In my life so far, there's little question where I fall on the continuum of introversion and extroversion. Since adopting a keyboard as a permanent and utterly reliable companion at the age of 7, I've probably spent far more hours alone than in the company of other humans. The tricky part is that there's certainly more than one personality vector involved; tendencies toward introversion don't mean that I lack a fundamental need for human contact.
And it's only been a week! The daytimes are easy. I have enough to do to keep things interesting. Development work, yard work, house work, maybe a nap, play a game or something. But then the sun goes down and I start to feel shut in.
I was wandering through the park last night thinking, and I realized that the other thing I miss a lot is enemies. I almost feel guilty putting it into text, but it's true. As a practiced observer with ample exposure to office politics, I've theorized for quite some time that we love two things: being in tribes, and warring with other tribes.
A question for anyone reading this... my experiences are obviously pretty focused on one dysfunctional company. What have you seen? Have you ever worked in a group over, say, 10 people in size, that didn't have factions in at least some sense? I'd be fascinated to see any organization over 100 people that didn't have at least some splintering.
But the thing is, those tribal wars have formed a pretty awesome motivational crucible for me. Sure, they consume vast amounts of my mental and emotional energy, but from time to time the factors would shift into alignment and I had an amazing weapon on my hands. Which I don't really have now. It seems harder to be highly motivated without a catalyst.
It makes me want to do experiments to explore different types of personalities and contrast their responses to my own. I wonder if you could determine some sort of optimal balance and then engineer contrived situations to exploit the human response. I guess that sounds sort of Machiavellian.
Maybe I'm simply feeling an absence of routine social contact. What's the geek equivalent of a sports bar? I just need somewhere noncommittal I can go where I can pursue an interest I probably share with others in the immediate vicinity. I know of similar types of things that take place, but the people I've met and observed in those settings seem to be more interested in intellectual posturing than genuine conversation and collaboration.
I just (re?)read this page about INTP personality type qualities. It's still almost alarming how precisely it aligns with my own tendencies.
- If pushed beyond their comfort level to form commitments or emotional bonds, they may reject a relationship entirely.
- Under stress, they may show intense emotions that seem disproportionate to the situation.
- They may not recognize basic social principles, such as appropriate dress and general behavior.
The geek equivalent of a sports bar? Your local independent cafe/bookstore
Hrm... maybe I do it wrong. It seems like at a sports bar, at least during games and whatnot, people are sharing an emotionally charged experience together. Whether they agree or disagree on their feelings, they all have feelings about the same topic, and friendly relationships and bonding come easily from that.
All the cafes and bookstores I've been to were far more isolated and introverted. (Maybe that's just me projecting, though.) Sharing the experience of reading a book or magazine or drinking coffee doesn't seem as potent somehow...
Although if I slam enough caffeine fast enough, perhaps I can share a spastic social event with another addict like myself. ;)