The little things that make you feel out of place or stand out.

[Halo Infinity]

I didn't know where to post this, so I thought this would be the kind of thread to make such a post.

Sometimes being a man that isn't into sports and cars does it for me. :p

[tony.parente]

Specificly in this board? Laughing at or making jokes that are not or could be perceived as not politically correct in any way, shape or form.

IRL? Being 26, having a decent job and driving a 2005 cavalier that's paid off and not having a car payment. People love car payments for some reason, especially at my age.

[Halo Infinity]

I'm not good at messing with people. I don't care if it's just "playful ribbing", and I'm horrible at it. It's also known as "busting people's chops" and "yanking people's chains" if I'm not mistaken. Hindsight is very unforgiving. What the fuck was I thinking in making an attempt to play such games? It also makes me feel out of place because I noticed that this is how most people seem to have fun when socializing among friends and acquaintances. And even when I'm not necessarily depressed or aggravated as a result, it's just far too awkward for me, and when I do it, it makes me feel like, or even become an asshole and a douche bag.

Shame by Depeche Mode seems to capture how I perceive such games. So yeah, if you're looking for a friend that's into those games, I'm the wrong kind of person to select. :p


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecuEYimF73o

Or even Enjoy The Silence for that matter.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diT3FvDHMyo

[playwithfire]

Everything most of the time usually. Basically.

[Frozen Beach]

Bars, house parties. Basically anywhere there are large crowds of people I don't know. It's surreal living in a small town your entire life, yet you don't really know anyone.

[rhet]

Sometimes being a man that isn't into sports and cars does it for me. :p

i wouldn't worry too much about that. the fact that my husband is more into shoes than sports was one of his selling points to me.

and i wouldn't even know where to start with things that make me feel out of place.. i'm getting much better at not giving a shit though.

EDIT: i thought of a good one..british people use knives/forks differently than how I grew up using them (with fork facing down and food piled up on the backside of it instead of being stabbed/scooped) and I still haven't quite gotten it down so sometimes I look an idiot trying to do it the british way and then revert back the good ol' american way. it sounds really stupid but i feel so awkward not being good at USING A KNIFE AND FORK properly.

[Halo Infinity]

i wouldn't worry too much about that. the fact that my husband is more into shoes than sports was one of his selling points to me.
That's also cool to me too, since I'm also into shoes and the kind of guy that would actually enjoy shoe shopping with a girlfriend or wife. (If I were to get married.) :p


and i wouldn't even know where to start with things that make me feel out of place.. i'm getting much better at not giving a shit though.
I still need to work on that, and I really am convinced that apathy can be both a virtue and a benefit whenever it comes to those particular aspects of life.

Oh and to add to the topic, a minor yet very relatable thing. Whenever I'm eating and drinking in public and something spills all over me. :p And in hindsight, some, or even lots of the shit I say also does it for me too. :eek: Being bad at joking, as mentioned earlier, also has to be a huge part of it. :confused:

[Halo Infinity]

On the other side of joking... when I make jokes only to realize how lame they are and/or how douchey they come across. I really need/want to cut that shit out, even if they might seem harmless. (This is also not to say that I'll never have a good laugh again, but still.) Self-consciousness has taken over once again.

[spiralout]

Especially around this time of year, when most people are excited for the Super Bowl... I'm sitting here thinking, "I wonder who is gonna win the Royal Rumble"

Not that it bothers me. It's just one of those things.

[The_Prowler]

I hate sports. Whenever someone starts talking about football, my brain goes into automatic shutdown mode.
I spend a lot of time in bars playing music, but I don't drink too much for health reasons.
I'm nice to the point that people sometimes seem to think that I'm working some sort of angle on them or something of the sort.
I've had a few girlfriends in my life, but I still don't have any clue on how to talk to girls and leave them thinking I'm someone interesting that they'd want to spend more time with instead of some weird, socially incompetent dork trying to talk to someone lightyears out of his own league.

[Halo Infinity]

Bars, house parties. Basically anywhere there are large crowds of people I don't know. It's surreal living in a small town your entire life, yet you don't really know anyone.
I was actually going to make a post just like this one. I can still relate to this, and have also mentioned this in other threads since last year. To add to that, the fact that I'm not really that fond of partying and traveling has also made me feel out of place, as most people I've met in real life actually love being on the go a lot, with some being far more into partying and traveling more than others. This also isn't even to say that I actually hate and dismiss all types of parties and all forms and experiences of travel either, but I'd rather not have those things ever become a regular part of my life as of right now. It just really took me a while to finally come to terms with it.

