Mensa member checking in. First of all, where are you Tiger (feel free to e-mail me with your answer if you don’t like the idea of broadcasting it to the 'net in general)? Mensa does vary by area.
Second, it’s like any other organization. Mensa has at least its share of arrogant jerks, but it also has a lot of wonderful people. It’s also an outfit where most people find intelligence sexy (Ooh, baby, let me see your brain!:D). The one’s I hang out with tend to be fans of God-Awful puns, triple, if not quadruple entendres (make sure you’ve got a spotter the first time you attempt one), hugging, chocolate, and good conversation, not necessarily in that order. Come to think of it, they resemble Dopers.
There are various on-line groups where you can get a taste of things. For most of these, you do need to be a member, but you can join, try it for a while, and drop out if you like. By the way, if you join Mensa then drop out, you don’t have to requalify to rejoin. I’ll be happy to go out to one of these sites and get more reasons to join, if you’re interested.
You mentioned you live in a rural area. I’m not sure what your local group will have in the way of scheduled activities, but if you go out to Mensa’s Website, there should be a link to your local group and contact information for a person who can tell you what’s going on. You don’t have to be a member to attend a lot of events, but individual’s attitudes within the organization vary. If you get a jerk, please don’t assume we’re all like that. Most of us are looking to get more neat people to join. Fellow Dopers, this means you!
Finally, these good parties, Urban Ranger was talking about? I suspect that’s coming from me raving about Regional Gatherings (RGs). “RG” is pronounce “orgy”, and that’s not an unreasonable description. They’re also what got me hooked on Mensa, and I didn’t expect to like Mensa when I went to my first one. Wrong again.
My advice is to give Mensa a try, but I’m biased because of the number of wonderful, close, dear, caring friends I’ve met in it. (Not to mention the chocolate, hugs, and men who like intelligent women!).
CJ