This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

I have never really identified with either introversion or extroversion, or rather: I can remember situations when I was introverted and others where I was distinctly extroverted. It's been a trend over time of increased amounts of my time in a state of extroversion, but that's personal experience and I'm not implying that "normal people grow out of being introverts" or some horseshit. I think fundamentally I do crave social interaction (and not just "deep meaningful" stuff) but the change over time is my getting better at successfully acquiring that.

I like parties and I like hanging with friendly folks whose names don't always instantly stick in my head. I like little reminders that everybody's different and has a different background and worldview to me - and sure, it's easier to get to know people if you can string along an initial conversation (E: about a common interest like a video game or a sports team or a musical artist). That kind of thing's super-important to me though because I worry about myself growing to see people around me as scenery to my own life story. Interchangeable snap-fit assembly hobbies or histories. That's not the kind of philosophy I want people around me to take, so I do what I can mentally to cultivate the opposite.

I guess my distinction to you dudes is that I'm not too passionate about anything, which makes me easy to get along with. I don't like things, you probably don't like other things, and provided your personality isn't gross I'm probably still ok with hanging out.

I do like passionate people, though, even if their passions and mine don't mesh for great and lengthy conversation. I'm inordinately fond of that conversation I'll have with one person, once (or sometimes twice) per party, where their inhibitions are down enough that they'll give a damn good try at expressing something that's a little bit beyond them (a curiosity for someone who is pre-emptively averse to saying the wrong thing or sounding foolish), something that I couldn't even attempt to articulate and because of that (to me) is quite profound.

While I'd prefer that I get to have this sort of conversation with a friend, hearing it from someone who up until now was just "scenery" in my perception of the world slaps me about a bit and reminds me that other people aren't scenery.

As someone who had a tight-knit gang of irl friends in New Zealand who's landed out in a rural prefecture of Japan with a whole bunch of people I've had a month (tops) to get to know, I can't afford to be cynical. If I wanted to discuss ecology and systematics and conservation to people, I wouldn't have buggered off overseas to teach English. What I want to do is get people even a smidge more interested in that kind of stuff, because I reckon they're worthwhile things for people to get educated about.