Sparks and Travelling (as an Autistic person)

 Hey everyone, I am Jack/Noodle and this is my blog. I have been on an unofficial hiatus mostly due to me finishing university work. I have two more major jobs in terms of uni but I can finally work here again. With my sparks gig fast approaching I want to hype you up for what is to come, I am hoping to make a post here on what I get up to when in Glasgow and also see some of you at the gig. To hype us up I wanted to take this moment to create a post around what it’s like to travel as an autistic person and discuss regular characters in my bags. I don’t regularly travel for context, I usually only go local areas and use local transport. But I thought this post could help me ease some major anxiety I have but also gain a view in to how as an autistic person I handle things. I recently watched a video of a photographer who showed his bags when he’s on the road and I took notes and inspiration. To help connect sparks into this I’ll be sharing key sparks songs that I listen to on my commute to class or commute to the store which ease the anxieties I feel daily. Without much delay I will ask you eat or drink today, whether you’ve already done so or you need to whilst reading this, after all I sometimes forget to eat and my body recently has gotten a food routine to the degree I woke up and nearly threw up because I woke up at 10am instead of 7 or 8am. Alas I’m fine now as I’ve been well fed throughout today with my tasty snacks. On with the blog, before you read on I’d like to mention any illustrations in this (unless I say otherwise) are all drawn by me. 

(Another reminder to get a snack, currently in UK it’s sunny so I recommend an ice cream) 

Firstly I want you to take a look at my bag. This bag I use for university, when I’m on days out or when I just need to carry bigger than pocket sized things out and about. 

(A rough illustrated version of said bag)

I got this bag at a market last year after my old satchel started breaking at the strap. This bag has served me well in going to London, Edinburgh and many local areas near me. It is the perfect size for an A4 sketchbook and my iPad and even a regular sized build a bear plush. I used this bag for university too so it’s held several books and my lunchbox a few times. I also have this bag decked out with pins and badges because I enjoy collecting trinkets like this and accessorising myself. I also have keychains because most my bags can’t escape being touched by a small critter. My favourite one on this bag is a very colourful fuggler I named Gingivitis which is the Latin term for gum disease. I get so many people comment about that keychain both positive and negative. I’ve had several people laugh at their name because gum disease is awful and my keychain isn’t. Without much further hesitation let’s open my bag, and a small disclaimer I won’t be discussing everything I carry because I am protecting my privacy and want to just discuss the key/vital items I need everyday 

The first two items are my pencil case and a sketchbook. I love to draw whenever I have a few mins spare or I’m in a place an hour before I’m meant to be. My sketchbook is covered in stickers and my pencil case is a squishmallow design. I also have pride pins on my pencil case, one is an asexual badge, the other is a demiboy badge. I feel strange without some form of art supply or a sketchbook. I’ve taken them to formal events when I’ve had to help out in case I’m overwhelmed or need time for me. If I’m trying to carry light or using a smaller bag, usually I carry a few art supplies but they’re just as fun and important to me. My sketchbook is my favourite item in any bag as it’s a conversation starter and I’ve drawn fan art, still life and my outfits and critters of all shapes and sizes. 

In terms of sparks, listening to them when travelling places calms me down, like my sketchbook and pens I find they’re the perfect thing for a few mins or hours. One song that comes to mind when thinking about sparks songs and travel is; Cool Places. This song I love listening to during the summer when travelling with someone because I want to go to cool places with them. I also love how the song alternates between Russell and Jane because it’s almost made for a road trip with your close friend or loved one. This song also reminds me of sunny days from how upbeat and positive it is. The lyric “I want to move like this and that, a minimum of chit-chat” reminds me of summery walks in the wildlife around me. I just want to move in tune with the world around me, not have to talk about what’s been bugging me and forget what I’m going to have to do later. Another lyric is “It’s obvious we’re cooler now” I hope I’m cooler after seeing sparks and travelling on my own. I also hope to be cooler after Glasgow because I faced a lot of my fears and hope to meet friendly sparks fans. 

The next item in my bag, or often seen around my neck or on my head is my headphones. These are my noise cancelling headphones and help me enjoy the music or even cover up noise when I need silence or to focus on my work. I have decorated my headphones in stickers, this is due to my best friend having the same brand and type headphones as me. I also love customising my character as much as I can. Whether in my outfit or even in my headphones. I got these to help with the stresses and noises that come with university. I’m happy they also can be plugged in so I use these for my portable CD player as well as for my phone. 

