we both like soup. here's another "two types of people in this world" theory. type one: people trying to stand out. type two: people trying to get in. brilliant. absolutely brilliant. i marvel at the way i can simplify the complexity of the world sometimes. "we could just not talk or talk forever, and still find things to not talk about."



i think that the foundation for most people starts from a base of either fitting in or feeling left out. this to me defines all. this conclusion is somewhat of a bold assertation for pre-nine am but i'll go with it for now. in america -- bastion of individuality and birthplace of the cowboy -- i think most people are conditioned to want to be type one's. "i want to be unique, i want to be special, i want to stand out. look at me look, at me." in my opinion, most asian cultures are quite the opposite. as most asian-americans know, parents are constantly berating, and shaking their heads, at their americanized children for "why you have to look/act/be different?" i think an extreme of this type of type two tradition can be seen in japan, where the older generation is all about conformity. actually, the whole matrix flash mob thing just got infinitely more amusing. japanese automatons dressed up as identical agent smith's. okay, maybe only amusing to me.



anyway. i've been thinking all morning about who tries to be in and who tries to be out. real life examples for my revolutionary idea. and i have reached some stunning conclusions. everybody does both. the great answer to every question in the world? both. are you an introvert or an extrovert? both. are you secure or insecure? both. is there a god? both. where do you want to eat? both. did you pee pee or poopy? both. fuck the both's. make a decision.



now in order to facilitate typecasting yourself into one of my two categories, i want to make some things clear. trying to stand out is not invalidating the fact that we are all still snowflakes. everyone is different, everybody's unique, every single one of us is special, every life is precious, mommy and daddy love you very much just the way you are, yes. but aside from the individual traits that we may exhibit, are you clamoring to be beyond a snowflake? do you want to rise up and stand out? you might be a type one.



on the b-side, a type two is not a person who conforms automatically or on purpose. type two's are not bland boring people. they just happen to value being with the group more than they do being individual. this is not a value judgement, just a public service announcement. type two's feel left out or "different" and want to achieve sort of inclusion. and/or they are big believers in the powers of social clumping. an army of one they are not. but this is not a bad thing, even though i think i'm (unfairly) presenting it as such. people who want to be in just want to be in for whatever reason. but don't jump to conclusions, even though type twos may seem like herd animals, they are not lemmings running off to their doom.



fundamental problems encountered by both types. while there is a wide spectrum of both types, oftentimes, type ones feel the fear of not being "quite special enough" while type twos quite often feel "different" even when they are already in. i've done it again, reduced a world of grays to arbitrary black and whites. i'm going to spend the rest of my day categorizing everybody. i mean, sure i have a job and work to do but is my responsibility to my blog or to my cash producing employer? blog obviously.



it occurs to me that the easiest way to talk about type ones and type twos is to refer to them as "outties" and "innies." much like belly buttons. apparently however, some people have both an innie and an outtie (hi james), and that would just screw everything all up. so for the purposes of my life, there are only outties and innies, not james'.