Are you an outsider (in life, not DU)?

[Bossy Monkey]

Do you feel like an outsider, stranger or alien in life, or are you well-socialized, well-adjusted and more like an insider? Obviously, if I had asked a year ago, the results would have been about 100% outsider (or anyway, pre-election day 2006). Wonder what the results will be like now...

[LeftyFingerPop]

1. I'm somewhere in between the two. n/t

[bigwillq]

2. Insider.

Well adjusted socially. But haven't always been. I grew up a lot and became more confident with myself over the years. But even when I wasn't, I wouldn't ever consider myself an outsider.

[Sanity Claws]

3. The two are not mutually exclusive

I'm an outsider with my birth family but have friends where I feel included and well-socialized.

[Bossy Monkey]

I have 10 slots to work with; I can certainly add "A Mix" or something like that n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

4. No.

[sniffa]

5. A little form column A and a little from column B

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. I'll let Jack Kerouac speak for me...

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_only_people_for_me_are_the_mad_ones-the_ones/334331.html

:toast:

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. I'll let The Ramones speak for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq8gOTne9Kk

[SoxFan]

24. GabbaGabba we accept you we accept you one of us!

[Arugula Latte]

7. I am very location-sensitive.

I live in Portland, Ore., and I fit right in. I also feel at home in Berkeley, San Francisco, Seattle, Cambridge, Mass., Vermont, Boulder, and some other college towns. The rest of the country -- not so much. When I go visit my family in a suburb (even though it's in the Bay Area) I get that familiar heebie-jeebie feeling and remember why I couldn't wait to get the hell out of the 'burbs and move to Berkeley. I just don't relate to "regular" Americans very well.

[Deja Q]

8. That's an easy one to answer.

D) New Jersey

:rofl:

[Bossy Monkey]

9. As I say, I have 10 slots to work with...

Your wish, my command.

[graywarrior]

10. I figured out this week that I make decisions on who or what I am

Last week I decided to isolate. This week I decided to be social.

[BuelahWitch]

11. Outsider. Wouldn't have it any other way

[KamaAina]

12. I'm whatever is outside an outsider

:(

[Danger Mouse]

13. I can fit in, but I am usually an outsider by choice.

I'm not very social.

[MilesColtrane]

14. I'm pushing 50, have no family, never married...

...I'm self employed.

I love a form of music that most people have never heard and even fewer "get".

I can count my true friends on one hand, but I rarely get to hang out with them, because they have lives.

[Bossy Monkey]

35. Wait, are you my sockpuppet, or am I your sockpuppet?

Oh yeah, I don't qualify on the unpopular music one. (Sacred Harp and Bulgarian folk music are very popular, right?:P)

[MilesColtrane]

38. Ever since the Jonas Brothers started closing their concerts with "Kalimankou Denkou", their CD...

...sales have gone through the roof.

[LostInAnomie]

15. I didn't used to be.

I used to be a fairly popular person with a lot of friends. Then they all got married and had kids. Now, I'm the weird friend that hangs out whenever they have free time.

[Lucian]

17. Yep.

I'm an outsider, looking in, longing...

Sigh...

[LeftyMom]

18. Yes and no.

I'm not one of those people who can make friends with absolutely anybody at the drop of a hat, but in my social/activist/academic/professional circles I'm pretty well liked and even (I'm not sure how this happened) fairly well respected.

[clyrc]

19. I've always been shy and a little strange

a military brat, which never helped much. I still, at almost 40, get intensely lonely while being intensely wary of people. Mostly I'd say that isn't much fun, but as far as perspectives go, if you can keep from getting too bitter, an outsider can see things an insider can't. I don't know if that is much compensation for being lonely, but I guess you have to take what compensation you can get.

[Dogtown]

20. I'm the wind, Baby.

You'll never capture the wind....

[vadawg]

21. culturally im on the outside of societal norms, but im happy as a bassett hound having a poop

got lots of social stuff when i want, never bored, great kids, wife family etc, no worries, and if the world does turn to shit at least ive watched enough mad max movies to get the gist of what i need to do. Seriously though im not sure what you mean by outsider or insider, i think it depends on where in the world and your life you are at any given moment.

[Blue_Tires]

22. sporting events are the only place i don't feel like an outsider

[La Lioness Priyanka]

23. very much an insider

[PRETZEL]

25. Both,

I'm a fairly shy person to begin with so in social settings I tend to shy away and keep to myself. But I'm also capable of more than handling myself and can be very personable once I'm comfortable within the situation.

[leeroysphitz]

26. Ich bin ein auslander. n/t

[JitterbugPerfume]

27. a mix of both

I think most of my friends think I am a bit eccentric though, and they are probably right.

[Patiod]

28. Isn't everyone really a little of both?

Isn't everyone both an insider and outsider in some respect?

My brother has zero social skills and no real friends, but he's an "insider" at his computer war games online community... and my friends who might be thought of as "insiders" run into plenty of situations where they feel out of place.

[Shell Beau]

29. No. I am outgoing I suppose.

[crim son]

30. I try to be an outsider

but people won't leave me the fuck alone. :P

[dembotoz]

31. outsider

never fit in
never have
never will

Wish i would, life would have and would be easier....
especailly for my kids

[hunter]

32. I don't care which team I'm on.

I'll be standing way out in left field watching insects in the grass. Sometimes I won't notice when the inning is over.

In my home town little league I was picked last. The kid picked before me had Down Syndrome and wore glasses that made his eyes look huge, but he wasn't weird.

In college I decided it might be useful to develop some social and athletic skills. So I did.

[insanity]

33. It all depends on what aspect of life we are talking about

I'm fairly social and have a good amount of friends in a strong and central group. I'm pretty active in my academic circle and have good relationships with all my professors.

However, when it comes to things like assimilating into what is considered dominant culture, I'm definitely an outsider. For example, if I were to go the mecca of our society, the mall, I'd feel grossly out of place.

[Wapsie B]

34. Definitely an outsider. No question about that.

Been that way for as long as I can remember. Life would be so much easier if I could fit in. Jobs, romance, friendships would've been so much easier to come by if I were outgoing. I believe more and quite likely better opportunities would've presented themselves. Developing networks for work and just life in general have been beyond me. I'm not crying about it. It just is what it is here.

edit: I've been described by a close friend as someone who looks like he's ready for something bad to happen.

[Roon]

36. I don't fit, I feel alien and strange...

kind of out of range!

[JustJeking]

37. Depends on who I'm with

I'm extremely outgoing when with my deaf peers or close hearing friends. But when with some hearing people - esp at work - I tend to become very withdrawn, as a way, I guess, to protect myself. I think it has to do with the fact I was teased constantly back when a kid, for speaking 'funny'.