If the old paint isn’t peeling, new paint on top won’t damage it. HOWEVER, the new paint might not adhere well to the old stuff, and peel off in a year or two. In my opinion, best practice is to scrape any loose paint off, and sand the edges of the painted areas smooth. Prime the areas to be painted (it will help new paint adhere to old), then finally paint the areas with new paint.

And were you unanimous?

I did, initially. I couldn’t figure out why everything was just so hard to understand. I literally have a genius IQ, but many jokes whoosh over my head, I have trouble reading expressions, I overthink everything. Navigating the world is just so difficult. As autism became more understood and publicized, I began to suspect that I am autistic. I went to a diagnostician, who gave me the quick testing (in-depth enough to make her confident of her diagnosis, but not rigorous enough to satisfy insurance companies). Sure enough, I’m in the club! I found out a year or two ago, at age 60.

Oh. My. God. Your post is my life. My therapist said I have alexithymia but I didn’t get it. Now I do!

That’s me! Glad to know I’m not alone.

Let the Democrat party die. We need a strong Labor party. Give it a different name, if desired, but we need a party that is unrelentingly for the people, not the corporations.

Or bittersweet.

They are, indeed. It’s just embarrassing to the state.

For autistic people, “masking” means consciously changing their behavior to blend in with neurotypical people. As an autistic, I can assure you that masking is exhausting.

My God. I am weeping.

Men are stronger. Men are mean. They’re more aggressive. They will take them over. They’ll do it anytime they can, anywhere they can. They will abuse them. They will hurt them.

I’m surprised a man would admit that he’s like this.

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TIL that the desert can be beautiful.

Thanks for the update. I hope you manage to get out of the U.S. eventually. I feel this place is going down fast.

Congratulations!

Good luck to you! I am impressed with your resilience. Hang in there.

I’ve been thinking about telling my parents/siblings of my diagnosis, but haven’t for fear they’ll suddenly think of me as “other”, “subhuman”. Happily, my husband knows and supports me utterly.

I wish I knew you irl, and could help. How old are you?

I think your instincts are correct; you shouldn’t go to this meeting; it will just cause the clerk to resent you every time he sees you. I work at a school, and just went through some mandatory anti-bullying training. It said the teacher SHOULD NOT call out the bully publicly, or force the bully to apologize, or insist that the victim accept an apology. All these things just aggravate the situation. Quietly putting the bully into counseling, and separating the bully from victim is the recommended procedure. That is not possible at a coffee shop! Maybe, if you are willing, the next time you go in you could just behave as if nothing had happened. I’ll admit that I would find another coffee place.

hug

I was diagnosed just this summer, at 60. BeautifulMind says everything that I wanted to, but better. I am learning to unmask among family/friends and am finding it leaves me so much extra energy to do things I WANT to do.