These are some items I carry in my bag as they’re essentials. In my eyes at least. I have loops as sometimes I feel embarrassed that I may need to block noise out and embarrassed I need to have my headphones, hilariously I have the smallest size and they fit better than most ear plugs I’ve tried previously. I also carry my communication cards, this happens not too often as I find it easier to communicate my needs either with pen and paper or my phone. My cards are bluey themed and they help with simple needs. I don’t often like going non verbal as I want to be able to pretend I’m a nuerotypical and not loosing my ability to communicate. I also know the basic alphabet in BSL so I can spell my needs. I also carry lipgloss or Vaseline, this is due to me picking my lips when stressed or nervous. It’s an awful habit I cannot seem to shift or stop. This makes my dad angry but I carry lipgloss with aloe Vera to help recover my skin after my pickings. Not illustrated here, but I also carry both hand sanitiser and hand cream. The sanitiser is because I don’t like touching people that often and need something to wash that off, I also hate washing my hands in public because I hate the sound of a hand dryer so having sanitiser offers a quick solution for me. The hand cream is because I seem to stim more in my hands so when I’m nervous that stim appears more, and my hands then become sweaty and sticky and to reduce that stickiness I use hand cream to keep my hands feeling nice.

Another sparks song, I associate with travel, is Mid-Atlantic from their Gratuitous Sax album. I’ve recently began enjoying this album and its content. I sometimes find this song funny because it reminds me of being a northerner in the UK. There’s a diverse range of accents in northern England and many quickly assume there’s one dialect across the whole of the north. One lyric which links to that is “Can’t we be a little more discriminating, Joe?” Which can suggest the narrator is annoyed at how the character, Joe, is discriminating towards the accent of a person. I feel this can relate to how sometimes I’ve seen news where something awful has happened and the first thing people do is assume the person is a person of colour or a Muslim. It’s horrible. Another lyric is “the music really sends me but the talk is outer space” this reminds me of the days I was a kid and would travel with family. We often used to listen to the radio when going places and I feel the music I grew up hearing made me the person I became and I never agreed to what I heard on the radio often. Another lyric is “Not unspecific. Firmly rooted” which suggests the character has travelled well and has an accent no one can place. Linking to autism, many autistic people have “autism accent” which is a blurry mush of all kinds of accents they’ve heard around them and usually no one can exactly pin point the persons origins. For me, I have a mix of northern and Scottish and twinges of other accents I hear. I also sometimes accidentally mimic a persons accent which can either be funny or seen as rude to the other person; I never do it intentionally but I just find I suddenly do their voice. One of the last lyrics I want to talk about is “I couldn’t place it” which again linking to autism accents, so many people can’t place where their accent stems from. I grew up a year of my life in Scotland then lived the rest of my life in England but every year or so I end up in Scotland somewhere for a few days to a few weeks. I often get told after these trips I come back sounding more Scottish. Living in England I get some people calling my accent ‘posh’ or commonly ‘rough’. The posh is most likely because my mum was well spoken and she passed it subconsciously to her kids, the rough is because of the area I grew up in. The last lyric I want to speak on is “I mean you’ve heard one mid Atlantic word, you know you’ve heard them all” which is a very funny yet honest analogy. When you’re in northern England I feel you will hear one bit of slang and then be able to grasp what they mean. I also think it’s linking back to the start where “Joe” is discriminating against a girl for her accent. Linking to the travel aspect, this song feels like something you could travel to, almost a travel montage and it reminds me of The Smiths song Is It Really So Strange? I also feel the theme of the song being accents is also around travel, this is because no matter where you go you’ll always find a unique accent. 

The last item regular re occurring in my bag is, fidgets. I am a hugely fidgety person and I use fidgets everyday. My favourites are tangles and needohs. I have used tangles since 2019 and they offer me silent and discreet fidgeting when I’m out and about. I have also got a 3D printed wheel thing I got from a market which offers some interesting fidgeting. I also have a fidget cube to replace the one I had as a teen. When travelling, long or short distances, I find it stressful and sometimes overwhelming. Noise can spook me and so can sitting in one space for hours. I often find sometimes I can’t will myself into drawing or writing my time away so I need some alternative ways to keep me from being scared or overwhelmed. When going to Glasgow I’ll have one of my new favourite fidgets with me, the pop-it ball and some crochet creatures. I also will have my emotional support bear, Superted. I unfortunately can’t take him all the way into the concert area in fear I’ll loose him or he’ll get damaged as he’s so important to me but he will make it to be a tourist and see some sights with me, so he may help make the blog on my trip a thing. 

And that is all I have time to write about. I hope you enjoyed it. I cannot believe while I wrote this I had to finish my uni work off and suffer and do a presentation. I have a degree art show this coming Friday too, so hopefully I can have something ready for then or just after. But if we don’t meet again or talk, I’ve been Jack/Noodle, you’ve been a very patient reader and I hope you enjoyed and understand I’m like Ron in this picture above now as my fatigue hit hard as most of today I’ve been working on some stock to sell at a pride market. Until next time, goodbye.