User blog comment:Edwin Shade/Interesting Things I Can Do/@comment-34434829-20180122204314

Here's a priceless piece of advice:

If you want to really and genuinely blend in, just be yourself. Stop trying so hard to "impress" people with phoney masks. Those whose respect require this kind of madness from you, are not worthy of your effort in the first place.

Real friends will respect you for what you really are. Trying to impress the supposedly "cool" (a.k.a terminally stupid and cruel) kids is a no-win scenario. The only way to succeed in that is to sell your soul, and this can hardly be called "blending in", can it?

You can start applying this advice here. We all have certain things in common. We all come here due to our fascination with both math and big numbers. So go ahead and proudly be "that math guy"! I've been lurking here for quite some time and you know what I see? I see a person with a good heart, a desire to be honest, and a drive to improve himself. You're also a pretty talented googologist.

And *that*, my friend, is cool. So you see? You're already a cool guy. At least, you are cool when you're being yourself. OTOH when you try to "build your reputation", it looks awfully pathetic, mainly because it is so obvious that IT ISN'T REALLY YOU. It's really so obvious that it hurts.

And here's another priceless piece of advice:

Stop trying to become "normal". Normal is both terrible cruel and unbearably boring. Do you really want to be like these pathetic self-proclaimed "cool" guys who make fun of good people and hate math?