Falling Out Of Love With Special Interests

[DepictDave]

[Note: This is a longer post than I intended it to be. If you want to get straight to my question feel free to skip to the last paragraph.]

For the best part of 20 years now professional wrestling has been my main special interest, but because of recent details that have come to light about the industry I'm really starting to go off it.

I mainly watch WWE and if started to put me off when they continued putting on shows without an audience (not their fault, I know, but lack of audience really took away from the atmosphere of it). Then there was a mass firing of wrestlers and employees which was absolutely not necessary, and on top of that I learned that WWE was classed as an "essential business" because the boss' wife is supporting Trump's re-election campaign. So yeah, it's turning out to be dodgy AF.

Then in terms of the industry as a whole there's loads of wrestlers being accused and outed as sexual predators, rapists, manipulators and all manner of horrible things in the # speaking out movement. I was thinking of getting into a different promotion instead of WWE one lockdown has eased but I think this might have been the last nail in the coffin for my interest in wrestling.

I know my loss of interest is hardly surprising given what's happened, but I want to know if there's ever been anything that put you off your passions and interests, or do you just grow out of them organically?

 

[Pattern-chaser]

My special interest in music has moderated as my memory has failed. It's not gone completely, you understand, but enough that I can no longer hold all the things I have learned about music and musicians since the early 70s. Some of them have gone completely, others only partly. But the pleasure I get from my special interest has lessened as a result. Old age! Don't get old, it's a trap!

 

[Rechnin]

@DepictDave @Pattern-chaser

I can see where you are both coming from, my special interest is table top gaming. But recently, my arthritis has been playing meining my hand sand back ae not great. And a lot of the game involves reading rules and faction book, and I struggle to do so anyway. I also stuggle to remember what was old rules not longer valid or history that has been overturned.

It is a shame we cant just do what we want.

 

[Pattern-chaser]

...my special interest is table top gaming.

So that's more Warhammer and wargaming, not RPGs like AD&D, right?

 

[Rhiarti]

Similar issue with memory didn't exactly put me off music but it dramatically lessened my investment in it. My day job absolutely crippled my love of sewing, but after months of furlough, it's slowly starting to come back again... which might happen for you too when (hopefully) WWE cleans house a bit? I seem to have quite a lot of special interests that go in cycles... gaming, is a good example: right now I can't seem to find any enthusiasm for it at all, but at other times I'll obsessively play something to the point I'll book holiday time off work for it!

 

[Autobo]

I was absolutely passionate about walking and hill bagging - collecting Munro and Wainwright summits. Then I read and learned more about the landscapes I was walking in and how they're beautiful but at the same time very much influenced by man and not great for nature and it really spoiled my enjoyment. I've kind of moved focus a little now, I walk where I can enjoy places more. I still get hankerings for big hills, though. I think the interest remains, so it's good if you can find a way to move a little with it. Not sure how possible that is with wrestling though! Also, I second Pattern-chaser, don't get old. My knees and fitness are also putting a dent in walking up hills for fun now!

 

[Dai]

After my special interest went off the rails ( see my profile pic...lol ) I am scared to have a special interest now. If I think I am developing one, I end it. I just try and have lots of different interests involving different people with whom I have Chinese Walls, so I don't cross over the interests with other interest groups. That way when I think an interest becomes unhealthy and cease it, I still have other groups to fall back on. Besides groups go up and down in interests and come and go. I have left lots of the facebook Asperger groups, just stay with Autism Bucks. I think I was a mistake.

 

[ProfessorWorm]

Mine go in cycles. Some of the time I’m absolutely head over heels with Russian lit, and than a particularly infuriating Dostoevsky novel ends it. So I switch to cartoons. Other times I adore Jello, until I inevitably find a dish that traumatizes my mental tongue too severely to continue necessitating a switch to another long-term one. You may find your enjoyment returns as WWE shoved out abusers or switch something else. Neither is necessarily bad, although I will caution if you find yourself suddenly immersed in mid-twentieth century cookbooks do not make the food. Not even the perfection salad. It was from a time of scientific cooking, where it was considered bad to make food for enjoyment. It was meant to be rich in nutrients and cheap and is without fail absolutely disgusting.

