This analogy is for my own interpersonal dynamic with people that are similar to me. There are lots of examples, but one good one was a boy that we will refer to as T39O. I had some friends that were friends with T39O, they thought to themselves, Lucia and T39O are very similar and this could really work out. When we got together it was true, in a group of people we were very similar, BUT, it could never work out because we cancelled each other out! neither could be as funny/entertaining in the presence of the other.
Think of this as each person has a wave. This wave has:
an amplitude (how high on the graph it goes, or how much displacement it has - in real life I think of this as the dynamicism that someone has to their personality, but dynamicism is how I define my personality versus others, you may have another displacement equivalent)
a wavelength (the distance between two sequencial points or bottoms (crests or troughs, but I don't want to confuse you)) - my personality equivalent of this is just the "get it" quality of you - so I move at a certain pace, I find certain jokes funny, I tell jokes/stories this way, I am sarcastic and cynical, etc.
a period and a frequency, this is the time factor, but I am not including the time component in this analogy as it is already difficult enough for the mathematically challenged. We will use a standing sinusoidal wave to make things easier.
In the above graph, the red and green waves have the same amplitude, but their wavelength is different. These two people would not get along.
So, the way that I think about this is - every person has their own wave. It has a distinct wavelength and an amplitude. I assume that the majority of people I meet have a completely different wavelength and most have a different amplitude (usually lower) than me.
When you do finally find someone with a similar amplitude and a similar wavelength, you have to test it out. Because, if you overlap two waves with their wavelength is off by 1/2 of one wavelength, they cancel each other out!
Below is the graphical image of what happened between me and T39O. (note, for the image effect, I made the grey line a little higher than it probably should be, as the amplitudes cancel each other out- basically, not to scale.)
Sometimes, the waves come together and amplify each other (note in real life if they lined up exactly the amplitudes would add together, so this one isn't to scale either) - in the below graph is what I imagine happens with me (black line) and my friend Todd (blue line), we get more amplified (red line). - also notice that Todd is a bit "off", I like to think that I bring him a bit more towards the normal than he pulls me to the "off". 
of course, this is all just a theory, but it does give me a graphical way to think of relationships.
7 comments:
What program did you use to do that fancy schmancy graphing?
you just made me think way too much while I'm here at work.
You and T's wavelength and frequency are exactly the same - you just have different starting points (is that why you need to add period to this discussion?).
Also, I'm not sure you cancel each other out. According to your graph, you are opposite amplitudes (you positive while he negative) which would indicate that while you are really happy, he is really sad, which probably makes for an incredibly dramatic gathering - but, when you are boring (zero), so is he. It's like you are bipolar when together. I can see how that wouldn't work out.
crap. Loud, I tried to dumb this analogy down a bit for the blog masses. Then your comment makes it seem like I didn't take these things into consideration. Which I did... we can chat in person.
fancy schmancy graphing done by hand in paint!
[insert cheesy line about making beautiful music with that perfect someone]
sorry, i couldn't help it. I liked this post alot - rekindeled the love of my inner nerd. Same nerd that comes out at theme parks and tries to figure out how the rides work without killing us - my sister especially hates that nerd.
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