[ophelia_]

Apparently I'm like the only person in the world that doesn't like Metallica.

So much judgement from SO many people. Urgh. Probably not the answer you were looking for. But shit.

[Ryan]

I don't listen to Metallica.

[halloween]

Being me in most situations is enough, but it doesn't get to me usually. Unless I'm at work. When people try to high five with me, it causes a short circuit in my brain "Why is there a hand in my face?" Ugh....

I have problems even saying a simple greeting sometimes, I'll go from saying "What's up" and "How's it going" and "How are you?" in one go. In my brain it sounds like I'm saying "What's how's it you?" but in reality it comes out more like stuttering "How's- how ar- how are you?"

I'll never forget the day my mom decided to point out to me (I must have been 8 years old?) that I stuttered. Now I notice that when I get nervous, I stutter. This becomes a problem when I'm trying to handle a crisis situation with children. I'm afraid that if they hear me stutter they will automatically not take what I'm saying seriously.

It's funny reading people talk about sports- my boss LOVES sports analogies, particularly american football, but then he turns to me and says "Or well, you know how it would be in soccer" because I'm Brasilian- UGH stereotypes.

[Halo Infinity]

This is definitely a little thing that's done it to me for a while.

Being a Nintendo fan around PlayStation and Xbox fans. This also increases when they also happen to dislike or hate Nintendo.

And also being a fan of rock music around people that are mostly into rap, R&B, and reggae. (I'm also using the genres very generally and loosely.) It also increases when they ask me how I can listen to all that anger and noise, or when they tell me that they don't really get rock music. I still understand though, as some things aren't for everybody, but yeah, it could do that.

Then again, of course both of those things only happened when I was outnumbered by either fan-base, obviously, but I've seem to have encountered both scenarios a lot more times than I've ever expected myself to in real life.

[ibanez33]

Bars, house parties. Basically anywhere there are large crowds of people I don't know. It's surreal living in a small town your entire life, yet you don't really know anyone.

I'm the exact opposite. I lived in a small town for over 20 years and I was just so sick of seeing the same people everywhere I went. Moved to Vancouver last summer and I love being able to go out and meet a new crowd of people almost every time.

[Elke]

Good: I know random facts about almost every possible subject excluding sports. I have a social anxiety disorder, which makes me mindful in many ways. I'm a nerd. I'm overweight, so people underestimate me.
Bad: I'm depressed: people usually don't know how to deal with that. I have a social anxiety disorder, making everything a task for me from the moment I leave my house. I'm a nerd. I'm overweight, so people underestimate me.

On the whole, I've learned to see that the things that make me not fit in are the things that define me. So I've kind of embraced them, even though they suck. Doesn't make me suck.

[henryeatscereal]

The fact that i don't drink/smoke do drugs or even eat meat (except fish)

It could get annoying because i know the classic look accompanied to the phrase: "Really? you don't (insert something)?
I don't do it to "single me out" or "stand out", they are just personal choices which i'm very happy with... i don't judge people who do it, as a matter of fact, most of my friends and family do some or even all of those things.
I don't judge but also hate being judged...

But yeah, whether i like it or not it makes me feel out of place at times, yesterday i went to this party and this dude was so hung up on me eating meat, i can sip a courtesy beer or even do a little innocent smoke just for the taste but eating meat is a big deal so i just refuse in a polite manner, but it could get tricky at times...

[Halo Infinity]

That feeling I get when people try to make me smile and/or laugh, especially if it's in a work and/or school setting. :confused:

To clarify, if something's funny and joyous, then I'm all for it, but I never really saw schools and workplaces as areas for smiling, joking around, and laughing. I don't mean to be a bummer either, but I haven't gotten used to it. It really is out of place for me. Perhaps my upbringing also has something to do with it. :p

Come to think of it, making jokes and taking jokes is still making me feel out of place again. It's still hard to explain, but a part of it often has to do with me not knowing how to take things sometimes, as some jokes actually look like straight up disses. Or perhaps it's just me not knowing when I'm taking things too far, while just being very incredibly annoying, hypocritical, obnoxious, stupid, and foolish. I'm at least sure of that, and also guilty of that, as bad as that makes me look. (And that was also why I often got into a lot of trouble growing up whenever I tried to joke with others.) This isn't to say it's like this with me all the time, but "doing" humor really isn't my forte. As far as observing humor, that's where I'm really completely fine with it.

