Meet Me Monday – Melvin S. Marsh

Meet Me Monday : Where was the most unusual place you went to sleep?

February 6, 2023 February 6, 2023

#MeetMeMonday

(Found this question when a LI connection commented on it a few days ago. I can’t find the exact question anymore but I remember what the jist was.)

Question : Where was the most unusual place you went to sleep?

Having been #homeless several times, I’ve slept in some weird places including in my car in multiple occasions.

One of those times was a few minutes outside of Hell, Michigan. It was 19 degrees Fahrenheit (and yes Hell had frozen over) and I was curled into the back sleeping in a Toyota Corolla in a sleeping back trying to keep warm in a truck stop for security.

I was applying for medical school and had a medical school interview in a few days so had to make my way up from an abandoned house I had been saying in (with no insulation in the middle of winter) to make it to the #interview and since I had no money and barely could pay for the gas, I had to interview that way including sans shower. (Shower would have cost me $12)

It was a full day interview with something like 10 different interviews that day.

The things we do it get a chance and no I did not get in.

That was at least the most unusual situation and I think that is what I think was the weirdest. Come on, I was camping near a frozen Hell.

Most people however tend to get weirded out when they find out I slept in my car in Marfa Texas. I was just there wanting to see if I could see the Marfa lights. 🙂

#meetmelsmarsh

Meet Me Monday : What is the most confusing thing in the world to you?

January 30, 2023 January 30, 2023

#MeetMeMonday

Question : What is the most confusing thing in the world to you?

As someone with #autism, I can easily state that other people are the most confusing thing to me.

I have been trying to understand people for years, especially why they lie and say things they don’t mean.

Why people engage in conversation (or drop into my DMs) and ask me questions, such as about jobs but then never get back to me when I express interest.

I understand why people might not want to hurt other people’s feelings, but this is otherwise silly.

And I am someone who has learned how to read expressions and can reasonably pass as someone who is #neurotypical.

At least with other people on the spectrum, they are going to tell you the truth and as someone who considers the truth one of the most important things in the world, they are much better in my opinion.

Is that always the best? No, but is certainly better than hiding of the truth by many others.

This honesty is exactly why autistics are so good at a lot of jobs. They aren’t going to hide from you and they will tell you exactly what they think if something isn’t going to work. Unfortunately, there is a reluctance for companies to hire people with autism for jobs that are not engineering or programming positions.

Some of us are creatives or managers, such as me on both accounts.