the great touring jam bands provided a wonderful environment to meet new people in back in the 90's. the parking lots of grateful dead and phish concerts were chock full of society's misfits, many of them well-read and witty (some of them not-so-much). It was not introverted at all - there were so many outgoing, lively, and fun people.

i think many of you are more outgoing than you give yourself credit for. you just live in a world where you don't want to mingle with the inhabitants, and i think that might even reflect a skewed view of the outside world. i'm pretty far left and i still have fun in bars in little ranch towns in the western states. most of those people are more fun than your average morose, urban-dwelling shoe gazer.