Topic 1: Halloween

All my life, I've been terrified of Halloween. Also, I just didn't want to deal with Halloween. On October 30th when I was in second grade, my mother took me a store to buy a costume last-minute, and I couldn't pick one because I didn't want one. So, my mother showed up to school the next day and kept trying to pressure me to come home to put on the costume. I kept refusing.

Starting the next year, I started putting political figure rubber masks on my head because if I wasn't going to put on a full costume, and I couldn't avoid Halloween, then that was how I was going to "deal with Halloween."

Eventually, I started participating "without wearing a costume." My first year of high school, my mother returned home from work, and she was screaming at me from downstairs to "go trick or treating." I was "chilling" by playing a game for the original Nintendo game console in an emulator on my computer. In high school, I was terrified of two days, Halloween and Senior Slave Day. I also didn't like April Fool's Day, but my school didn't make a big deal out of April Fool's Day.

Senior Slave Day was the Friday at the end of school spirit week near the end of school year. It was officially Senior Servant Day, but everyone called it Senior Slave Day. On Senior Slave Day, younger students would make "seniors" their "slaves." I walked into the school one Senior Slave Day, and the first thing I saw someone dressed as a geisha. My third year at that high school, I called my brother during lunch period on Senior Slave Day. My brother was concerned because I didn't sound well. My brother asked me if I wanted him to pick me up from school.

Well, Senior Slave Day no longer existed my last year at that high school. And yes, my aide my first two years at that high school told me, "You're going to like Senior Slave Day by the time you're a senior!" I hated being dismissed like that. For example, a teacher when I was in fifth grade at that special needs school told me, "You're scared you're going to LIKE Harry Potter if you read it!" EXCUSE ME! Those books were, like, 700 pages each? How could anyone expect me to read such a thing if I had no interest in it?

I was also told that I "was going to like the mall when I was a teenager." I hated, hated, hated the mall. Before I was a teenager, I got my almanac signed by New Jersey senator Robert Torricelli at the mall during a book signing. To that, my mother told me, "See? Good things can happen at the mall!", because she knew that I didn't like "the mall."

Back to the topic of Halloween, people were so concerned about "how the girls dressed on Halloween" when I was in high school. I think that "how the girls dress" is a weird concern. So, in 2016, I was already 26 years old, but I had to attend a day program at a psychiatric program before I left my parents' house for a local university. They had a party at the program that day. After a few hours of that party, an intern tried to do something about the fact that I looked disturbed.

Topic 2: Political Views

I just talked with someone on this platform who doesn't like when people say that they don't care about politics, and that people die because of politics. I was told that when people say that they don't care about politics, it's like when people say that they're color blind to race. I told this person that I believed that people should have the right to abortion and euthanasia, and that I simply believed this because I've been around people who have tried to force so many weird things on me that I haven't wanted.

Here's the thing, though. I was trying to be cordial with that person. I don't care if people are allowed abortion or euthanasia. It's nice for them if they're allowed it, but it's not my concern or problem if they're not allowed it.

I truly don't care. I don't currently have the kinds of pressures that I've had in the past, but if I'm in an environment where such a topic is forced on me, it's REALLY difficult for me to stay cordial.

I don't care about most things or people, and I've told it's not good to live a life of apathy. Here's the other thing, though. I really care about my friends. I care about my niece and nephew.

In 2019, I was accused of being a sociopath and a psychopath in a very stressful environment when I said that I didn't like humans. I feel that most people who say that "they don't like people" don't mean it when they say it. I have difficulty processing what "sociopath" and "psychopath" could possibly mean. Here's the next thing, though. My best friend told me that I should say that "I don't like MOST humans." It's true! I just said I care deeply about my best friends and about my niece and nephew. I have great difficulty with the human species. I told my mother this in the past hour at a diner, and she told me, "Believe me, I'm WELL AWARE!" in response.