…very frequent visitor to Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea.
…volunteer at a local orphanage.
…writer of short stories and poems for children’s books.
I figured I might give joining Mensa a try after learning how many of our posters (including several from whom I’ve learned a lot) are/have been in Mensa or qualify for it. The idea was “gee, since I love talking with Dopers, and so many Dopers are Mensans, maybe I’ll love talking with Mensans!”
There’s three types of Mensans. The first type is the Absent Ones. They have never gone to a meeting. They never join a group. They never post in forums. The last time any other Mensan saw them was when they took their test. They pay their dues (usually by automatic withdrawal) and that’s it. We figure they just like having the card, but why? The Spanish one doesn’t even have a pic! The Swiss one has a pic, I haven’t seen versions from other countries.
Then there’s the [del]Wonder[/del] Boys. After a lifetime of being praised and told what shinning stars they are and being able to BS their way out of any pickle, suddenly they find themselves dropped into a moat full of crocodiles who ask “cite?” whenever an assertion doesn’t appear convincing. Usually they survive the initial shock, learn how to use an enciclopedia and become productive members of society.
And there’s the “Honey, I’m Home!” types. After a lifetime of being put down and told that other people’s achievements were worthy but theirs were not, of being treated as if anything else than perfection was unacceptable, usually followed by a major where, as one of my teachers put it “y’all don’t feel like elite because you are all elite - you are comparing yourselves with the elite, not with the average, median or mode”… you’re suddenly among peers who not only share your way of jumping from one idea to another via a couple alternate dimensions, but consider your accomplishments noteworthy.
It’s a place where people can talk about pretty much anything; things that would be inappropriate in other settings (“one of my schizophrenia meds got taken off the market, so I’m having to go through the whole set-up-a-regime again, man is that a bitch!”) are perfectly fine; things that would be perfectly appropriate in other settings may be met with derision (a journalist and Mensa member, complained at breakfast that “this place is full of freaks!” and I pointed out that, in a table with two PhDs in Physics, five engineering degrees ranking from Associates to PhDs and a math teacher cum psychologist it was she who was the strange one - the rest of the table clapped).
So yeah, pretty much like the Dope. And when I’m in a new country, I can take advantage of the SIGHT program to help me nagivate through culture shock. I don’t know how would I have survived the year in Basel without them.
If that gets them to stop getting me to drink alcohol, I’m game!
TELL ME HOW TO DO THIS!!! I miss UK telly so much! Stuck in Japan with crap on the TV is so miserable…
When I first came to the Straight Dope, it was exactly like that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa has a new classmate that turns out to be her dream friend. Finally she has someone with whom she can bond over intellectual curiosities and their ridiculously high standards for themselves. But then… Lisa’s new friend begins kicking her academic ass all over the place and she is no longer The Golden Child. That was The Straight Dope for me.
And eventually, I learned that I’m not the smartest of the smart here, but I get along okay and can hold my own. And I learned that some smart people are insufferable narcissistic classist jerks and I would rather be mediocre than a bastard. And also that being highly educated often comes with privilege that I didn’t have for most of my life. In other words, with some obvious exceptions, I can’t relate.
I have a feeling Mensa would be similar.
I don’t tell my friends that…
…I’ve read all seven Harry Potter books four times.
…I’ve read all four Twilight books, and enjoyed (read: finished) all of them.
…I own several Star Wars novels and one World of Warcraft novel.
…I’m a Chiefs fan.
There’s a ton of stuff I never talk about IRL. Politics and religion for sure, but I also never, ever talk about my sex life, not even jokingly, nor anyone else’s sex life. If someone else starts, I will smile politely and look away. When I am with a bunch of ladies (read: girls) and they start getting all catty and discussing such things I bow out of the conversation.
And yet on the Internet I am extremely free sexually.
Exactly one of my IRL friends knows I write and she will never ever be invited to read any of my stories. No one knows I write erotica IRL.
I also will never discuss finances. I have relaxed a bit and don’t think asking for my salary is such a terrible insult, but I still am not too fond of it and won’t answer.
My SO of course is excepted from all this; he knows everything.
Oh, and I generally don’t tell people what I read, but that’s mainly because the people I generally hang out with don’t read the same stuff I do.
…I really suck at making new friends, and that’s why all of my friends are people I’ve been friends with since I was 12. And, the new friends they’ve made since we were 12 and have since introduced to me.
Ran into a friend of mine on the bus. He was reading a collection of short stories by Philip K. Dick. I had just bought a copy of Maxim. Didn’t pull it out until I got home.
This isn’t me, but it’s kind of funny, and IMHO, an interesting comment on a cultural trend.
My best bud avoids telling people that she’s a Mayflower descendant. One ancestor from the Mayflower, one from the next boat over. Both are well-known.
She really avoided telling people about it during the '90s, when it was fashionable to have the most oppressed ancestors possible. If asked, she said her ancestry was Irish, which it is on one side. If pressed for additional information, she’d say “English” or something.
She sometimes joked to me about doing something unbelievably shocking, like joining the Daughters of the American Revolution. :eek:
Lately, she’s been willing to be more open about it. Like “this is part of who I am and I’m not going to be ashamed of it. If you don’t like it, lump it.”
The whole thing amuses me because it’s such a 180 degree turnabout from the way things used to be–people highlighting their high WASP ancestry and trying to hide the rest of it.
Someone always gets there before me.
Vanessa Carlton flexing about? Nope, nothing any red-blooded straight guy could possible enjoy!
Meanwhile, I’ll be in my bunk.
I don’t tell my friends that I’m not as far left as I used to be, ever since I saw my former comrades holding up signs that said “We are all Hezbollah”.
I don’t come out and declare myself an atheist unless it comes up in conversation.
I don’t come out and declare that I’m ethnically Jewish or that I grew up in Israel unless it comes up in conversation - which makes for some enlightening experiences when overhearing anti-Semitic comments by people who had no idea I was Jewish.
I wouldn’t usually admit that I sometimes enjoy reading trashy celeb gossip.
That’s something I need to work on, too.
Well, at least we’re not alone in the fact that we’re loners.
… Christian. (Interesting that “atheist” appears often in this thread, but not “Christian”.) Mainly because if I call myself “Christian” I have this preconcieved notion of who I am and what I believe (and that I’m intolerant and bigoted).
Before I was married (at the age of 28, almost 10 years ago now) I didn’t tell people I was a virgin. (They could probably figure it out, but I didn’t tell people). Now I don’t tell people that we lost our virginities on our wedding day (at least we didn’t wait for the “wedding night”) and that I’ve only been with my wife sexually and no one else. The shock!
Not that surprising. There are lots of places where everyone around you is likely to be Christian, and very few where everyone around you is likely to be an atheist.
That I love Ghosthunters. I watch it every week. I also like most of the other paranormal shows on. I’m so ashamed…
Was that her doing the dancing? I thought it was a camera angle. If so - dang, she’s good.
Regards,
Shodan
PS - Don’t tell anyone that this is my favorite video right now.
takes deep breath
Okay, if you can admit to Twilight, then I can admit to Eragon. And The DaVinci Code.
Not to go into details, my roommate and I are each other’s secret-keepers. Some of which have come up in this thread, or are likely to come up.
I do keep my atheism in the closet. It helps that I belong to a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Most folks have no idea what that means, so I get a pass.