engineers

i find myself becoming more and more like an engineer socially. i've always thought i'd become someone who's open and social and whatever, and i was always proud not to meet some of the typical stereotypes about smart people or nerds, etc. but maybe it's something to do with working at an engineering company...there's no reason to become any other type of person, and recently i have this subconscious feeling that i'm introverting into more of a grinch.

i guess it comes from not having to deal with customers, real people, etc. that's what we engineers love about our jobs - we work on a computer all day, we can do whatever the hell we want to it and there's no worry of it complaining (other than the WARNING: SEGFAULT and ERROR MSG = -1 that i get all the time). so i guess as an engineer i get spoiled. who needs real people anyways?

i think taekwondo kind of adds to that. taekwondo social groups are not like real life social groups. there's an inherent structure to it where you understand what part of the hierarchy you're in and don't have to do much to appease it. the real world is NOT like that. there's also an overlying focus of a taekwondo group - taekwondo - that makes other matters less important. so even if you're a grump you can go to taekwondo, be one of the instructors, do kicking all the time, and revert to a 3 year old's social skills, and it'll still be ok.

as an engineer, i find it hard to talk to new people, such as important visitors to the office on whom i won't elaborate. it's probably a good thing that i have "too much work to do" so i can be excused from meetings. but in life, that's not the right way to do things. maybe i need to go back to business school and force myself to become a smooth talking ceo candidate?