Lots of questions were asked. Thank you all.

As promised, here are my answers. I’ve divided these up, and have been posting them over the course of a few days. The first three were answered here, the second three here, and the third three here. The next question gets an entry to itself as my answer is rather lengthy.

What is your feeling on community (good/bad/indifferent) and are you communal by nature? In other words, what groups that you (technically) belong to do you identify with if any at all? Tattoo artists/technicians? Gay men? Couples (gay or straight)? Men? Bloggers? People from Arkansas? Models? *wink* Other?

I don’t feel I am communal by nature. I’ve felt—and have been—very solitary most of my life. I sometimes envy those I see who have the seemingly natural ability to fit into a group, as well as those who can bring people together into groups.

As far as the groups you mentioned, the ones I *should* technically belong to:

I never “felt” like a computer technician, even back when I was one. Sure I had the knowledge and experience, but many of the techs I knew were of the stereotypical breed one comes to expect when they think “computer geeks”. And I never fit into that mold most of the time.

And up to this point I have definitely never identified as a tattooist, at least compared to tattooists that I know. There seems to be either a laissez-faire attitude or a rockstar mentally that seems prevalent with many in the body modification business, and I don’t feel like I fit into either of those groups. I’m still an “infant” in this industry, and definitely a late bloomer compared to most. Maybe that will change one day. But I doubt it.

Gay men? For the most part, I suppose so. I like men. That’s the easy part. As far as the feeling like I belong to a group, not so much.

Couples, yes. All the “stuff” all couples have to deal with: finances and budgets, the future, sickness and health, etc. When it comes to being partnered with anyone, the same issues exist regardless of the sex of either partner.

Men. I identify as one because I have a penis. But I think absolutely everything else outside of that is conditioned by our society into what is acceptable for or expected of men versus women.

Bloggers. I guess this is probably the community I self-identify with most out of those you mentioned. However, I continually struggle to produce content. Although I guess commenting on others blogs still makes me part of the community.

People from Arkansas. I live here, own property here, pay state taxes here, am registered to vote here, own businesses here. Sadly, with most of what makes it into the news as “people from Arkansas”, I definitely don’t identify.

Models? Bad role models, yes. I totally identify with that group!

As for other groups? I used to identify with being a Boy Scout and an Eagle Scout, but that was a long time ago in another life; Tweeps: There are a lot of people on Twitter that I consider a group, or groups actually. There’s probably other groups out there that I used to identify with, but I’ve since forgotten.