Remember the Depression-Era song, “So long, it’s been good to know ya?” Well, neither do I—at least I wasn’t around to hear it in the 1930s, but I have heard it sometimes and kind of like the sentiment—the good to know ya part especially. I’m starting this new Website/Blog because I’d like to know you and to let you know something about me.

One thing I’d like you to know is that I have a passion for regular people.

That’s a little hard for people to know because I’m what some folks call an introvert, maybe even an extroverted introvert. I don’t know where you fall on the extrovert-introvert spectrum, but my place is like this: I can only take so much “company” before I lose focus and become a blithering idiot. So if we meet and I seem less than outgoing, please don’t think I’m stuck up. I’m just over-stimulated.

I have learned to function in meetings and all kinds of social events, but believe me when I tell you that I couldn’t walk up to someone I’ve never met, introduce myself, and start a conversation without some sort of structure. That means I can interact with a purpose. For example, as an officer in a writer’s guild, I can talk to a lot of people at guild events because I have a legitimate purpose. But that’s very different than going to a cocktail party and mingling.

I can force myself to do it in what I perceive as safe circumstances, but I’ll probably only manage to meet one or two people that way before I shrink into myself. You won’t see it because I’ve become pretty good at covering up, but when I get to somewhere I can be alone, I will be exhausted.

So anyway, that’s enough about me. Tell me about you. Are you one of those people I see from time to time—and envy—who can just meet people anywhere and strike up a conversation? Are you kind of a lurker like me? Can you walk up to strangers and ask them for their life stories?