Never once in my entire life have I ever been called "bubbly." There was a time that I would have gladly given a kidney and a couple of incisors to have been called that, especially in eighth grade. How I pined to be considered bubbly, and have a name like Trixie or Stacy. Instead I was called "nice" or " even worse, "sweet." And, well, there was the whole Mary thing.
But the time for wanting to be anyone but who I am has passed. Like denim jeans at just the right stage of aging, my seat is perfectly broken in, and I am content in the weathered, and faded familiarity of me. Okay, most of the time? This is nearly all true.
On occasion, though, some particular course of action will give me a nudge, or sharp poke in the plexus and I'll think-- "Ah, if only I could be bubbly and brave for even just a day." So, in the interest of diversity and personal growth, I've decided to come up with a list of all the things that I would like to do-- if only, and just in case, I wake on one morning with a raging case of Reese Weatherspoon Syndrome (ala Legally Blonde).
EXTRAVERT FOR A DAY SCHEDULE
8:00 a.m. Call my agent and ask her what she is having for breakfast.
8:30 a.m. Call editor. Tell her I want to bounce around some title ideas for my novel that is due to her in 48 hours. Ask her what she had for breakfast
9:00 a.m. Drop in on neighbor of sixteen years for coffee. Take AED (Automated External Defibrillator) in case she has a heart attack.
10:30 a.m. Attend a daylight yoga class. Put mat in actual row vs. corner.
NOON Invite three or four extremely talkative friends to have lunch with me. At the same time. At the same restaurant. Tell the waiter it's my birthday.
1:00 p.m. Go to Nordstrom's make-up counter and ask to try on new foundation. Take-off all my make-up first? You betcha. Ask all hands on deck for input on color choices. Request that the guy in the Shoe Department be brought over to weigh in on it.
2:00 p.m. Stop at a local bookstore that I don't normally frequent. Introduce myself as a local author. Make bubblelicious small talk. Drop off complimentary copy of my book if they don't have it. Offer to do a future event. Leave business card(s).
3:00 p.m. Got to Library. Repeat 2:00 p.m. activity in a slightlier shush-ier voice.
4:00 p.m. Call three people that I'm dying to interview for Shrinking Violets. Email only if number not available (Does anyone have Anne Lamott or Nathan Bransford's phone number? :^)
5:00 p.m. Call Robin. Ask her what she had for breakfast.
6:00 p.m. Take myself out to dinner alone at fave natural food restaurant. Sit at cool counter and chat up the VitaMix operator. Ask for samples of three or four desserts before making a choice.
7:30 p.m. Go bowling with friend Kate who has her own ball. And everything.
9:00 p.m. Take bubble bath. Call several friends from tub to discuss book promotion ideas.
10:00 p.m. Charge AED for personal use. Just in case.
How about you? What would do as a extravert for a day? We would love to hear! And, if you want to share what you've had for breakfast, apparently, I'm all ears.
Happy week, everyone!
Mary
20 comments:
I'm exhausted just reading this. I don't think I could manage a whole day! (she wails) -- I could do lunch with several extroverted writer friends; it's always okay to be around bubbly people if you have food, and can be chewing most of the time.
Um... I could do a bookstore visit and just sign all the books they had in a stack, sitting in the front window and allowing curious people to stare at me. I could visit the library and talk to the teen librarians and give them a copy of my book.
Then I would need to sit quietly somewhere, I think.
Lol! I love this blog, and this post!
Mary, if you ever do the 2pm and 3 pm thing, I'll go with you :) But I could never be an extravert for a day without a fellow closet introvert with me.
This is such a great question, and I giggled all the way through your day... amazing how what one person considers fun another considers horrifying. Anyhow, I have often thought, wouldn't it be cool if I was the kind of person who would actually ENJOY a surprise birthday party?? Imagine....
I am with Tanita, just imagining it exhausts me! Ask the shoe guy to weigh in on color choices and chatting up the vitamix guy: I'd love to see a YouTube of you doing that, and make sure you ask them what they had for breakfast. :)
Maybe I'm up to doing the library thing if for the rest of my day I can be holed up somewhere.
Funny thing is, if someone else were to set up an author's event: a talk, a presentation of some sort, I'd have no trouble doing that. But to approach someone at the bookstore to ask to do it: that will take a few years off my life, I think.
(word verification: blecd as in the sound I make after I have to call someone I don't know on the phone.)
LOL, that does sound exhausting. (Hi, I'm Nedra and I couldn't just lurk anymore after reading this post.) I appreciate seeing humor that's for people like me. However, I could manage one of the bubbly instances, like the library one, since I have a semi-decent repoir with area librarians.
