I want to talk about me

A friend asked me the other night how important I thought it was for a man and a woman to have compatible interests. I wasn’t really sure how to answer the question, since I had not thought about it as much as he obviously had. But I love questions like that because they really help me understand myself better. But before I can answer, I need to understand what my interests really are. So I’ll take a few minutes and just talk about me.

There are some who have known all their lives what they love doing. An artist loves to create art. A musician loves to make music. They aren’t happy unless they have that outlet.

Sometimes I feel cheated because I don’t have a calling in life that is quite as obvious. So I’ll have to think a bit harder about it, I suppose.

For one, I love language. I love words. I love putting the right words together in the right order to communicate a thought or a feeling precisely. Sometimes I get hung up on an idea or emotion and am unable to fully concentrate on anything else until the words come together to express it. Even if I don’t actually share it with anyone, I like knowing that I can. And I like to use words like “plethora” and “abstractly.” But I have a harder time with “colloquialism.” My brain would like to use it, but my mouth revolts against it.

I would also love to learn another language. As precise as I like to be in English (even though I do use the word “like” excessively), it would be fun to be just as fluent in another language. Although I have a feeling it would make me feel a bit prideful, like I was something special because I taught myself Russian or something equally exotic.

Reading is another part of my love of language. I enjoy getting lost in other worlds and getting to know other people in their far off lands. I think I’ve become a bit of a snob when it comes to books though, because once you’ve read JRR Tolkien, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, it’s hard to find books of the same caliber. Too often I just get bored, or worse, frustrated that I could have written it better.

Here’s an odd interest: I like to put together furniture. I enjoy putting together entertainment centers or computer desks or glider swings. I don’t really know what that means. It’s like putting a puzzle together. Oh, and I apparently enjoy taking vacuum cleaners apart and putting them back together. (It still works, by the way.) I would LOVE to learn how to make furniture, but I’ve never done it. You need tools and stuff for that kind of thing and I can’t justify buying any if I don’t even know how to use them. I’ve always wanted to buy an old piece of crap house and completely gut it and recreate it into something beautiful. I’m not all that creative in that respect, so I’d have to get my ideas from somewhere else, but I think I would enjoy doing the actual work.

I’ve also always thought it would be neat to just move to a new place where I didn’t know anyone, and make a life for myself. That would terrify some people, but I think it would be loads of fun. Just pack Dylan up and go somewhere, anywhere, and set up camp. Learn the area, get to know new people, etc. I shouldn’t think about that anymore, it makes me actually want to do it. And if I ever do, I doubt I’ll be able to give much notice. I’ll just up and go. So if I ever disappear suddenly, don’t freak out.

I also love music. I used to play the trumpet and the French horn in high school and I loved it. But I’m not quite as musically inclined as some so while I enjoy making music, it’s just something for fun. Not exactly a passion for living. But I do want to learn to play the piano some day. I sort of know how already, but I’d like to get better. Music plays the biggest role in my life when it comes to worship. It’s hard for me to really feel like I’m worshipping without music. I am, therefore, extremely grateful for the praise band at Lake Pointe. They rock.

Another oddity: I have this thing with symmetry. It’s really stupid, but I like for things to be symmetrical. For example, when I eat popcorn, I eat one piece on the left side and then one on the right. And then the left. And then the right. When I eat Smarties, I eat them by color. If there are 5 green ones, I eat two on the left, two on the right and one in the middle. If I scratch my left arm, I usually have to scratch my right arm, too. And I HATE it when I can pop one elbow, but not the other. Makes me crazy. It also makes me crazy that before I got braces, I had a tooth pulled and I therefore have more teeth on one side of my head than the other. Must stop thinking about it now. Must suppress the neurotic behavior. I’m not OCD. I’m not OCD.

But all that doesn’t really answer the question, does it? How important is it for two people to have compatible interests? I think it varies from relationship to relationship. We’ll explore this more in the next post.