Gush about your special interests!
Since I see quite a few people on here who are neurodivergent (so auties or ADHDers and the like), and other people who people who might not be but still have intense interests, I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate a thread to being able to infodump, since special interests are a good coping mechanism for ND people who might be mentally ill as well.
My special interest is The Pogues! They're a band most prominent in the 80s, who do (or at least, did, they're not active as of 2014) a sort of mix of Irish folk music and punk. My dad loves them, and of course, having grown up them blasting my ear holes every single day, I eventually got into them too.
The most famous Pogue is the lead singer, Shane MacGowan, known for his incredibly poetic lyrics, his ridiculously hedonistic lifestyle that ultimately led to him being sacked from the band for a bit, and the fact he probably has (or had, he got surgery in 2015) the most infamous set of teeth in rock and roll history.
But my favourite is the late Philip Chevron. He was the guitarist and he wrote my favourite song of theirs, 'Thousands Are Sailing', which is about Irish emigrants to America during the economic turmoil of 80s Ireland, but also just speaks to me as an allegory to experiences of homelessness and homesickness I had last year. The song helped me survive a really tough time.
Chevron was also openly gay and wrote the song 'Lorelei' for his boyfriend, who loved the Lorelei myth. It's about this guy singing to his love while he's traveling on the seas, saying that if he dies on the waters, it wasn't a siren who beckoned him, for he's thinking of his love back home. Its a really beautiful song and I'm currently learning to play it. So he of course inspires me as a gay musician myself.
Do you have any special interests? What are they?
Comments
Whoa @trashconverters that is so interesting, I love hearing about new bands! And as someone with Irish immigrant history myself, very cool and inspiring! 
Thank you for sharing and for starting this thread! Do you have a favourite song by the Pogues?
I don’t know whether I’m autistic (mostly because I can’t afford an assessment atm), but I am definitely neurodivergent and I have favourite topics that help me a lot!! Right now it’s a TV show called The 100, it’s about 100 juvenile delinquents (part of a society that is living in space following a nuclear apocalypse) who get sent to the earth to see if it’s survivable.
The main character is Clarke Griffin who’s this badass “leader chick who likes chicks” (as the actress described her!). She’s constantly facing really tough decisions and has to keep her friends safe while also struggling with her relationship with her mother and with other members of the 100. She eventually falls in love with and loses commander Lexa, who’s the leader of the people who survived the nuclear apocalypse on earth.
There are lots of other amazing characters too, like Bellamy Blake (protective older brother who’s kind of awful at first but eventually redeems himself), Raven Reyes (genius yet emotionally vulnerable mechanic/rocket scientist), Octavia Blake (a girl raised in hiding who ultimately becomes a ruthless warrior), and John Murphy (human disaster who somehow? turns into a truly good person).
One of my favourite characters, though, is called Luna. She was raised to be a commander like Lexa, but she chose to run away rather than kill others as was required of the commander. Until her death she fights for inner peace and a way back from the terrible things she did in her training. Aaahhh I just adore her so much!!!
Throughout the whole show there are themes of survival and redemption, the idea that whatever you’ve done and whoever you’ve been you can always be forgiven and live a happy life, which I find really inspiring in my recovery! There’s lots of wonderful female characters and lots of awesome characters of colour (like Lincoln, Raven Reyes, Indra, Thelonius and Wells Jaha, Monty, and Nathan Miller) which I really appreciate as a woman of colour! The show also has it’s own language, called Trigedeslang, which I’ve learned some words and sentences in! I can say “Ai giv ai op gon nemiyon kom lanick-de” which means “I give myself to the miracle of the sea” and “Yu gonplei ste odon” which means “Your fight is over” and some other things like that! This show is what I watch when I feel sad or anxious and it always helps me to keep going and have a moment of joy.
Aaahhh thank you so much for letting me talk about this @trashconverters, it’s my favourite topic ever haha. @N1ghtW1ng and @beagle866 I thought you might be interested in this thread!
@DruidChildI'll admit, I find it really hard to watch TV shows continually, especially sci-fi and stuff (the only series I've seen from start to finish is Black Books!), but The 100 does seem really interesting. It's super cool that there's a WLW main character!
Also as for my favourite Pogues song? Always 'Thousands Are Sailing'.
@SaltwaterdreamtimeSurfing is pretty cool! How did you get into surfing?
Thats so cool @Saltwaterdreamtime, I got that feel when I started my music degree! Its great to have a passion that just, yaknow, makes you feel something special! Idk how to describe it, but that never looking back thing? That's a big mood (though I'm not a surfer, I've tried once and decided never to do it again cause I'm awful at it 
)
Hahaha yes!!! I'm so glad this thread exists. I may have already made one for one of my very special interests (Ninjago 😛)
(my focus has left now, so remind me to come back to this thread later :P)
It's been awesome reading though everyone's interests and learning some new things! 😄 😄
Sometimes something reminds why Phil Chevron is my favourite Pogue, and today it was remembering that in his will, he bequeathed his guitars to music students at Mountjoy Prison, and its just so comforting to know he was thinking about what he could do for others, even at the point of his death.
Man, I really love Phil Chevron, he's really inspiring to me.
Wow what a compassionate and thoughtful person @trashconverters, I can see why he means a lot to you!
I just wanted to share that my favourite show ever (The 100) is coming out with a new season in a month!!!!!! I'm super excited because the trailer looks amazing and also it looks like it has a lot of parallels with Season 2, one of the best and most impactful seasons which changed the characters the most and made them into who they are now imo. There's also going to be a major story line about Clarke's adopted daughter (Madi) which is exciting! I can't stop watching the trailer
This is the promotional poster for it:
I forgot about this thread!!
My current SI/ hyperfixation is fish. I've managed to "scam" my parents into getting me an aquarium for my birthday, and I'm so excited for when I get to have fish in there!!!
My favorite family are gouramis.
They range from almost the length of my arm to less than the length of my finger. I love them.
Plus most gourami species have the cute lil "feeler" fins that you can see in the last picture.
@Tiny_leafcongrats on getting an aquarium for your birthday! I hope you enjoy it! Are you planning on getting those gourami species fish? They look very pretty! And are you planning on getting any other types of fish? I really like the black ghost knife fish for freshwater tanks, they look really cool ~
@drpenguin I'm going to get a betta - they're in the same family.
I'd love one of the wild-type ones because they're shiny:
But they can cost nearly $100 dollars for the more expensive ones, so unless someone's selling them really cheap I'll probably get a more traditional guy like this:
Or a female if I can find one I like.
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@drpenguin they're actually closer to the wild version of the fish. He's a non-domesticated fishy in the same genus:
It is super cool @trashconverters! I love the title of that song, I’ll have a listen!!! What makes it your fave?
@DruidChild OMG I love The 100! Isn't it the best? Lexa was my absolute FAVOURITE! I haven't watched the latest season, but you've inspired me to get back into it, so thank you!
@queenP It IS the best!!!! I adore Lexa and I was so upset when she died. I hope I didn’t spoil anything for you, although I also haven’t seen season 5 because I can’t afford to buy it yet!
@DruidChild me too! I remember going to work the day I watched the episode where she died and I was so upset, no one understood what was happening don't worry, no spoilers! I'll have to track it down too, I don't think it's on Netflix yet 
Aw that sounds so sad, what an awful day to have to work @queenP! She deserved so much better! Yep they only have seasons 1-4 on Netflix atm, I think season 6 is coming out soon too!
@Saltwaterdreamtime That’s cool, do you have a fave place to go surfing? Do you reckon you could ever teach your dogs to surf? 
sometimes OG but not all the time