Sounds positively exhausting. Plus if I did that, I think I would be red in the face and all tongue-tied. I am forever tongue-tied around people. I never know what to say to them!
Oh, and I'm one of those naughty people who doesn't usually eat breakfast. I might have cereal for lunch though, to make myself feel less guilty.
I'd walk down the street and smile at everyone and say HI. It makes people nervous to be smiled at by a person they don't know. :)
You make me laugh so hard.
I never wanted to be bubbly. Cute (as in small/petite cute--yes!)
Honestly, if I had a day as an extrovert, I'd give it to my husband. He's so patient with my: it's 8:00; aren't we all happy with our books on the couch entertainment attitude.
I'd hop on the back of the tandem (without worrying about how I looked in the bike shorts, etc) and go on a group ride with him and TALK to all the other riders. I'd stop at all the bikeshops with him and join in the conversataion about which part of everybody's skeletal system had been replaced with titanium. And I'd go out to dinner with him in the loudest, noisiest, most crowded restaurant he could find, and join in his joking and chatting with all the wait and bar staff. And the people at the next three tables. And then, when we were home, and it was 10:00, and he said, "So what are we going to do for fun tonight," I'd go out all over again!
It would take me until 3 p.m. to work myself up to that 8 a.m. phone call. Is there a way to be an extrovert for a day without using the telephone?
If I was going to be an extrovert for a day, I'd like it to be at a convention so I could actually network with other readers/writers/agents instead of feeling too shy to talk to anyone.
Do extroverts ever wonder what it's like to be an introvert for a day?
I'm just over the line between introversion and extraversion into extraversion--I'm the kind of person who gets fizzier the longer a conference goes on--and I have to stay that day would stun me into a coma. And when I came out of it, I would spend the next day in bed, reading, and pretending I'd never heard of e-mail or the telephone. Or other people.
There's actually a fundamental misconception that introverted means shy and don't do well with people. Introverts don't necessarily have a deficiency in social skills or a dislike of people, but they aren't charged up by social interactions. Extroverts are. I actually do really really well with people, can talk to virtually anyone, and most of the people who know me would probably call me an extrovert for it. But the clincher is that people wear me out. They don't recharge me. I need complete and total solitude and quiet for that.
Anyway, as an extrovert for the day, I would manage to give several scintillating public speeches without passing out from terror.
Oh, and it was hot tea, scrambled eggs, and toast. :D
What Tan said is exactly me!!! I might manage the bookstore visit, but giving a speech without passing out would be my ultimate challenge. Another idea for an extoverted day would be to interview several high-powered individuals, or gasp, groups of people.
Thanks, everyone--
Great to hear from some of our new tribe members. So interesting to hear what all of you might do as extraverts!
I can imagine this as a Reality TV show! Kind of like a Survivor for Introverts. How far could we be pushed into the limelight and for how many hours before we just imploded?
'^)
Mary
Hilarious! Thank you for bringing so much laughter into our lives. I don't know if you take requests, but can you write another extrovert's schedule next month? It's just that funny, and you're probably just scratching the surface.
Before I read this post I was mentally prepared to put my book down and run a few errands. But after reading that nightmare of a day, i think I'll just start the next chapter.
Eek, I'd need that AED before noon if I went at this pace. Hard to imagine thriving on all that extroverted activity!
Oh, and btw... gluten-free raisin toast and a banana. ;)
One of my favorite Violets posts ever!
I'm breaking out in a nervous sweat just reading this post!
If I were to be an extrovert for a day, I probably wouldn't even think to use my newfound skills for my writing. I'm sure my day would involve actually letting Starbucks know they messed up my order, instead of just drinking what they give me. And probably demanding one or two extra ranch sauces with my McDonald's value meal, instead of trying to make it through three strips of chicken and a medium fry on just one sauce. Because, the truth is, my introverted self would much rather drink someone else's latte or eat two out of three pieces of chicken dry than speak up about it!
Here's my question, though: If your extroverted day is so action-packed, when are you ever going to find the time to write?
Wow, am I glad I stumbled across this blog!
I appreciate your efforts in writing such a wonderful post...Thanks for sharing...Please check my links for
Call girl services in Jaipur
Call girl services in Jaipur
Call girl services in Jaipur
Call girl services in Delhi
Call girl services in Guwahati
Call girl services in Guwahati
Call girl services in Guwahati
Call girl services in Guwahati
Call girl services in Aerocity
Call girl services in Lucknow
Post a Comment