Ironically, I actually can get some people's jokes and never seem to take them the wrong way, which is still a positive sign and an enormous relief in spite of all my confusion and negativity.

It also took me a while to accept that I'll also be considered boring by some, or even many in life, but it sometimes also makes me feel like a bit of an outcast, or it has lead me to being treated like one. Oh well, at least it doesn't depress me as much as it used to. Then again, it shouldn't depress me, but I still can't deny some of the awkwardness though, and I'm still working on that. I guess it's a balance yet again. Sure, I can see why I shouldn't really care about what other people think, but I also shouldn't end up using that as an excuse to become completely inconsiderate.

Spoilers in entertainment actually don't bother me that much, or even bother me at all. I've also figured that there's more than enough surprises to go around in real life anyway. :p

[Halo Infinity]

I'm just going by what I've noticed with most people I've seen and met in real life. I also didn't know where else to put this.

Collecting CDs and listening to albums, and realizing that collecting CDs has kind of been like collecting stamps or comic books since 2005-2007. This fortunately isn't the case here, as it's like going to a forum that collects comic books when it comes to albums, and the fact that people also go as far as collecting vinyl here. (And well, ETS also has a comic book thread too, which I've also found to be cool too.)

Collecting DVDs of movies and TV shows for the same reason, or even collecting any type of physical media at all in the digital/file-sharing age. :p

And collecting old video games. One of my long-term goals is to kind of collect video games the way the Angry Video Game Nerd did without being an actual reviewer.

Even though I rarely go to concerts, going to a rock concert alone sometimes does that. However, it definitely goes away once the actual show starts and ends.

Not knowing exactly what I want out of life, or what to do with it.

Ironically and paradoxically, I'm constantly reminded that I really shouldn't care, but it's sometimes nice to vent, yet again. Sometimes. :)

[The_Prowler]

The place I live near is overflowing with Hipsters, Scene Kids, Neo-Emo's, Alties, Hippies and stoned out artistic types... I'm not any of those. I love the town, but it's hard to connect and make friends there when I don't look, speak or act like any of them.

[Millionaire]

Whenever I feel like I'm being judged, basically. When I get nervous about being judged, I kind of shrink into myself and totally suck at whatever it is that I'm supposed to be doing. I usually encounter this "judgement nervousness" while meeting others at parties and gatherings, dealing with bosses/supervisors, public speaking, and even at pickup basketball games. The weird thing is, I've been able to overcome that in some instances when, for whatever reason, I just don't give a fuck even if I know I'm being judged, and I kick ass at whatever it is that I need to do.

For example: we have to give presentations at work every once in a while. Sometimes if I know people in the audience who are of the judgmental variety, I'll give a boring, bland presentation because I'm just trying to do what I think I'm supposed to do, and my main focused is trying not to make mistakes. But twice I had to give presentations to some higher-ups who are above the judgmental folk I knew, and for whatever reason, I go up there like I don't care and give a compelling, funny, carefree presentation like I was kickin' it with some friends. I don't know why; maybe its because I don't know them and there isn't a history of judgement, or maybe its just my general mood at the time. What I do know is I want to be like that at all times in whatever it is I'm doing. Its closer to my true self, and everything just comes out easier.

[elevenism]

The place I live near is overflowing with Hipsters, Scene Kids, Neo-Emo's, Alties, Hippies and stoned out artistic types... I'm not any of those. I love the town, but it's hard to connect and make friends there when I don't look, speak or act like any of them.

i have the opposite problem.
for the past two years, i've lived in a town of about 1900...how do i describe them...good old country folk i guess.

I have 2 foot long black hair, 1" plugs in my lobes, 4 gauge plugs in my conches, and wear big black boots and such (listen to the sound of them ;) )

If i'm not mistaken, i'm quite literally the ONLY man in town with long hair other than this cool old derelict looking farmer. And i KNOW i'm the only one with the plugs.

On the night i proposed to my wife, i was buying catholic candles, incense, chocolate...and the clerk (not knowing i spoke spanish) said to the other clerk "what do you think he's going to do?" They looked really scared and i KNEW they were assuming i was casting a spell. So i said to them in spanish "what am I
going to do?! I'm going to sacrifice a chicken and drink its blood!"
Then they REALLY looked scared, hahaha. But then i told them what i was really doing and they laughed.

