Hanging Out, Post-Work

What was initially a post-work drink turned into hanging out for a few hours with Justin. We ducked into a trendy place called “Blue Line,” as a few of the other nearby bars weren’t open until 7 PM. Ordered some drinks, got some calamari, and ended up talking shop and tech for a good while.

We ended up shifting over to Pontiac a bit later, and spent some time there people-watching and discussing our social habits. Justin is more prone to spontaneity than me, fueled by wherever his energy leads him. Me on the other hand, I have a pretty distinct line between my public and private life, and tend to need a certain amount of private time in relation to public. Where Justin seems to relax while he’s out and about, hanging with friends and meeting new people, I seem to only be able to relax/decompress when I’m back home, alone.

And as though we were proving a theorem, we parted ways: Justin left to try to make his way over to The Hideout, and I headed home. The best analogy I can make to my whole private/public ratio is this: imagine working in front of a computer, or reading a book. Imagine doing it non-stop until you can’t do it anymore, and have to walk away from the keyboard or put the book down. This is what it feels to be sometimes, being out and around other people. After a certain threshold, I have to go off and be on my own for a while, recharging, before I can be around people again.

One thing we did talk about was us going out and actively trying to be more social. Instead of sitting down for drinks and discussing our own insular world of tech and work, to go out and actively try to engage others in conversation. To that end, I’d leave my camera and documentarian tendencies at home. It’s a good goal, and hopefully one I can work towards.