I love random new people, but they need to keep to my schedule, and also not interrupt. There will be breaks for applause in due time.

speaking of which, thank God training is over. Now rush hours. And then work on the new project.

I suck at networking in groups, because I have a terrible time approaching strangers or inserting myself into a conversation. My hands turn cold. I sweat. I have been known to get to an event; start to enter; and then turn around and go home. If I actually manage to get into a conversation, I usually talk too much. I also have phone fear. I can call people as a reporter, because reporter me is practically an alter ego.

I feel like being here is social interaction, but when I'm feeling asocial, I can read and not post. Sometimes I have the fear of sounding stupid or hurting someone's feelings that I have in real life, and write whole posts and then delete them.

I'm nodding with Ginger. And then there are whole swathes of time when...no words. Lots of feelings, and nods, even smiles or tears, but when I try to put words together, it's like someone dropped the scrabble tiles on the floor.

I regretted leaving early that night at your reading, Amy, because staying would have been fun. I just...level reached.

Jessica, even if the books don't get wet, they'd swell from the steam! I get twitchy looking at antique books photographed on the porch railing, or in a rainy window, or on the dewy grass... Damp and books, unmixy things!

Ironically, I love hosting parties. Because when you're the host, it's incredibly easy to control the level of interaction by excusing yourself to go check on something in the kitchen. So much easier than being a guest with nothing to do except talk!

BRAIN TWIN!

Seriously, I told my therapist this! Also, if I'm doing something concrete and useful, like making pancakes for a brunch, I am satisfying people without having to interact!

This. I've been there as a witness, and done it myself. Only, like Amy, I can manage small talk for a greater or lesser time before I have to go gather up dirty dishes, or rearrange the chairs, or inventory the canned goods, even if it isn't my house. You know, just in case. And once the party's over and everybody's left and the dishes are all done and put away and the carpet's swept and the sofa blanket shaken and refolded, I realize I'm starving, because I was too jacked to eat while people were there. I also usually wander around with a glass of water, maybe with a splash of coffee, tea, or cola for color. Drinking in company is no help, it only makes me tighter-controlled.

As for being more relaxed with Buffistas, I remember the days planning for one of the early F2Fs, inquiring about the nearness of a stairwell, since I'd be spending a lot of time there. By the end of the evening, I think we had more people planning to hang out in the stairwell than "together" in the hospitality suite. Irony R often Buffistas.

I suck at networking in groups, because I have a terrible time approaching strangers or inserting myself into a conversation.

Oh yeah, that's the worst. I've figured out some techniques, but I still never meet the right people. "Any people" is a start, though!

I often feel terribly shy when I meet Buffistas in person, sadly. I mean, you'd think that I'd be able to talk to people I've spoken to online daily for 12 years, but sometimes, no.

Awww, I felt completely at ease hanging out with you eating pie in your kitchen.

Me too, sometimes.

...and watching you geek out at the Apple store and hitting up the Disney Store for my Edna Mode mug and big Violet doll (which Matilda now owns).

I regretted leaving early that night at your reading, Amy, because staying would have been fun. I just...level reached.

At least I got to see you! That wasn't the night I meant, though -- it was in Boulder, two nights later, when I was getting sick and was just worn out. As soon as the Q&A and readings and signing was over, I went out to have a cigarette with Suzi and Nicole and K-Bug and burst into tears. Very mortifying. It was just suddenly Too Much.

Skipping over lots of posts to say congratulations to Nilly and family on your new baby girl!

ION, I just had to google to learn that Conan O'Brien's TBS show is still on. Huh.

The joy of meeting other awkward people is that they are too busy worrying that they, too, are the MOST AWKWARD HUMAN EVER!

Oh my god, Plei, the day I met up with you and Jilli and explored the air conditioned environs of Seattle, I left with my friend convinced neither of you liked me. Which is not your fault, just my own neuroses projecting.

I am a shy extrovert who gets twitchy in large crowds and prefers attending parties to hosting (but often jumps in to help out, because hey something to do plus feels nice to help).

Sometimes I just have nothing to say. I also need process time. I need time to think before I speak. I've learned to use it well at the library. A 'well' followed by a pause will often get that next piece of info out of a patron

The difference between me and my 20year old self is that I have learned to use what I am.

I am grateful that my line of work has limitedc networking and little oppertunities for things like salary negotiation