Are there any Oddballs in the house?

[Wapsie B]

All my life I've felt like I've been on the outside looking in. I don't follow the crowd. My sense of curiosity has to know why something is being done rather than blind obedience. Safe to say that that doesn't play too well in the workplace where unquestioning loyalty is rewarded handsomely by our society.

[distantearlywarning]

1. I feel alienated from my "peers" every day of my life.

In fact, in a way, this issue is the theme of my life. I don't mean just now - I mean for the entire past thirty years. It seems like for almost every trait you can think of, I'm at one end of the bell curve and the entire rest of the world is at the other.

I think I "pass" well because I don't share much personal information with people I know in real life and I've learned how to "dumb it down" (and other things) in social situations. But I am aware of how different I am all the time, even if they don't know.

I want to go back to my own planet. I don't really like this one much. x(

[Wapsie B]

3. I don't pass well at all

in social situations. Unless there are people there who just interest me in some way I withdraw into myself even more. I cannot work a room Sometimes I feel more alone in a roomful of people than with myself.

[indigobusiness]

16. The most interesting people are eccentrics.

England figured this out long ago. America hasn't grown up enough to, it seems.

Celebrate yourself, and damn the torpedoes.

[indigobusiness]

17. distantearlywarning

I read your post, again, and it occurs to me that while I'm sure your planet misses you, this planet needs you.

[SarahB]

2. Most people are kind of stupid.

That doesn't help anything. :D

Most of the time I don't care. I have gotten this "aloof" comment for a long time. I keep myself very, very reserved for the most part. Not always healthy perhaps, but not a lot of people I want to share much of myself with either. I find far too many people that I see in my day to day life shallow and boring (because many of them are unfortunately).

[Wapsie B]

4. Yeah....

aloof, standoffish.............I know those terms well. I agree about shallow and boring.

[SarahB]

5. Probably why I stayed married for so long too.

He's a bit... um... snappy, a bit sexist, and paranoid (and other stuff), but he's also politically aware, intelligent, driven, and not shallow at all. I guess one of the biggest reasons I put up with it was because I enjoyed certain levels of our friendship together and even that's hard for me to find with people. For years, I just kind of thought, "If I try harder, the other stuff will get better." Until the day came that I realized, my well was empty and I no longer wanted to even try anymore. Kind of sad.

[Wapsie B]

9. Yes.

"If I try harder, the other stuff will get better." I kept hoping and hoping things would get better. That and the friendship and the emptiness sounds very much like my marriage.

[Longgrain]

6. Me def!

Always on the out side looking in...

Draw backs from being and artist...

[Wapsie B]

11. I enjoy living within myself

in a way. I've just learned to accept that about myself.

[Cush]

7. me

[graywarrior]

8. Lone wolf here.

I carry on "real" conversations in my head while I'm talking to people who force me into "dead time" when they trap me outside in the world (which I try not to venture out into too often).

[Wapsie B]

12. I'm doing that constantly.

My mind is always moving, thinking about something, curious about a certain subject.

[graywarrior]

14. It's a bitch keeping track of what someone is saying when

you have two or three conversations going on at once in your head, ain't it?

[coreystone]

10. BRAD! N/T

[WCGreen]

13. Yo, I'm 47 years old and sitting in my office

in my boxers talking to people I don't know and can;t so yea, I guess I'm an odd ball....

My mother told me about a year before she died that my passion frightened her, that I was too opinionated and that it would haunt me all my Life,,,

Well, the old gal was right....

She also told me in high school that I marched to the beat of a different drummer, a Henry David Thoreau reference that I immediately latched on to as my saving grace....

So what if your different. All the great thinkers and all the people who have changed the world put their cause and ideals and thoughts and opinions way above what other people thought....

When ever I ran for office, I could speak very well in front of the crowd, always was able to turn a phrase on the podium or with a microphone in front of me, but force me to make small talk, that is where I was truly laking in the art of politics.....

The written word, my friends, is perhaps the most wonderful way to communicate, bar none.....

when it all comes down to it, what does it really matter if you are liked or if you fit in. I think the only thing that truly matters is that you made a difference, that you made a conscious effort to change the world in whichever way you can. That, my friends, is truly the measure of a successful life......

Well that and having the complete set of tiny spoons from all the states and territories of the US.....

[indigobusiness]

15. Inspiring post...

You will probably rise to upper management of this club.

And, what potential such a club would have!

