New FranCast

thanks for sharing your story! quite an inspiration.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I really appreciate it....

Fran Blanche

I really enjoy the FranCasts. This one was especially beautiful, thank you for being so open and sharing.

Very interesting story Fran. It caused me to wonder, "what if I had put time into changing the way I speak" years ago? I don't like the sound of my voice, and how I present myself with it. But I never felt the inspiration to change. You have overcome multiple challenges - kudos to you.

Thanks for talking about your autism spectrum experiences. I’ve definitely got some of the symptoms myself, but not as intensely, and do remember teaching myself to interact with people. I suspect like introverts and left handed ness, etc, the experiences are more common than is recognised because those with symptoms learn they have to mask them to “fit in” with th majority, because it is worse if they don’t. Talking about experiences like yours helps others feel less “uniquely broken”, so thanks again. Ewen

Ewen McNeill

My download was slow too, but it did get there in the end. At various points it claimed it’d take over an hour, but I think in practice it finished in about half an hour. Ewen

Ewen McNeill

You are a very impressive person. What you have accomplished given your life experiences amazes me. Be Fran.

William Alsing

The server is crazy slow, I can't stream it because it stops every 4-5 seconds, and the 60MB download is taking over an hour :-(

EEVblog

Thanks Fran, interesting episode. Also, great audio quality!

Enlightening... thanks for sharing. Keep the FranCasts comin' !!!

Howard Simons

Hello Fran, I also had a tough time with my parents being alcoholic and me having a very active imagination. My social situation is a lot like yours. You are an impressive individual, you have done a bunch more than I have so keep it up you are stronger and more capable than you think. We are all precious and it is our differences that make for the treasures that we hold.

As someone coming to terms with my awkwardness in life and hearing your challenges growing up and similar issue with relationships, it makes things easier to place into perspective. I get the sensitivities part too. I can still hear flyback transformers even at my advanced age (we're the same age I think), and carry earplugs for when things exceed my coping threshold (like parties, bars, the subway). Speech therapy was part of my early school days, I was a fast talking mumbler too as I was hyper-lingual and my brain tended to fly faster than my mouth could keep up. I'd love to hear why you were attracted to making electric guitar amp products given your sensitivities as that sets off my sound sensitivities and I would have thought, yours. We get you. Don't stop being you. But also understand it's not creepy that people want to be closer to you. It's not because you're a "minor YT celebrity" you just sound like a cool person to know. Intimate relationships are hard but it took me a lifetime to be able to make new friends who "get me" and they're worth their weight in gold. I'm learning that you don't HAVE to be alone, my cat and a part-time roommate give me the space I need to process the world but enough companionship to keep me human. Your geeky enthusiasm is very inspiring to many people. Keep on doing what you're doing. We life-long tinkerers need inspiration.

lohphat

I like these Francasts. I would appreciate more of them.

Lawrence ORourke

You have accomplished more than many people accomplish with the same amount of time. I compliment you on your fortitude despite your hardships.

Bart de Boisblanc

Amazing story. I commend you for having the courage discuss your life in a public arena.

I have similar issues. I'm obviously have high functioning autism. I have had issues with sensory input all my life. Everything is too loud, too much flavor, too much texture, just everything, and to the point it's all distorted. I have partial face blindness but have learned to identify many facial expressions. I've never quite figured out the interaction thing. The only reason my ex-wife and I worked was I left almost everything to her. The reason my current wife and I work is because we both have similar issues and are both trans. I didn't figure out I was trans until my early 30’s. It just came to me one night and was so obvious in hind sight. So I spent most of my life just not fitting, not quite working right. I still don’t recognize the person in the mirror. It’s just a stranger staring back. Personally I would love to actually get to know you, but I have the same issues with meeting and interacting with people. I only have five friends whom I don’t interact with very often. (One is trans, autistic and has multiple personalities. And interesting bunch.) When I transitioned I became very outgoing and wanted to be around people. Estrogen does some amazing things. It slowly sank in that it didn’t really work. So now I’m a recluse again. Work is the only time I’m around people anymore. I do think you are awesome. I look up to you with all you can, and have, accomplish. But I also know some of what you go through. Which is why I quietly support you.

Jessica McIntosh

Very interesting insights