Eccentric

Eccentricity is often associated with genius, intellectual giftedness, or creativity. The individual's eccentric behavior is perceived to be the outward expression of his or her unique intelligence or creative impulse. In this vein, the eccentric's habits are incomprehensible not because they are illogical or the result of madness, but because they stem from a mind so original that it cannot be conformed to societal norms. English Utilitarian thinker John Stuart Mill wrote that "the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour, and moral courage which it contained", and mourned a lack of eccentricity as "the chief danger of the time". Edith Sitwell wrote that eccentricity is "often a kind of innocent pride", also saying that geniuses and aristocrats are called eccentrics because "they are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd."

Wikipedia has a list of the Characteristics of an Eccentric (of course with sources). Lets take a look at my life and see if I am eccentric.

Nonconforming attitude: Check,  Alix and I decided we were married because we made a promise to each other bought and exchanged rings. It was years before we acquired legal documents or had a ceremony. The problem with a conforming attitude is, no thought goes into most of your actions, people do things a particular way because everyone does it that way. But I think about what I want and how things really are, and then base my decisions on that.

Creative: Check, http://cl0ckw0rked.deviantart.com/

Intense curiosity: Check, hard to give a single example to pinpoint this one... but if I am not being creative, I am probably investigating Corvid intelligence or trying to understand what it means for a colony of bees to be a super organism or trying to wrap my head around quantum physics or attempting to understand cellular biology or learning about electronics so a can build my own wrist watch or dabbling in a new programing language... etc etc etc.

Idealistic: Check, At least I have been told this on many occasions. If your not pursuing an ideal then you've given up already, why bother doing anything.

Happy obsession with a hobby or hobbies: Check, http://8bit.neverdaunt.com/

Known very early in his or her childhood they were different from others: Check, Was it the wandering around our neighborhood with a home made ghost detector or spending every recess huddled over my time machine plans that tipped me off? No, it was going over to my friends house and seeing their Lego collection, all assembled and displayed in the shelf... that's when i knew everyone else was crazy, why would anyone build what was in the prepackaged instructions???!?!?!

Highly intelligent: Check, http://8bit.neverdaunt.com/

Opinionated and outspoken: Check, http://aionsreason.blogspot.com/


Unusual living or eating habits: Check and Check, our house is setup in a form follows function kind of manor. beyond that I have been planning the purchase of an Island with a group of friends in less then 2 years. As far as eating goes, I hate food (but that's a whole blog entry of its own).

Not interested in the opinions or company of others: Check, my brother when introducing me to friends used to say "This is my brother Calvin, he's anti-social" be cause that was the quickest way to inform them as to why I wouldn't be talking to them much, asking them the normal questions that people do when they meet each other... because I don't really care about their opinion of the weather lately.

Mischievous sense of humor: Check, http://8bit.neverdaunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1379

Single: very not check... I think this is because its rare for an eccentric to meet and fall in love with another eccentric... win.

Usually the eldest or an only child: Check