Sunday, January 30, 2011

Socializing

This is something I think about a great deal. Most days I think about [and want to write about] 4-5 things and therefore can't pick a specific name very easily, but I realized that naming my blogs by days [for example, "Sunday"] would be somewhat useless later for remembering what I was talking about. However, when I was doing this by hand, I just used the something like "Sunday" because I wasn't able to go back and change anything anyway. I can edit [and have editted] this.

This is harder than I expected. I mean, I think I KNOW what I'm talking about, but now that I'm trying to write it down, it's not making anywhere near as much sense. I have thought about these things in detail, and I have run down those details the way a detective in a mystery novel runs down the clues to a crime ["Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" comes to mind], but I have not been able to solve this problem as yet. I keep thinking I'll finally unravel it, and I keep picking around the edges.

I thought about going to the Movie Meetup this afternoon. It's at Green Hills and they're apparently going to see "Green Hornet" in 3D. I used to go to these Meetups more often because it was one of the very few things [except for work] I could do that included the possibility of meeting more groups of like-minded people. The other possible solutions include: work, church, school, volunteering, and things like either Meetup or Events and Adventures.

I stopped doing the Meetup thing because it was a different group of people every time, and they usually only met once a month. The problem with seeing different people every time is that I don't feel comfortable around someone I haven't seen at least once before, and so I just wasn't "meeting" people that way. I could have a brief dialogue, but then that person would go on his or her way and I'd never see them again. Why bother? As a solution to this problem, it has been suggested that I branch out to other Meetup groups, but so far they have all been about things I just don't like [I want to meet Like Minded people, not strange people that would certainly see me as "strange person" in their turn] or are already full of people or take place during the work day.

I thought about going back to church. So, after not going for something like 15 years, I tried again recently but didn't like it. Well, maybe that's not the best explanation.... It was more like I felt like I was in one of those time share purchasing seminars. You know, the kind where you have to sit through a 3 hour sales pitch before you get the free prize? Church reminded me of that, and I wondered if it was always like that? I was young when I used to go, and I got very involved because I thought it was God's will. I've met people that still think that way [or anyway, they talk like they think that way] and I don't want to get to know them now because they usually try to get me to go to their church because it's the ONLY church that's right or whatever. I really don't mind people talking about their Church. I just don't like to get into the dogma because it's not like anyone can actually prove their particular point of view, is it? Been there, done that.

So, not Meetup and not Church. I'm trying the school thing instead and I like it so far [3 weeks!]. I picked a class that I knew I'd be good at, and there are about a dozen people there. I picked something I'd be good at so I wouldn't find myself doing what I usually do when I'm challenged: I ignore the people around me and concentrate on my task. That would be somewhat counter productive....  

I'm still volunteering, but that doesn't seem to be a very good way of meeting people either. I prefer to know someone there already for the same reason that I don't like to go alone to a party, but I don't [and didn't when I started] know many people that volunteer, possibly because not many people my age do that sort of thing. I do go with Joe, who volunteers at the zoo, but that's NOT a large group and we don't seem to have much in common. I just go because I feel that people should volunteer for SOMETHING and I'm trying to be a good friend by showing interest in something a friend likes.

As for Events and Adventures? I don't want to pay the $2000 price tag.

1 comment:

  1. I've never done the Meetup social thing, and I definitely wouldn't pay the $2000 for Events and Adventure, but I do see the need for such groups. Since becoming an adult, it is hard to meet people. When I'm out, I notice that everyone seems to be so into themselves or their hand-held devices (cell phone, Ipod, Kindel, etc.) that I think as a generation, we're becoming even more de-socialized. No one just strikes up a conversation with anyone any more. I'm not sure what the solution is. Thank you for providing your insight.

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