Do people tend to hang out with others of similar personality? I.e. do birds of a feather flock together? I used to not think so... even though I made friends who had one or two things in common, I didn't meet people who "got" me. Even in groups that I was looked up to, or was a role model in, I was still an outsider, a special breed, I guess. What was that? I am a geek, a nerd, a brain, versus the non-socially awkward fellas and gals I hung out with in college. They were mostly sports types, who didn't have the patience to read the latest in gadget news or understand what relevance biotech has in our lives. So even though I made good friends, they weren't... reflective of who I am.
Where I am now, has much better representation about my character and my true self. Just the other day I was yakking with Vic about his CompSci projects and the latest in phones and gadgets - animatedly exclaiming our joy over remembering LISP or determining if the Blackberry Bold was the next best Blackberry out there. Toys and serious business. The last time I can remember doing that was when I was swapping tech support stories with this guy ten years older than me in St. Louis...
On top of that, it's fun to see that there are even girl geekettes out there who ooh and ahh over the silliest things - my friend Tara on Shakespeare and RenFests, or Kel on her analyzing people in fast food restaurants to determine if they have Turner's syndrome or not.... ;-)
It's just nice to feel like I fit in with people who are on my level, to be enjoying things.
Anyway, I'm rambling, and this blog is actually a day late. Off to work!
I think this may be a function of 1) getting older and 2) an increasingly specialized workforce. The older you get, the more you meet others who, like yourself, have found and settled comfortably into their niche. This is especially true if they're in or have been through a very specialized program — Victor, in computer science; Kelly, in genetics; myself, in Shakespeare studies. Our current employment climate demands people who've been through those specialized programs, and those programs tend to invoke (or evoke) passion in us about what we're specializing in. I know five years ago, I wasn't passionate about much of anything, but with age, maturity and experience, I've found my niche(s), and being with 20 other specialized lit-brains for almost two years has validated my passion and made it OKAY to express that passion. I wonder if being through these specialized programs and being around people who validate your passion tends to make you even more passionate — I'm thinking about people who tend to play it close to the collar and be reserved about expressing their pleasure in things because they haven't been immersed in situations where it's perfectly acceptable (and encouraged!) to be stupidly excited about something. These people are kind of sad, if you think about it.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm picking myself up and taking my literary analysis skills back to my Shakespeare plays. Just be glad I didn't digress into an analysis of how language reinforces the assumption that being passionate is a bad thing ... okay, I'm really going now :)
Lol. I was just about to say basically what Tara said.
ReplyDeleteFor myself, I did feel like I had to hide my passion for reading and science in junior high, high school, and even KU. I didn't really have anyone who understood why I would get excited about genetics...until SLC that is. That's why I loved graduate school so much! I was finally among people who liked the same things and it was more acceptable to show my passion for science.
I also love the fact that we seem to be well rounded too. We do have our geek side but it doesn't overtake us. We're still social and we enjoy playing sports