Another thing that happened that was funny was that i went to the grain elevator looking for this guy who i had heard did woodwork because i wanted a gift for a girlfriend. I introduced myself as Neil Jackson's grandson (the man who built the fucking place where they worked, the feed yard, was president of the bank, owned a shitload of the farmland outside of the town) and they all laughed at me because of the way i looked. There was no way i could be related to Jackson, hell, W worked for him as i've said in a couple of other threads. Anyway, a funny thing happened. I dropped my ID, honestly not on purpose.
It showed my name, Tyler JACKSON Lankford, and my address, which is the house in which my grandfather lived till he died in the seventies. They called the house all freaked out and cautious, and when i went and picked it up, every motherfucker in there shook my hand.

That little town damn near wouldn't be there if it weren't for my family's legacy, so fuck 'em, right?

[The_Prowler]

i have the opposite problem.
for the past two years, i've lived in a town of about 1900...how do i describe them...good old country folk i guess.

I have 2 foot long black hair, 1" plugs in my lobes, 4 gauge plugs in my conches, and wear big black boots and such (listen to the sound of them ;) )

If i'm not mistaken, i'm quite literally the ONLY man in town with long hair other than this cool old derelict looking farmer. And i KNOW i'm the only one with the plugs.

On the night i proposed to my wife, i was buying catholic candles, incense, chocolate...and the clerk (not knowing i spoke spanish) said to the other clerk "what do you think he's going to do?" They looked really scared and i KNEW they were assuming i was casting a spell. So i said to them in spanish "what am I
going to do?! I'm going to sacrifice a chicken and drink its blood!"
Then they REALLY looked scared, hahaha. But then i told them what i was really doing and they laughed.

Another thing that happened that was funny was that i went to the grain elevator looking for this guy who i had heard did woodwork because i wanted a gift for a girlfriend. I introduced myself as Neil Jackson's grandson (the man who built the fucking place where they worked, the feed yard, was president of the bank, owned a shitload of the farmland outside of the town) and they all laughed at me because of the way i looked. There was no way i could be related to Jackson, hell, W worked for him as i've said in a couple of other threads. Anyway, a funny thing happened. I dropped my ID, honestly not on purpose.
It showed my name, Tyler JACKSON Lankford, and my address, which is the house in which my grandfather lived till he died in the seventies. They called the house all freaked out and cautious, and when i went and picked it up, every motherfucker in there shook my hand.

That little town damn near wouldn't be there if it weren't for my family's legacy, so fuck 'em, right?
Fuck 'em SO hard :D

The neighborhood I used to live in for most of my life was a gated community (actual houses, not apartments/townhouses, and the place was massive), and for most of the time I lived there, I was in the Goth period of my life. Other than me, the entire place was populated by soccer moms and lacrosse kids... not exactly the kind of people who want to see some kid wearing all black, a trench coat and long hair walking around. I've got some truly fucked up stories about stuff that happened to me there over the years. Oh, and I also started playing drums when I lived there, so that made it even more fun :P
I still mostly wear black (if I'm wearing a red or a white shirt, you can bet your ass I'm wearing a black jacket over it), but I don't look like a Goth kid anymore and my demeanor is definitely not what it used to be, so I don't run into nearly as many problems as I used to.

[Lew]

being me.
it's a lifelong thing, too.
grand.

[elevenism]

being me.
it's a lifelong thing, too.
grand.

i love this answer

[Lew]

i love this answer


lol, thank you. i was going to come back and change the "grand" part...i was feeling a little self indulgent yesterday...but today that grand is a good thing.
:) elevenism, a virtual hug for you!

[Halo Infinity]

Being that fan of the Insane Clown Posse on Echoing the Sound. ;) That feeling will probably never get away from me here, but thank goodness that talking about it actually went well this time around. I actually don't follow the ICP as much as I've used to, but I still like their songs and albums whenever I'm in the mood for them.

[elevenism]

Being that fan of the Insane Clown Posse on Echoing the Sound. ;) That feeling will probably never get away from me here, but thank goodness that talking about it actually went well this time around. I actually don't follow the ICP as much as I've used to, but I still like their songs and albums whenever I'm in the mood for them.

but you don't like...have the hatchet guy tattooed or anything, right?
i've met some STRANGE juggalos in my day ;)

[Halo Infinity]

but you don't like...have the hatchet guy tattooed or anything, right?
Oh no, not at all. :p


i've met some STRANGE juggalos in my day ;)
I've had a hunch that you would've for some reason. I could actually picture that. And well, sometimes just liking the ICP gives me that feeling anywhere else, considering their reputation along with the fan-base's reputation.