One of my friends, we were having a conversation, and he's basically for all intensive purposes in the "nerd" social group. I used to be a lot bigger in that group when I was in high school, ie, I was in chess and anime club, but then as I got older, I guess my interests changed a lot. I still like a lot of nerdy things, I still play some video games, and watch anime, but not as much as I used to. The other thing, too, with keeping current is like, people would be like "Hey did you watch ____ show" and I'd be like "Nope, I'm watching Gundam" and I sorta don't look for much new anime, I like what I like, and sometimes I can be introduced to new shows I like, but generally I like older shows, and have my specific anime tastes.
Now I'm realizing even in cases like anime, it's less about what you like, and more of an exchanged commodity, like Top 40 music is on the radio. So part of the reason people liked, say, Naruto, was because a lot of other people liked Naruto. And in the old "nerd" social group I used to belong to more, now it's sorta evolved past anime, and now people are more into tabletop RPGs and playing games online with each other, neither of which I really like. But what I realize, it's less about the actual thing, and more about spending time with people, and tabletop RPGs are a great way to do that. So the anime convention here has a club, and it went from an anime convention with like, 25% general sci-fi/nerd stuff on the side, to a general sci-fi/nerd convention with like 25% anime on the side, as now instead of being "about" anime, it's "about" gathering with other "nerds."
As far as the actual conversation that sparked it, he was telling me I should watch Game of Thrones, and I told him I don't really watch TV, or much of anything anymore. With games, I said sort of the same thing, that I'm just not making time for games anymore, at least as much as I used to. With computers, too, he was telling me I should play Minecraft, and then I told him I'm running Linux, just a Debian derivative, and he's like "You should at least get something more popular, like Ubuntu or something." Then I told him Ubuntu was slow. Then he asked my hardware specs, and they're crap, 2ghz single core, 1 gig DDR1 RAM, integrated graphics/etc, it's a crappy eMachines, but I told him I didn't care, cuz with my Debian, I can turn it on and be on youtube in under a minute, and it's fast as hell. So again, with computers, I should be more current, according to him. Finally with the TV thing, though, he's like "Entertainment, dude, watch some, it'll be around forever." And I'm just thinking "Yes, it'll be around forever, so I'll wait until I'm old and disabled to spend my time sitting around watching TV."
So yeah, main point of this post, they asked what I do all day, I told him I ice skate and lift weights. So he said "So you go ice skating and lift weights, and then you spend your time at home not caring?" "Yeah, pretty much." I mean at home, I go on here (they're saying I need to spend more time on Reddit and I just don't want to) and download a lot of music, but the music I like nobody around me really likes much. But he is right somewhat about my day, that's sorta what I do, I mean in time I'll have a job again, but yeah. I find those things fun, to me ice skating is about the most enjoyable thing I can do, and then weightlifting is fun in a video game kinda way, as you're always trying to beat your last personal record, and it gets quite addictive like that.
So, what should I do? Should I watch more TV, and like, be able to relate to other people better? Play more games? Go on Reddit? Even though I don't really care about such things? I've not really watched TV for I think about a year and a half now, I'll watch it briefly here and there, but I've gone months without turning mine on. With video games, there's a few new games that look cool, like Skyrim, but I just don't care to spend money on them, especially once they were talking about computers, why spend money on a gaming computer when I barely play games anymore? All my money now I'd rather put towards equipment for those respective sports, and then my cars.
Is it wrong to just...do what you wanna do? Am I just sorta being a dick? They're still my friends, just we have less commonality now, their father still invites me over quite a bit to eat, or help him repair stuff or move things, so I still see them quite a bit, but because I'm not into the same sorta things as them, we just don't hang out quite as much anymore. Is this just what happens when you get older? At the same time, too, I've not made too many friends ice skating or weightlifting, basically at most vague acquaintances, and then most of the people I make friends with are significantly older than me, I've not been able to make many same age as me friends skating or lifting. Lifting is weird, too, as to make any friends with that, I'd likely have to join a weightlifting club, as most people at my gym lift more for bodybuilding purposes, and it's really sorta apples to oranges in thought process. And then a weightlifting club costs money. So now it's like, all my things I wanna do are all like, being pursued almost alone, you know?
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So yeah, long rambly post, sorry, but yeah, what should I do? Should I try to have more in common with people, even if they're things I don't genuinely like much, just for the sake of having more friends/being closer to my current friends?
20 Jun 2012, 9:54 am
