I realize its been a while since I last posted, and I'm not sure this one will be any better than that one was, but here goes.

I just thought about it recently and realized I'm feeling way to normal. Most of my friends for some time now have been in some way out of the mainstream. A large number have been pagan. In on the hand, am rather definitely a christian/Lutheran all though I'm still working on my exact beliefs, more on that at a later date. A significant percentage of my friends have been gay or bi. I'm a reasonable approximation of straight. Many of them have gone on to interesting jobs, training in massage therapy, theatre, or what have you. I'm a fairly mundane engineer. A lot of my friends are in theatre. I'm involved, but backstage out of the light, not acting, and I don't really fit in with those who do. I'm SF&F fan but am not a Fan; I've never been to a con. I game, but I don't get into it as far as a lot of my friends. I describe myself as a geek, but I am not a computer person by choice (they are tools, not toys), nor do I have any desire to become one. Simply put I am on the fringe of many interesting people and organizations, but I don't really fit in with any of them.
At the same time, I'm reasonably happy with who I am. While my beliefs are still developing, they satisfy my spiritual needs, that straight thing is pretty hard-wired (girls are just cuter), and I enjoy the engineering work (at least as much as anyone enjoys their job). I know my way around computers well enough, and my geekness lies in other areas (ask me about alternative space craft propulsion). I think its more that fringe thing thats bothering me. This last weekend one of my few friends in Richmond suggested I come to a Solstice festival with her (I know its a week off, I think they had private rituals the week before). I met a fair number of interesting people, but I didn't actually talk to anyone until late in the evening and I spent a lot of the day feeling like I didn't belong. Additionally, I worked a show a couple of weeks back and met several people, but once again I felt out of place.
I really don't know where I'm going with this. I guess the question has to become why do I associate with these various groups, if I myself don't fit in. The simple answer is because at least they are interesting. If I weren't associating with them, I'd be left with boring people like me. So I'm left with a problem, I don't enjoy hanging out with people like me, but I enjoy being a person like me, so where do I go from there?