Miscreants, Misfits, and Geeks

Lately I've had a lot of extra time to think about random things -- where I'm headed, how I got to where I am, my friends and acquaintances. Going back through the years I realized that my friends and even acquaintances lean toward the miscreants, misfits, and geeks*. This is not negative by any means since I include myself in that group. Most of the people with whom I associate cannot easily be classified. Artists, public service employees, musicians, activists, teachers, I.T. guys, thespians, white collar, blue collar, and no collar intelligent people surround me. It never gets boring looking at the world through another set of eyes.

I can't classify the genre they fall into since the diversity is too great. Quite often they float from clique to clique without blinking, allowing their intelligence to guide them. This allows for a fairly well-rounded albeit skewed view of the world (even though everyone has opinions, and we all know what those are like... ) often leading to sarcasm or cynicism. The intelligence also leads to either a dark or cattywhompus sense of humor with a strange appreciation of puns.

I think what attracts me to these people is the fact that they want to be noticed -- or the noticing just follows them. Well behaved women (and men) rarely get noticed. Granted, my friends aren't felons (or so they say) but they all aren't angels in one respect or another. Each of their idiosyncrasies and quirks make them
an individual and identifiable in a crowd. I appreciate the rough edges and emotional bumps. It's what makes everyone human and somehow connected to everyone else on this planet.


* Geeks are different than nerds. Although both types of people are extremely intelligent and technologically apt, geeks possess the social skills needed for them to function in society. Nerds, on the other hand, are almost completely socially inept. It's similar to the book smarts/common sense debate. Some people received book smarts but not common sense. Other people are filled to the brim with common sense, pushing book smarts out of the cup. Then there are the few blessed with possession of both. It's a rare occurrence, but balanced individuals can be found if you look hard enough. Geeks tend to be fairly balanced; nerds not so much.