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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Spontaneity and "social laziness"

I really hate surprises. Any kind of surprises. Especially social plans that are sprung on me last-minute...

Last night my parents called me up asking if I want to come over for dinner - this was just after 6pm when I already had food just about to go into the oven - and plans to watch Return Of The Jedi on DVD and have an early night. So technically I had nothing very special "on" last night, but still, I'm not really the sort of spontaneous person who likes sudden changes of plans like that. Even when there are no special plans in the first place.

What's really interesting is that - given enough notice - I'm not a socially lazy person at all. I'll happily make plans to fly to the other end of the country for a casual reunion with old friends in Perth for example. But the key is: these things are planned ahead. I know what's happening weeks or months in advance. It isn't something for which I have to drop everything and rush out the door within 30 minutes when I was expecting to do something else (or even nothing particularly special) that night.

Maybe it's an introvert/INTP thing. I certainly need some level of "mental preparation" when it comes to dealing with people. A sudden assault of any kind of human interaction tends to leave me mentally reeling a bit.

Long story short: I'm not a spontaneous person. I'm actually rather boring. I hate any kind of social surprises. But I don't think that necessarily makes me socially "lazy". Give me enough notice and I'll be up for anything. Don't give me enough notice, and I'll prefer sitting on the couch watching a DVD I've seen a thousand times over suddenly coming out with you.

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