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March 6, 2006 - A smidge more introspection

Sorry for the long delay, but this one's been a while in the works. Warning: Boring, selfish introspection ahead.

There have been a handful of things that have happened since I got out to Washington that have led me to a conclusion about myself. This Halloween, there was a party in Seattle that I went to along with Stephanie and her friend. A couple weeks ago, there was a dinner out, followed by the bars. A month or so ago, we went down to Seattle for Steph's birthday. And just last week, we had a beer social at work. What might all of these things have led me to? (Get ready, because this is a real shocker. Or not.)

I am a Boring Person™.

I know, I know, I'm the last one on the block to realize this, but that's okay. I've figured out that I am, by all accounts and in one word, lame. I don't like my cars fast, my music loud, or my SUV's big. When someone mentions a road trip, the first thing I think of is whether I'll have enough vacation time. I don't sing, I don't dance; heck, most of the time I barely make polite conversation. I can't count how many times I've heard "You've never seen that movie?" or "I can't believe you don't know that band!". Pretty much everything that my generation enjoys, follows, or participates in -- I don't. This makes me Boring. Call it what you want: I'm "mature", I'm "fun in my own way", I'm "responsible", I "just have different tastes". My idea of a great Friday night is curling up with my dog and my 360. I'm Boring.

Those things I mentioned? Let's see... The Halloween party. Very low-key, kinda dark, not very crowded, quiet enough that you could sit and talk with your friends. We left that because it wasn't cool enough for my friends, and ended up at the now-infamous gay bar slash dance club, where I basically stood around pretty uncomfortable until it was time to go. The dinner out? Yeah, I decided not to even go to the bars. No good reason, I would just rather not have. So instead I came home, played some games, and went to bed early. Steph's birthday? Eight of us went to a cowgirl-themed bar, complete with girls dancing on the bar. Honestly, I hated it. Between the ridculously loud music (picture you and your friends having to read lips to communicate) and the crowdedness, I was already ready to leave. Then when the girls started dancing on the bar, I was supposed to drop my jaw and enjoy the show; instead I started thinking about how and why they got there, and the sociology behind the entire scene, which made me want to leave even more. Oh, and that beer social? Turns out I've worked eight months near some people my own age, with common grounds (one wants a dog, one's from Chicago), even had several of these beer socials together, and never knew it because I don't go up and talk to people. Tough pattern to figure out, I know ... it all points to Boring.

Now, it's important to note that I don't think being Boring is a bad thing. I generally assume the role of behind-the-scenes-leader, doing all those things that need doing. Organizing people and schedules, planning itineraries, et cetera. Whenever we go anywhere, I generally drive, because I'd rather do that than party. It's not that I dislike doing this, or feel like I'm forced to; I'm just too Boring to be in the thick of things. I'm not the life of the party, and I don't want to be. It actually works out surprisingly well.

So what's the big deal? The trouble with all this is that it makes it extremely hard to connect to people. Take Brad and Steph, for example. They're awesome people, and I'm very glad that I found them as friends, but I don't share much in common with them. Steph follows the music scene and likes to go to bars, Brad loves cars. It's hard to talk about any subject when one person's completely clueless, since there's no common ground to start from or draw analogies off of. It's not that I'm not interested in how a car works, it's just that you have a PhD trying to teach an elementary school classroom. It's not going to go very well. Similarly, when I meet a random someone for the first time, I automatically assume that they're not interested in my work or my hobbies, since they're not mainstream or terribly interesting. If I start talking about my work, you're going to have a tough time with the ramp-up unless you work on it too. There's so much that's product-specific, and the general public generally doesn't know or care much about computer programming, so that's an even bigger obstacle. For me to have a meaningful conversation with you about my work is going to take about two weeks' worth of background information, and no one cares enough, nor do I expect them to.

So there you have it. Something that pretty much everyone has known for years, and I just recently realized it. I need to stress that I don't think this is a bad thing, it's just a point of interest. The trouble is that all the people like me are similarly holed up in front of their computers. Not being forced to interact through school or clubs just makes it that much more difficult. Again, this is not bad; like I said, I'm perfectly happy with the way things are.

Introverts unite!

March 14, 2006 - Real quick

So it's three in the morning, and in a little over an hour, I leave to go to Grand Cayman with the ISU Scuba Club for a week of diving, beaches, and generally being lazy to the max. In a word, it's going to be awesome. Of course, that's assuming that I finish packing in the next hour.

So don't expect to hear from me in the next ten days; although that's not really different than normal, now is it?

March 22, 2006 - Welcome Back (or) Holy Cayman Pictures, Batman!

I have returned from the glory and paradise that is Grand Cayman, and arrived once again in the cold, rainy, generally depressing Seattle area. I'm wondering why I didn't just "accidentally" miss my flight, and convince the thirteen others to do the same.

Needless to say, the place is basically paradise. It was amazing. Thirteen of my best friends, some old, some new, an awesome amount of diving, drinking, and generally just being on vacation. I can safely say that this is the single best vacation I've taken. Words do very little justice to the entire experience, so perhaps the 2308 pictures that were taken will do slightly better. I hope to go through and categorize them a little bit more in the coming weeks, but no promises. Oh, and I trumped up the pictures now, so you can see them page by page. Hopefully this will make the experience much better.

Also needless to say, I'm pretty exhausted from the trip. The eighteen-plus hours of return travel were not kind to me. So I'll be heading to bed, and hopefully you'll be looking at those pictures... for a long, long time.