My Nerdy Friends

I find it interesting that, even after "growing up", I still socialize with the same type of people that I did when I was much younger. As a child, my best friends were the quiet ones. We hung out after school and played board games. We were shy, reserved, and didn't need much excitement in our lives.

As a teenager, I branched out somewhat and became friends with somewhat more popular types. I still wasn't in the "cool group", but I was able to converse with many of them. I still found myself fairly shy and intimated by those with higher statuses in the food chain. The friends that were more outgoing helped bring me out of my shell though. Regardless, at heart I was still a video-game-loving band geek that preferred quiet, solitary nights at home.

Once I graduated I found myself with without the same pressure to be popular as I did in high school. It was somewhat liberating, to be "rid" of all those people that I cared so little for and just made me feel awkward. Finally I could really find myself and my place in the world. If I wanted to hang out with my gamer friends, so be it. I didn't care anymore, and I actually enjoyed their company more than I realized I would.

To this day, even after moving to a new city, I struggle to fit in with certain groups. I consider myself a recluse in the workplace. I'm not invited out to lunch with the regular crowd (I say it's because they think I won't want to because they're so used to my dieting habits) and don't hang out with any of them outside of working hours. The ones I get along best with are artsy types. They're more interested in getting to know me, rather than tell me about the new shoes they bought or what they liked about last night's episode of "Vampire Diaries" (gag).

I have a few people I consider "good" friends, but no one that I feel really close to. I have someone in mind that I'm hoping will become my new BFF (is that really lame?), but we'll see. Luckily I'm too busy most of the time to worry about not having a close friend around to chat with, but I suppose there are some out there that would be willing to lend an ear if I'd really like. And my mama is always a good sounding board (always has been, and hopefully always will be!), so that's a relief.

Recently I caught up with two "old friends". One just happens to be moving back to Brandon after being in another country for the last five years. We definitely are close friends, so I look forward to rekindling that relationship in the near future. Another doesn't live too awfully far away, but we can Skype! Yay for my computer-geek buddy who has known me for pretty much the longest of any of my friends. She's pretty loyal, and I value her friendship. I expect we'll be Skyping again :)

So after all these years, at heart I'm still that quiet girl with the shy friends. We're just more outgoing than we used to be. And we're still nerds :p