Having a crush on someone based on looks alone. I can understand being attracted to someone’s personality and character traits (intelligence, sense of humor, etc.). And I can understand how being packaged in a favorable body can make the “inside” stuff all the more attractive. But I can’t “get” seeing someone for the first time and feeling, “I MUST HAVE THEM NOW!”
I don’t really get nosiness either. Like, I can understand the urge to gossip, but I don’t really get some people’s needs to find out all the details of other people’s lives. I know someone who’s always asking me what I’m doing over the weekend or what did I do over the weekend. Why does she care? And why should I tell her?
I used to ask people all kinds of questions about themselves. People thought I was nosy. So I stopped asking people about themselves, and I heard things (circular friend grapevine kind of thing) like “she only talks about herself, she never asks questions about you.” Arg! You can’t win.
I admit it’s a balancing act, but it’s not that hard if you know the right kinds of questions to ask.
I usually don’t ask personal questions until someone starts talking to me about personal stuff. If someone mentions they had a hot date last night, then I feel it’s allowable to ask what they did. But I wouldn’t just blurt out that kind of question without the appropriate set-up.
That tends to be a safe topic of conversation at work, though. At my workplace, Friday afternoons are usually really slow, so we aren’t doing much but killing time. “Exciting weekend plans?” is just one of those time-killing questions that doesn’t have any pressure involved.
“Nah. You?” or “Gonna do boring-thing-X” or “Woohoo! Getting MARRIED!”
I don’t understand the kind of ruthless ambition that drives people to claw their way up the corporate ladder. I can understand having personal and professional goals, and to work your ass off to achieve them *on you own, *but I don’t understand the maniacal drive to climb up at the expense of everyone and everything else.
And then there’s the equally-maniacal frenzy called spectator sports (yawn).
If something or someone is out of sight, they are entirely out of mind as well. Friends, family, lovers, it doesn’t matter. I enjoy people’s company based on shared activities, but as soon as those activities are over, I feel no need to continue said attachment. It’s not that I don’t care about people–I do, and love my family deeply–but I just don’t feel the need to seek people out when there isn’t some reason to do so. It just entirely slips my mind.
I think I’m with the OP as to envy. When folks around me have cool stuff I don’t have, I may say, “Wow, I’m envious!” but I’m not really. If it’s cool enough and useful enough that I should get one, either I will eventually get one – or enough time lapses that I forget all about it, and something else comes along. I certainly don’t sit up at night brooding about someone else’s cool stuff. There’s lots more for me to brood over!
