To think the hilarity just wasn’t necessary?

I am fascinated by history, @DonnySue - medieval Europe, the Plantagenets, the Wars of the Roses, and the Tudors, particularly - but I know that not everyone shares my interest, and that the conversation can’t stay on my particular interest. It is great to talk history for a while, but if other people want to change the subject, I respect that.

And whilst I do enjoy thinking about history, I wouldn’t keep trying to force the conversation back to my favourite topic, if it had moved on. Other people have different interests to me, and it is only polite and fair to let them enjoy talking about their interests too.

Have you looked online at the free courses now available? There’s loads of options here https://www.onlinecourses.ed.ac.uk for example, or search online mooc in your preferred topic area.

Ah, the triumphalism of the mentally challenged ! Laugh at what you don’t understand, it will make you feel cosy and safe…l.

Id be so upset if my family mocked me like that

Maybe she 'wailed'?

Yes I do. Obviously there's good and bad as with all things. But the fact that schools here only seems to teach how wonderful the empire was is shameful. If people knew the damage that was wreaked across the countries they colonised (including genocide) then they would (should) be ashamed. However as the saying goes..."history is written by the victors" (Churchill...ironically 😔)

Personally, I don't think any individual people need to be ashamed as such, but the British state has much to be ashamed of in its history - and top of the list IMO is how ignorant its population is of that. Living in NI it's the ignorance I'm more likely to find offensive in individuals than any lack of shame. If that makes any sense.

This isn’t very nice or helpful. The OP has said she’s feeling embarrassed after her family laughed at her. To her credit, she has been very open and honest about what happened to prompt her family to laugh at her and about her interest as well.

Your posts seem to be mocking her further, by suggesting she’s acting performatively and exaggeratedly to get attention. In fact, it seems to me - and quite a few other posters on here - that the OP was just expressing a genuine interest and reaction to the topic she was talking about with her family. They then reacted to that with surprise, she was upset/embarrassed by their reaction and she’s now come on here to try and canvas opinions to try and make sense of it all.

Yet you’re carrying on the jokey, mocking side of the situation, which suggests you don’t seem to care about how she might be feeling. It’s easy to do on the Internet, especially when you’re just an anonymous poster, but it’s not nice.

@Chocolatefrogs OP's posts remind many of us of a notorious troll. That's the reference to wailing.

Yep, that's what I wondered too. The hobby, the 'reflection', the difficulty understanding the weirdness of the behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I'm from an ND family so wouldn't have thought much about a situation like this but undiagnosed ASD is certainly coming to mind here.

Thank you for replying.

@CelesteCunningham thanks. I got the reference to the Sistine Chapel thread and I remember it. Obviously I don’t know if this OP is the same one who started the Sistine Chapel thread, but her posting style seems quite different and, in this thread, she’s making herself vulnerable by being so open about things that she feels embarrassed by, so I don’t really understand how comparing herself to the Sistine Chapel OP is going to help. All it will achieve is make her feel invalidated.

OP, only shallow people would think there's something strange or funny about you being thoughtful. You're smarter and a better person than they are, clearly.
The only other reason I can think of is that they'd had too much to drink.

Ended rather abruptly as my phone was about to conk out! OP, you don’t have to do a university degree. There are lots of adult education courses and interest groups where you’d be learning and mixing with people who share your interests. Ot’s so much more fun when you’ve got people to share your interest with.

But it also sounds as if your family are quite interested, as they were discussing history with you. Their laughter hurt your feelings, and reminds me of feeling like a boring little swot among the cool kidd st school. But they probably didn’t mean to offend you. Try to just laugh it off, and see if you can keep the conversation going.

Best of luck, OP. Never let anyone squash your enthusiasm!

Yes, but I don't find I need special time to reflect on it. I also don't forget about it. My thoughts just drift in and out of my head while I'm doing other things.

If I'd not wanted to join in talking about Trump (understandable) I'd just have zoned out a bit where I was and no doubt, without any positive action, my brain would simply bring up snippets of the previous conversation for me to mull over. Noone would know I was doing it. If they asked why I wasn't involved in the new topic I'd just say"sorry, drifted off a bit there".

I don’t think you’re weird at all and I think your family were downright bloody rude. And they will have made dd feel awful, too. I think you did absolutely the right thing and I often think about stuff like this, too. When I walk along a path we think has been in existence since Stone Age, I always think about those people and what their thoughts were. Actually I think people who don’t think like us are the weird ones. How can you not think about this stuff?!?

donnysue yes!absolutely fascinating.DS 16 would have been breeding and killing rabbits not that long ago. And yes, being trained to chuck axes a long time ago. I, and my mum would be dead from childbirth, that’s if we’d survived chicken pox etc.
live heard people say Stonehenge isn’t that great. Err what?!
I think it’s great that you take time to reflect. Yes, the dungeons are fun, but if you stop to think, this stuff was actually done to actual people. What kind of mentality lived then?
Would love to be able to travel in time.

There's a strong vein of anti-intellectualism in this country. People would rather watch football and be cattle for clever people to make money off. Hence laughing at people who take any study seriously and think about it. Hence laughing at kids in school who actually want to learn something. I'd just pity your family and smile sweetly. Or discuss what the latest football/instagram/Coronation St idol is telling them to think. And get on with worthwhile study while they're not there.

Yes I think it was unkind of them. Nothing wrong with a bit of thinking and reflecting. Not sure why it’s hilarious.

Crikey, have you been on a Counselling course OP?

Nothing wrong with thinking and reflecting, no, @Wheresthebeach - but did the OP need to tell anyone?

When her dd asked her what she was doing, why not just say she was out for a bit of fresh air or a few minutes quiet?

I love clouds. I’ve been known to ask my stepdad to stop the car so I can take a picture if there is an amazing cloud formation 😂 I admit it is really weird and don’t get offended when they take the piss.

This is very similar to your situation. I wouldn’t get offended - you are the one doing something out of the ordinary. Not that it’s wrong, just that people don’t always understand ‘different’.

I suspect OP didn’t expect her DD to repeat it. Just a quick, honest answer that didn’t take the possibility of other peoples unkind reaction into consideration.

I get that, @Wheresthebeach - but I’m not sure she needed to tell her dd that she was thinking and reflecting. It just seems a bit performative.

It’s a bit “Wouldn’t you just die without Mahler”? But if you want to ponder the Middle Ages I say gfi.