Aw, ita.

I can talk to a rock, when I'm in the mood. Always been somewhat true, I'm just more in the mood as I get older. That said, socializing is exhausting for me (hence, I am an introvert. Just a talky one. It has to be all on my own terms.) I require time to recover and unwire.

Certain situations I just don't enjoy, even when in the mood. Conferences, work socializing. I can do it, but...eh. Spain was a stretcher for me, and even then I conveniently got caught in a funeral procession that allowed me to miss one group thing (no, I didn't plan it, but it worked for me!) Another coworker* who was done with hanging out with all our colleagues and I also were able to slip off together and just cafe-culture and wander, therefore not being antisocial. We are of similar age, interests and travel-style, so it worked nicely.

Honestly, the annual Buffista f2f pings all of my omgnos. It's not personal, it is pure situational.

• Oh, and she's now me of 4(!) years ago- she's made an offer on a house! Using my realtor, who she adores! And she's so totally on the same crazytrain I was- she'd mentioned she was vaguely thinking about getting a house 3 weeks ago, I mentioned I loved my pure dallas-texas realtor, and that she rocks this shit. A week later, she's fallen for an as-is and can she have the name of my realtor? And now close is in 3 weeks, barring an inspection hiccup from FHA. And she's a raw manic nerve and I was laughing at and with her. I remember it so clearly.

I can't even reply to her email right now.

Aw. What a sister.

People talk to me a lot. I guess I look nonthreatening? I am the person with the talkative seatmate on the plane or the train, and the person the limo driver will tell about his kids. It's always hard to find a way to say, "Stop talking to me, please," although when I have a book in hand, I generally think the speaker is just being purposefully unobservant.

I think I'm not an introvert; I think I'm just a misanthropist!

"I'm not shy, I just don't like you." Yeah, this is me.

The instructor of the course that just finished said some very alien things:

• What's the first thing you do when you sit down next to someone on an airplane? Right! TALK.
• And this one lady, she just said "Hello, I'm reading a book." and stuck her face back in it for the rest of the flight!

I almost fell out laughing. I'm fairly sure they wouldn't have believed me if I'd said that was unconscionably rude behaviour to judge her, because I was interrupting every ten minutes with another anecdote or really deep experienced PM tale, but seriously--strangers? On a plane? NONONONO.

Aw. What a sister.

She is kind of alright.

Jeremy Piven is going to be on Masterpiece Dead People? Heh. And now they're interviewing him, and the shot is carefully cropped an inch lower than it is on the women. Even the old guy.

Nilly baby! Hooray!

See, that's why I'm so confused about me. Because I can totally bully a business meeting.

I'm very much an introvert, but I can totally do that when doing so will end a seemingly endless discussion and get me out of there.

I've reached a point where people in my field (in this city) know me or know who I am so I'm getting approached by people looking to network. It's all very awkward. I've never been good at schmoozing.

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.

But we want to love you and squeeze you and call you George!

But we want to love you and squeeze you and call you George!

Actually, we wanted to love you and squeeze you and KEEP YOU forever and ever.

During my project from hell this time last year, I made a deliberate choice to go with every request, no matter how far it was from my job description. If I didn't know, then I needed to work out who knew, and I wanted to understand it, from commission to payroll to billing to whatever. And I made a point to talk a little off topic with each person I stopped with trying to find the answers so they'd know who I was coming back around n the far far future.

Maybe practice networking like that?

The downside is that people still come to me for random stuff, but I just give them the phone number I'd have started using to track down the answer. But the upside result was a people that I could call for other information without feeling all the tension, since I crossed the rubicon already.

I think it was a pretty good blend of upping my rep for knowing everything, and extending my ability to know everything (or at least know where it's filed).

But, hell, nurturing in-company relationships got me one of my references when I went from contract to permanent. It was the big part of the two days of training (basically review and arranging in context, not much new information--if it had been, woe on me) that I could give myself 100% on. Sure, not everyone likes me, but I lay the connection groundwork with everyone I work with, and nurture the connection, even by sometimes just walking past their desk on purpose and waving hi.

what's the term for someone who is very much an extrovert, but absolutely needs a certain amount of alone time/down time?

Me.

Congrats, Nilly! New Nilly Baby!

What's the first thing you do when you sit down next to someone on an airplane? Right! TALK.

Um, hell to the no. I"ma vote NO. With a big side of NO.