Odd isn’t it? I love giving surprises to other people but I really can’t stand surprises myself.

So what brought this on? Well recently a small group of friends and I put our heads together to plan out a surprise party for another friend who needed a bit of a boost.

Without going into details said friend had gone through a difficult time in their life and is slowly going into an upswing. We wanted to give said friend an additional boost in this upswing in hopes that he didn’t lose the momentum prior to this difficult time.

They were surprised, happy, and humbled (their words all changed around) with what was given to them and it gave all involved a warm, fuzzy feeling inside to know that we have done a good deed…

But naturally I started thinking: “If someone were to throw me a surprise party of some sort how would I react?”

Every time I asked myself this question I always come up with the same answer:

Poorly… very very poorly.

There are times that I don’t mind being the center of attention (I blame that peacocking rooster in me) but there are other times that I prefer pulling the strings behind the scenes (blame that supporting Virgo side of me).

It was easier for said friend who was the focus of the surprise party… they had/has a strong support system within the group (as evidence by the support)… they also have other groups of friends here and there but for the most part a vast number come from a singular group.

As for myself… I have several strong groups of friends that I go to for different things and for different reasons. I have two different groups of friends from college that I hang out with when I need a centering point away from the drama that is theatre (and all the players involved), one that I focus more than the other when I need people to understand the potential drama without actually being a part of it.

Then I have two different groups of theatre related friends with whom I interact with regularly and we share a vast number of interests…

Add in a strong group of friends from the online world that I have known for years and we continue to interact and game with online and meet up at conventions… plus I have umpteen number of straggler friends with whom I interact with in some capacity or another.

Surprise parties won’t work with me because I already have differing outlets to use when I need them for differing reasons. So when one group throws a party for me… it may not be with the group I personally would want to interact with at that moment (or series of moments) in time.

Why should I? =P

The day that all these varying groups of people would meet at the same place at the same time could be interesting to see, because I do compartmentalize my life in such a way that there are strict divisions between varying groups of people that the chances of crossover (though it has happened) tend to be rather low.

But that’s just me.