[Wapsie B]

18. Spoons?

I'm a thimbles guy myself. :)

My Mom gave me a set of coffee mugs which has the phrase,"The morning glory is the symbol of individulality." That stuck with me. Too often we're forced to fit in to groups. Team Building as they are so fond to say at work. But what if I want to work alone? Oh god we can't have that. You've got to be part of the team. Those who play the game the best are rewarded with upward mobility and this mentality of going along to get along is reinforced everyday. Question something or ask why and you're branded as a boat-rocker, someone who'll make waves.

[WCGreen]

20. Do they have thimbles for every state.....

Just asking cause.....

The spoons thing is something one of my clients collected and I would grab her up a bunch when ever i went a travelin'.....

She loved those spoons, had doubles and triples of some....

Me, I collect comic books, old albums, baseball cards (not any more, just have some), books and of course dust because i am an old fart......

[Wapsie B]

22. I've seen thimbles

of most tourist places I've been too. So I would have to think that if you went to a gift shop around a state capitol you'd find a thimble for that state. Iowa's got 'em and I'm sure Minnesota and Wisconsin do.

[RevolutionaryActs]

19. I think a better question would be,

'are there any normal people in the house?'


:silly:

[wovenpaint]

21. "She's ok...she's an artist"

Always felt a little out of place and tried hard to fit in - but got aggravated and sad alot.
Now that I'm older, I enjoy my alone time (having 3 children helped too! :D ) and the fact that I tend to question authority and the "teams" I get involved with. Geesh-all job listings now say how we have to be a team player. Why?
Also, thankfully, my children all inherited the artistic genes so they don't consider me too eccentric...but you should see our house/studio!
:eyes:

[WCGreen]

23. I'm concentrating on writing now, my house is a mess

cause Mrs. WC Green is also of the creative type.....

You know, because of my outspokenness, we don't get invited out too much any more....

I really think my mother hit it right when she said I frightened people with my passion....

[Abelman]

24. Me

I never felt a part of any group in High School or college. I always felt on the outside looking in.

[VOX]

25. I can play the game, but I've always felt like the observer...

Been that way all my life. I loathe and distrust authority -- school, the workplace, etc., are all organized in a way that I've never connected with. I've done well in most endeavors, but it has always felt like **acting**. I've excelled at solo pursuits, like art and writing, and have at times been able to insert those into my career, with great success.

But the only genuine, marrow-deep satisfaction in life has come from my own pursuits, on my own time, so that's what I'm oriented to.

Being the outsider used to bother me, until it dawned on me that my "curse" was a blessing -- you get to experience life from a **very** different perspective.

I've made peace with it, but all those life-obligations still feel like acting jobs. They always will.

The great thing is that my wife totally understands all this (she's a bit of an outsider, too); she knows what it's like, and loves me like crazy anyway.

[WCGreen]

26. Lucky us to have spouses who understand

the way we are wired....

Mrs. WC Green can hrive, if left alone, in a controled environment but me, no way....

I have to do things my way and on my terms or they don't get done....

Just the way I am....

Not everyone is designed to be a team player.......

[Wapsie B]

28. That is so true.

I have to be able to do my job the way I want and the way I see fit. People forget that this country wasn't made great by those bland inoffensive drones that scurry up the corporate ladder. It was made great by people who dared ask the question "why?", who didn't blindly follow but charted their own course.

[the Princess]

27. I am not a sheep

I cannot follow orders
I do not follow any rules to get by
I walk my own path
I go my own way
And it can be lonely

But once in a while you meet a fellow traveler. Nice to know you Brother! :)

[Wapsie B]

29. It's great to know you sister!

Let us help each other in any way we can. It's good to know that I'm not alone out there.

[jdots]

30. I feel like an observer from a different planet

felt that way since about 6 years old,You have to admit humans are pretty fucked up.

[WCGreen]

31. The sad thing is that now they will give you drugs

if they think you aren't a team player or conform...

You know, I wrote a thread the other day about a hellish night at a Friday's arising from lack of parental discipline. People have to be taught some boundaries in order to operate in society. Still, being obnoxious does not necessarily mean you are a free thinker.....

If a kid is free spirited, let him/her go but if they are just plain unruly and disruptive, well I think that might be a different story.

[CO Liberal]

32. I Used to Say That I Marched to the Beat of a Different Drummer

And my drummer worked with Spike Jones for twelve years.

:-)


Source: http://www.themodernword.com/