Revelations

Not the impressive, earth-shattering variety, though.

So for some reason early this morning instead of letting me sleep my brain wanted to be awake and active and thinking about entirely unimportant matters. Thanks, brain. What were these unimportant matters? What it is, exactly, that draws me to people. What most often generates interest in another human being and makes me wish I were their friend?

Two things:

They need to be smart.
They need to be a smartass.

I'm married to someone that fits this description. A large chunk of my family fits this description (ALL of my siblings fit this description). Many of the friends I've had over the years fit this description. My favorite forum posters and bloggers generally fit this description. Heidi, Professor Hale, Res Ipsa, JQP, Vidad, etc. etc. are all very different people, with very different writing styles, but they all share the traits of being smart and a smartass. (Even if they don't tend to apply these labels to themselves!) Even Wes, whose writing somehow makes me think of an elderly Southern lawyer, fits this description! Now, I do have a few people whose company I enjoy, or whose blog I like to read, that I wouldn't really apply the description of smartass to, but they are definitely in the minority.