CarrieMpls said:

Eh. I think it depends on your definition of normal.

My life is quite normal. I certainly share traits with a lot of folks, but I have plenty of traits that are different too.

I don't know. When I was younger I probably thought of myself as somewhat outside of the mainstream but the older I get the more I see my commonalities with others, much more than our differences.

I can think of lots of stuff about me that is outside the US norm (being vegetarian, atheist, not owning a car, I don't and probably won't have kids, I've traveled a fair bit out of the country, etc.) but then I get up every morning and go to work, I care for my friends and family, I want the best for my country and my neighbors and so on, and I guess the stuff that we all do seems much more than the stuff that only I and a few others do.

And that's why you are so great!

I'm me despite the ways of normal.

Nothing i do is normal. Normal is boring.

Choices I make (except for the grocery store) make me individual or as different as a few others...

I lead a pretty normal, boring, reserved life but I'm most definitely not normal in the head. Im actually quite shy but I'm also...different.

Let me put it in another way.

When i was about 6 i shaved off my eyebrows because i felt like it.

When i was about 16 i decided to walk around the Tenderloin District of San Francisco with a big ass sock(made to look like a penis)in my pants. I wanted to get a reaction from the local hookers...

Ive been on one for a long time now.

[Edited 3/19/13 0:20am]

Do I look normal to you?

oops wrong pic

[Edited 3/19/13 0:10am]

Do I look normal to you?

wrong thread

[Edited 3/19/13 0:09am]

Well I've known for quite a while that I'm not very typical and see things a bit differently than what I think is considered a normal way of living life. I guess I have accepted my abnormality as being quite normal

^ Weirdo.

Fonkyman said:

^ Weirdo.

Ha! Thanks! One thing that I grapple with is sometimes I think very much outside of the box and I don't always know if that's a good thing but I can't help it. I tried my best many moons ago to fit into the typical mold that people deem acceptable: live a 9 to 5 life, pretend to like whatever pop culture trash is current at the moment, have a circle of shallow friends to do shallow things with and get married at a decent age. Well, none of that has happened I feel like an old soul and just doing those "normal" things suffocates me. I really don't know how to put it clearer than that, LOL.

I also consider myself a bit of an activist and sometimes have discussions with others who want social change and we have differing views of how to get it done. Just seems like sometimes the same tired methods are rehashed but how many of us really see significant change using the same "solutions"? How do we create change using sameness?

I once worked at a funky little used record store in a Bohemian part of my hometown, and we'd see all kinds of "weird" folk stroll in -- hipsters, hippies, cultural nationalists of all sorts, B-Boys, wannabe Rastas, Straight Edgers, Goths, metalheads, skinheads, jazz heads, punks, bears and leather daddies, skaters, Riot Grrrls, artsy fartsy types of unidentifiable affiliation , you name it.

I love that variety. And to each his (or her) own, I say. But a comment that an older co-worker of mine made one day back then did -- and still does -- resonate with me: Many of the "eccentrics" we see, though they'd be loath to admit it, are total conformists... only to nonconformity.

At the end of the day, I don't put much energy into actively being normal or other than normal. I kinda just rock... me. In that, certain parts of who I am have evolved to be utterly unconventional and often strikingly -- even offensively -- at odds with peers in most of my varied social circles. Elsewhere, I'm so completely typical as to be downright boring.

All the while, my life seems to be working out, so...

[Edited 3/25/13 4:30am]

Normal is overrated

Pokeno4Money said:

damosuzuki said:

I'm pretty content with my life and it hasn't really held me back in my career so far, so it's really not a problem.

I can appreciate that lifestyle and I see similarities with mine, but unfortunately these days most jobseekers have a harder time finding work if they live like that. Many jobs are filled through networking, those who stay to themselves and don't interact very much will face an uphill battle. And there are actually employers who won't hire someone unless the applicant has a Facebook account or LinkedIn account they can check out. I think it sucks as privacy is very important to me therefore I use neither Linked nor FB, but that's the way the world operates these days.

I don't disagree with what you've said above - it's always been so, and I'm sure it's more true than ever. While I don't think it's hurt me too badly in my career progression once I got hired in my field, being an introvert did hold me back when I when starting out. Being shy is not always a terrible characteristic, but you can be too shy for your own good. I do feel that I'm at a point where I've built up enough personal capital in education and work experience that I don't need to fret too much about that holding me back now.

[Edited 3/25/13 4:10am]

If normal means typical, I can guarantee that all of us are "normal" in many, many ways.

Even that strive that many of us have to be an individual and unique and to go against the grain is totally normal.

JustErin said:

If normal means typical, I can guarantee that all of us are "normal" in many, many ways.

Even that strive that many of us have to be an individual and unique and to go against the grain is totally normal.

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: that you are dreadfully like other people."

My life has not been normal. Moved from England to live in Thailand when I was 21, married a Thai woman, lived there for 10 years before getting arrested and sent to a Bangkok prison. Now I'm back in the UK starting again, 9,000km from my wife, but no less in love, and plotting a way to do better than before. I do so many things well and am a smart guy, but in so many ways I could be justifiably considered a failure or let-down at this point. I've had a wealth of incredible, rare experiences, and yet my main problem is living in a bubble and being afraid to breach the walls of my comfort zone. I'm paralysed by fear of the new sometimes. I'm like a child and I'll often run from what I see as adult things I for some reason don't identify myself with (being ready for). Ridiculous given the move across the globe I made at such a young age, and the responsibility I've taken for my Thai fam. No, I don't have a normal life.

Pokeno4Money said:

Truly weird people don't think they are weird, they think they are normal and everyone else is weird.

Fauxie said:

lived there for 10 years before getting arrested and sent to a Bangkok prison.

What happened?

im being harassed for the last 10 years by zelaira....paid money to people to destroy my life..

Ace said:

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: that you are dreadfully like other people."

Indeed !

luvsexy4all said:

im being harassed for the last 10 years by zelaira....paid money to people to destroy my life..

you paid money to people to destroy your life?

Cuddles said:

luvsexy4all said:

im being harassed for the last 10 years by zelaira....paid money to people to destroy my life..

you paid money to people to destroy your life?

Yeah,
I think they're usually referred to as divorce lawyers.

Visionnaire said:

Cuddles said:

you paid money to people to destroy your life?

Yeah,
I think they're usually referred to as divorce lawyers.

I see.

Mach said:

Ace said:

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: that you are dreadfully like other people."

Indeed !

Mach!

Visionnaire said:

Cuddles said:

you paid money to people to destroy your life?

Yeah,
I think they're usually referred to as divorce lawyers.

Ace said:

JustErin said:

If normal means typical, I can guarantee that all of us are "normal" in many, many ways.

Even that strive that many of us have to be an individual and unique and to go against the grain is totally normal.

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: that you are dreadfully like other people."

Precisely.

Ace said:

Mach said:

Indeed !

Mach!

Hey sexy !

I live a very basic, quiet, simple, drama-free life. Compared to 95% of the people that I know, then I probably don't have a normal life.

kitbradley said:

I live a very basic, quiet, simple, drama-free life. Compared to 95% of the people that I know, then I probably don't have a normal life.

Cuddles said:

luvsexy4all said:

im being harassed for the last 10 years by zelaira....paid money to people to destroy my life..

you paid money to people to destroy your life?

no SHE pays them...helluva way to spend money..

[Edited 3/29/13 14:08pm]