Midnight passed as I edited this post, trying to shape the words into something more eloquent. For as long as I can recall, I have worked late into the night on projects, seeming to think more clearly after dark in a relatively quiet setting. <\/p>\n
Yet, in these late night hours with the radio tuned to chatter or Old-Time Radio streaming via the Internet, my isolation feels more intense. The sound of my own breathing, the pains in my joints, the wandering thought-words I hear in my mind, all serve to remind me that I am alone. <\/p>\n
I sit at my desk or in a living room chair and either write with a pencil or type. For at least 30 years, and probably 40, I have written, typed, or programmed at these late hours.<\/p>\n
Frequently, I wish I had someone with whom to talk. During the 1980s and 90s, that led to online chats \u2014 IRC, AOL, MySpace, Yahoo \u2014 and then to reading RSS feeds. Today, I skim Apple News, Google News, and Facebook for headlines between the paragraphs or pages I manage to write.<\/p>\n
Other writers might sit and write non-stop, but I like to take breaks. I might read a headline and a few paragraphs. Sometimes, I\u2019ll listen to most of a radio program, just closely enough to follow the story. When desperate, I\u2019ll turn on the television and work with the background noise. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m lonely and isolated. <\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t merely being a night own, though that trait doesn\u2019t help. There is also an \u201cautistic\u201d and an \u201cintrovert\u201d aspect to this isolation. <\/p>\n
Sitting home alone all the time isn’t good because the cats don’t care to converse. I’m awake when my wife is asleep at night. Between dinner and her bed time, she wants silence after our daughters are asleep.<\/p>\n
She talks to coworkers, chats, and interacts with other adults a lot more than I do. I wonder if my wife realizes that even when I am teaching, she has a lot more interaction with peers. <\/p>\n
I know I drive my wife nuts with the desire just to talk to an adult. She wants to read, I want to feel less alone.<\/p>\n
Compared to my wife, I\u2019m an extrovert. To her, I\u2019m a talkative extrovert. To colleagues, I\u2019m the person who sits at the back of a room for the first few meetings. <\/p>\n
I want to engage in small, quieter, spaces. <\/p>\n
Plenty of social groups and professional groups meet after work hours. But, I don\u2019t navigate those groups well. <\/p>\n
I do not want to be in a crowd. I don\u2019t crave large groups or loud discussions. I desire some human contact, but not of the large meetup or social hour sort. When I have tried groups, they have been overwhelming.<\/p>\n
\u201cUse Meetup.com\u201d people suggest. It might work, since that\u2019s how I made contact with other Apple programming enthusiasts. I\u2019ve joined some new Meetup groups here in Texas and will try my first small techie gathering in a week. <\/p>\n
Creative writing groups might work well. They don\u2019t tend to be noisy people. <\/p>\n
I want to write plays, make films, and discuss coding. I want to locate communities of people who share my creative and technical passions. Being new to Central Texas, I don\u2019t know the communities yet. Also, I don\u2019t really want to be driving into Austin or San Antonio late at night. <\/p>\n
For now, I work at night and hope that the isolation will pass. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Midnight passed as I edited this post, trying to shape the words into something more eloquent. For as long as I can recall, I have worked late into the night on projects, seeming to think more clearly after dark in a relatively quiet setting. Yet, in these late night hours…<\/p>\n