 

[Rechnin]

So that's more Warhammer and wargaming, not RPGs like AD&D, right?

Sorry, did I not reply to this? Thought I had, been a poor few weeks., I did the whole lot, a lot of Warhammer 40,000 and some Fantasy Age and Shadowrun with a bit of histical as well.

 

[Pattern-chaser]

...I did the whole lot, a lot of Warhammer 40,000 and some Fantasy Age and Shadowrun with a bit of histical as well.

I never got into wargaming. But I played AD&D for 20 years through the 80s and 90s. I'd still be playing now, but our group gradually dwindled until we were only two. One DM and one player is not a great gaming experience. So we had to stop.

 

[Rechnin]

We have gone through the same thing, there were 5 or 6 of us regulalry meeting up, then people moved one, new people joint old people left. People got their own lives. A couple came back and left again and now we barely meet. My Sunday gaming group is the same core of four, and I am one of them and only joined a few years ago. But, alot of them are 60+ now.

You should check around for local groups and there are a lot of online RPG sessions now as well.

 

[Rechnin]

I've literally just seen this and it made me chuckle

 

[Rechnin]

Now I could be totally wrong here but, don't you think that worlds of gaming, RPG and Sci-Fi have a huge appeal to NDs. I also think that is interesting how many people who are NDs are so successful in the gaming world, as well as in the world of acting, could it be that they are interacting as someone else and not themselves. They can play the brave hero, the cunning villain or the roguish outlander and interact with those around then in this 'role' and escape their (sometimes) painful lives. This can also appeal in the same way for non NDs.

As it is something than can often be related, it is also interesting to see how some companies are even embracing this and seeing that some of their core fan may not be of the average everyday 'normal' person*. Such as this amazing Character Sheet made for people with Dyslexia. There are also version where the bar and barrier are in different colours so they can be printed on tinted papers and so they show out more and break up areas of the sheet in to defined sections for easy reading and separation of facts.


*[Sorry, couldn't thing of a better way to phrase this, no offense intended]

 

[ProfessorWorm]

As far as acting goes I think it makes perfect sense that a lot of us would be really good at it as we have so much experience. I spend most of my day, when interacting with people in person at least, play-acting the role of a NT cishet girl with perfectly normal hobbies.

 

[Rechnin]

And the same goes for this website, I bet a lot of people interact here a lot easier than they do with someone sat infront of them, I know I do, as their is a level of disconnect. Similar if you meet people in passing, that seems to be less of an issue, its when you get to know people of a period of time thought you might find one or two who you trust.

Going back to the topic at hand, I find this with special interests, th more weird and wonderful the more it interest me, the more mundane I am less likely to be bothered. If I found something interesting, I would research the subject to death, if not, the opposite. I got nothing from school bar being good at sports. I went to college, played for them and did o in studies and got basic maths and English sills but took Geology, the hardest thing I have ever studied... got a C higher in that and passed very little else!

I have also been told my vocabulary is very good, I learnt most of it myself as it interested me, as school I was excluded from maths and English as it was "a waste of everyone's time" trying to teach me. I enjoyed science as well.

 

[Rechnin]

It's took me ages to get these from my phone, damned technology!

 

[Carll951]

My usual approach with online entertainment is to browse first and decide later, especially when there are many categories involved. I followed the same routine here. I started with the list of live models and then checked several filters to see how the selection changed. Some searches were based on language, while others were simply about finding a different type of room from what I had initially seen. I also liked having a search field available because scrolling through a large directory can become tiring. While doing this, I kept https://chococams.com/ open and used it as the main reference point for comparing streams. I watched several public broadcasts without spending anything, mostly checking video quality, chat activity and whether the room felt interesting enough to stay in. Later I switched to my phone to see whether the same browsing routine worked there. Since the site is built around live streams, the list is naturally changing as performers appear and disappear, so returning at a different time can produce completely different results. I also noticed that the platform includes categories from several webcam services rather than limiting the directory to one source. That made it easier to compare options without keeping multiple tabs open. My experience was mostly about exploring and filtering rather than following a fixed plan, which is probably why I found myself returning to different sections simply to see what was currently online.