How to deal with me

This should be an ongoing series. My wife thinks I have lesser Asperger's. I wonder if I have five people in my head and we enjoy each other's company more than the mundanes outside.

I walk down Westheimer to get from my house to the bus stop and back most mornings.  More often than not it is in the dark just due to the time of day required. I walk right along side the road. It is a dark area. I now use a bright flashlight more to be seen than to see with. I used to walk down the beltway for the same reason when working at my last job. I did not use a flashlight for most of that commute and most incidences happened then.

Please do not honk at legally blind people on the side of the road. It makes them nervous.

I have had multiple incidences of people pulling over and yelling at me, one of whom pulled a gun on me.  One drove up on the sidewalk. It is a mess. All of these incidence started with someone honking their horn. If at any moment I hear a horn, my brain does two things. It calculates the location of the horn in 3D space as best it can and kicks in to threat mode. If the horn is nearby, I get a shot of adrenalin regardless of real threat.

Nothing like this has happened since I started using a nice bright flashlight while walking at night. None have happened in the daylight. Not yet anyway.

Still, please do not honk at me or any person who cannot see properly on the side of the road. The idea behind the honk is to get someone's attention so you can wave at them. I cannot see you. I have no idea who is honking at me. I have no idea if you are friend or foe.

Send me a text if you saw me on the side of the road and want to say hi. I will not get it until I stop to check my messages, but it is a nice gesture.

Do not stop and haller “wanna ride?” I will not recognize your voice with all the surrounding noise and you yelling, which is probably not your normal voice for me. I’ve gotten in the wrong car before so i am very nervous about taking people up on the ride anyway. Shawn did it right. He stopped and hallered “Hey Kelly! This is Shawn from work. Want a ride?” I took him up on it. He also pulled into a parking lot. Don’t stop on the street because you will get in an accident and I will feel like a jerk.

I have a hard time recognizing people by face, voice or name if I’m honest. I had a girlfriend for 6 weeks once before I could remember her name without stopping to think about it. You know when you pretend to remember someone you haven’t seen in 15 years? I do that with people I work with every day. If I seem standoffish, I may be in a bad mood or I may not recognize you.

I remember people by interaction “The person who helped me with xyz.” “The person who told the story xyz.” “Pepe.” (inside joke)

Don’t honk.