mask-related incident in 2021 (at the Toyota dealer of all places), but a staggering three incidents in 2020!

 

That is a very good point, and also a regulation Navy oxygen mask is going to be a lot more comfortable than a cheap disposal dust mask no matter what!

Merry Christmas to you too!

 

I've mentioned all of these incidents in this thread before at some point; Incident number one took place fairly early on in the COVID pandemic, probably in about May 2020...

It was like two months after we'd adopted Porter, and he had torn apart his harness; I drove Porter to the nearby PetSmart so I could properly fit him with a new one...

While I was trying the harness out on Porter, my glasses started to fog up and I dropped my mask below my nose; The female employee, who was probably 18 or 19, immediately barked at me to put my mask on...



If it had been a male employee, I likely would not have just shrugged it off, but since it was a reasonably attractive girl, I just slid the mask back up without even giving her a dirty look...

Seriously though, getting a wriggling Labrador puppy into a harness is no easy task, and my glasses inevitably started to fog up during the struggle!

 

@Red Alert

I have told this story on TW before, but I don't know if you've heard it; I almost clobbered a guy in Mission BBQ a year and a half ago because in his infinite wisdom he thought it would be a good idea to get right in my face and lecture me about not wearing my mask properly...

This was incident #2; It took place in June 2020 when I went to the Mission BBQ around the corner from my work to get lunch; I started to place my order with the cashier, and like in the first incident at PetSmart, my glasses started to fog up...

I dropped the mask below my nose (but my mouth was still covered), and Mission BBQ has always been mask optional so no employee gave a shit!

This guy in his early 20s came up to me and got right in my face, then started hassling me about not wearing my mask properly. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first and asked him if he worked there; He told me he did not and I told him "mind your own damn business"...

He should have backed off at this point; Also, I know he had no way of knowing I'm autistic, but you do NOT come into the personal "bubble" of someone with autism even if there isn't a pandemic.

He kept giving me grief, and I glared at him and growled "Fuck off." He kept running his mouth, and if the restaurant manager hadn't gotten between us, that nosy prick would have woken up seeing stars and staring at the ceiling while wondering why some of his front teeth were missing...

This was a perfect stranger who came up to, even though I was larger than him, and decided to not only violate the "6-foot rule" but get right up in my face and lecture me about something that was none of his business.

This guy had already gotten his order, and the manager calmly escorted him and the person he was with to the door without incident; He then assured me that I'd done nothing wrong and that they were not the mask police and just there to serve great barbecue.

Thankfully, nothing like that has happened since!

 

It's sadly not uncommon for morons, well-meaning or not, to get into strangers' faces for a variety of unwarranted reasons. Nor is it uncommon for said morons to be beaten, stabbed, or shot in response. Been forced into confrontations with such cretins myself, and while I'm aware that one doesn't always think logically in stressful situations, I have a mantra drilled into my head. "Legal fees, legal fees".

 

Fuck the legal fees...

I've never been arrested and I'd like to keep it that way!