LD

In my dealings with you here I never thought of you any way as "immature." It's not something that ever crossed my mind until you brought it up now.

However I have found that some people think maturity (dealing with things responsibly, making good decisions, supporting oneself, etc.) somehow ALSO means that thing like having fun, enjoying the things we did in childhood, etc, must be given up when someone reaches "adulthood". A lot of times (not all) people like this are very "serious" and unhappy in their own lives, and anyone they see pursuing fun and happy things they declare as "immature" out of jealousy. I'm 42, I have a stuffed dog, ride rollercoasters like a kid (indeed many times I act like a kid when I am out having fun) and have a houseful of toys (not just star wars toys, which some people write off as "collectables" of course they don't see when I take them out of the box and play with them ). Heck, of me, and the one with ed koch <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.idexter.com/click-and-tell/fanforce/index.html>here (near the bottom), both of them photos of me out in public wearing my yoda hat were taken when I was 37 years old. Not exactly the image of adult responsibility . But I also (normally) hold an impressive job, live on my own, make mature decisions, etc.

IOW many people think "maturity" and "childlike behavior" (or even simply having any sort of fun) are mutually exclusive. I believe the opposite... to me people who deny themselves the joy of life are simply "acting mature" rather than being mature. Does the phrase "act your age" come to mind? I'll act like ME thankyouverymuch.

Certainly people outgrow things from their childhood, but that is not the same as pushing aside things from their childhood, which I believe is a very bad thing to do.

So is it possible that these people are reacting to your style and hobbies, your love of dragons for example, and labeling you as "immature" because they "don't aprove" or in their minds believe it is something you should have "grown out of?" If so I wouldn't worry about it ONE BIT. That has no reflection at all as to how you take care of yourself and and others, and most importantly the priorities you have in life. I think having fun is an important priority too BTW as long as it is not your only priority.

There is also an issue of knowing when behavior is appropriate. I was singing the Spiderman theme song while in the shower this morning, and it brought back memories of waiting in lines for rollercoasters with my friends and doing stuff like that to pass the time. No doubt to some others that might have seemed like childish behavior. I would want to know who put the stick up their, well, you know where... at a theme park for gosh sake! What better place to act like a child!

But we certainly wouldn't be singing the spiderman theme song at a place like... ok I can't think of a place where we wouldn't (or didn't) do that but you get the point. Not knowing when certain behavior is inappropriate might be a sign of immaturity, but childish behaviour itself is not immaturity. And Lady D, from your responses here on topics that are fun and topics that are very serious in nature I can't imagine that being a problem with you IRL.

You know more about how you behave around people in the 3-D world but I would at least like you to consider the very real possibility that the person who said this has a very misguided sense of what immaturity is. Is is someone you know well? Don't forget that people also tend to make judgements very quickly and if they saw you having some fun once that might have put the "immaturity" bug in their head.

Also please see my reply to Septmorn
-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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