By nature, I’m a loner. My ideal circumstances involve being alone (or at least left alone), somewhere quiet, preferably curled up with a cup of coffee and a good book. (If this is a place where someone may be convinced to bring me additional coffee without having to leave my book, all the better.) And I am sorry, but I do often like books more than I like people.
But while that is the closest thing to my paradise, it means that its opposite — crowded, noisy places where I am expected to talk or interact with other people, especially strangers — is the closest thing to my hell. I am phobic of social situations in almost every possible way, from simple saying-hello nervous to full-fledged oh-my-god-look-at-all-of-these-people panic attacks.
But lately… I’ve been… well, different.
I first noticed it at this year’s post-E3 party. When I’d usually find myself skulking in a dark corner, clinging to a laptop or cell phone for sufficiently inhuman digital interaction, this year I spent the entire evening sitting and chatting with a few folks, some of whom were complete strangers. This scenario would typically inspire absolute terror but, dare I say it, on this occasion it was kind of… fun. Not at all nerve-wracking.
I’ll be at San Diego Comic-Con next week and I’m even looking forward to meeting up with a bunch of people I could scarcely be said to know casually. Later in the year, I’m looking forward to BlizzCon and Dragon*Con for the sake of meeting people.
Well, isn’t that a rather drastic personality shift.
