Inside Looking Out

Introvert:  To direct (one's interest, mind, or attention) upon oneself; introspect.


I had convinced myself that being an introvert was installed in me at birth -- a tendency to look within rather than without -- and that it was a characteristic rather than a character defect.  The word of Webster is a little harsh on that impression but I'm going to continue to stick with it, ignoring the wisdom of people far wiser than me, which is everyone that I know.  I prefer the pop psychology definition: namely, that introverts need time alone to process the world; that energy is drained from an introvert by being around other people; that introverts learn by thinking and reading and writing and reflecting.  I prefer to differentiate alone time with isolation, although I do both.


Anyway, SuperK and I joined a bunch of Program People at a comedy club yesterday and then for dinner afterwards.  On cue, neither of us wanted to go as the time to meet approached but we ended up having a good time, as we usually due.  On cue, I was the pain in the ass about the plans - even though it was my friend who invited us to the outing - because I don't like anyone or anything.  I confess to not being amused, as a general rule, by comedy clubs.  I have a great deal of respect for someone who can stand in front of an audience and try to make them laugh.  I think comedy is much more difficult to portray or evoke than tragedy -- that's why there are so many more heavy movies than light-hearted ones.  And with comedy the results of your spiel are immediate and obvious -- you need to hear people laughing.  Not so with tragedy, except for the rare cases the performance is so unbelievably tragic that there is a great deal of very public weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and hands being thumped on breasts in the general region of the heart.  And less talented comedians often resort to low quality bits -- fart jokes and sex stuff and lots of swear words.  As if saying "that guy's a fucking idiot" is a lot funnier than "that guy's an idiot.  Still, it happens a lot.


The show was pretty good.  I don't need to go back to a comedy club for a long time, though.  It wasn't that good or, more accurately, it wasn't something that itched where I needed to be scratched.  I'm more of a guy with a dry funny bone who sees the humor in snarky, sarcastic little asides (I originally wrote "sees the humor in teasing someone until they begin weeping" but that was even too snarky and sarcastic for me).  I find a lot of the humor that is expressed to be more in the vein of silly and I'm almost 100% German, possibly the least silly race on the face of the planet outside of the French, who are very silly to everyone but themselves.  


The tickets were free but you had to buy two items from the very reasonably priced menu as long as $4 for  glass of diet coke is reasonable.