intro/extro

I've always known I'm an introvert. I enjoy the quiet. I withdraw into myself sometimes, not unhappily. I didn't have a good definition of introvert/extrovert, though, until talking with Alex's cousin Claire this summer. She said that extroverts gain energy by being around people, and introverts...well, just don't.

This is me to a tee. (A T? A tea?)

Sometimes social engagements are really daunting to me. It's taken me a long time to even get comfortable around my best of friends. (Just ask Aspen. And Alex and I took about a thousand years to come along.) I'm bad at returning calls and answering emails and facebook messages. I hate it, and I know about it, but I'm still just bad at it. This doesn't mean I don't think about all these people I'm not seeing, I am, I swear I am. I'm thinking about every one of you. There's just this mental block against...social interaction. I know. I'm really really really weird. (See also: socially awkward penguin meme)

And none of this is to say that I don't like hanging out with people. I do! I really do! It's just...harder for me. I think. Maybe. I mean, I don't know how easy it is for other people, but I imagine it to be harder for me.

I saw this graphic on Cup of Jo, and it made me smile.

(Comic by Pleated Jeans)

This weekend was miles of fun. It was just Lena and I, and we went to two birthday parties, but boy, was it exhausting. I'm still recovering from it. I haven't even been able to relax and watch a movie, because I've been so exhausted that as soon as Lena falls asleep I fall asleep. 

Next weekend has the makings of the same: two birthday parties, two potential holiday parties. I love it, and I'm looking forward to all of them, but I have to work at it. It's a fine line, and I'm not sure I'm explaining it quite right, because it's not bad work, it's just, work, but even then work isn't the right word agghghhhhhhh. 

Ok. Back to work.