Reddit mentions of Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types

Seems like you're doing fine to me (But, then again, this is only chatting over the internet.)

Have you ever taken your Meyer's Briggs personality type?
In many ways, you sound like the an extreme version of the ST personality type.
If I had to guess, I'm thinking you'd test as an ISTJ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISTJ - Strong ST personality types often times come across as Spock like and have trouble relating to the rest of the world. In particular, their exact opposite types the NF types that are motivated and think based off of emotion, feelings and intuitions. If you're interested in understanding the more emotional aspects of peoples lives, you might this an invaluable system for understanding how they think. A good starter book is: http://www.amazon.com/Please-Understand-Me-Character-Temperament/dp/0960695400/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256423804&sr=8-4

For me it's kind of an awkard feeling in the air. Sometimes when I go to parties and there are good friends there I can be the life of the party, and sometimes it's just too much for me and like you said everyone thinks I'm having a bad time. The other thing is that we don't need to be expressing that we are having a good time. I get asked a lot if I'm ok and I just say yeah I'm good. Most people think I'm just being polite and that I am not really having a good time. The hardest thing is explaining to extroverts that you want to be alone. They just don't get it. To them it's an insult. It is really hard to explain to them that it's not that I don't want to be with you, it's that I don't want to be with anybody right now. They take it personally. One thing that can help a lot is to schedule alone time periods in your schedule. Than when someone asks if you want to do something you can say, I'm busy right now but if you wait a half an hour I can. This will give you time to recharge and they will just think you are busy doing something. The truth is you are busy doing something, they just won't usually understand that you are accomplishing something by being alone. If you turn it into a task than you will be able to have your time undisturbed without hurting anybodies feelings. For those that are really close to you, tell them that is what you are doing and how important it is that you do that and give them some study materials about introverts (think meter Briggs type stuff). Once they see that this is real and that you are different, they will for the most part be really supportive and will even shield you from other people trying to disturb that time. If they can't be supportive (I have run into this, Topic of another discussion.) than they will probably exit your life anyway. The last thing that I would highly recommend is to find little introvert sanctuaries in the places that you are commonly at. Little hiding holes that you can retire to when things get to be too much. So if you are going to school find a stairwell or the end of a hallway that doesn't get much traffic. If you work just find a place you can go where people don't normally hang out. Sometimes just ten minutes will make all the difference. I just read an article about a woman that was setting these up at her work. She was painting places like this nicely so that when she needed to she could go "hide" and recharge in a pleasant environment. I thought that was pretty cool. In a pinch I've even hid in a bathroom stall for a bit. I know it seems embarrassing, but it got the Job done. Have you taken a Meyer Briggs type personality test? This will help you a lot to understand what you need and how to utilize your personality better. For instance I am an INTJ. This tells me what I will most likely exceed at, and how I approach problems and such. It also tells me how I am likely to react with other personality types. This info is gold for people like us. For a long time I really thought I was weird and didn't understand why I was different. I wanted friends and such I just didn't fit into groups and such. It was because of who I am. One wouldn't fault Eli Manning for being genetically gifted at throwing a football, but they sure faulted me for being genetically gifted at taking tests. I use to hide this info. I wouldn't do my homework and such so it looked like I was average. (I didn't really want to do that silly stuff anyways.) Now I embrace it. Am I smart heck yeah I am. You need me to figure out how to do the stuff you can't do...That will be 40$ an hour. Why should I be ashamed that I'm good at something. It's not Arrogance, it's talent. So if you haven't taken a personality exam than go take one. Let me know what you come up with. Look into the different personality types.
http://www.amazon.com/Please-Understand-Me-Character-Temperament/dp/0960695400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330685269&sr=8-1
here is a great book that will get you started. When you are done reading it then you can pass it on to your loved ones and it might help them understand you better. Sorry this turned into a novel, but I know all too well how it is to feel like an outcast just because you look at things differently than most people. If I can help someone learn what I've learned quicker than I have than I can feel like I've accomplished something.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND ME is a great first read. Primarily the product of an INTP, with an INTJ co-author making the contents less opaque and more concise.

https://www.amazon.com/Please-Understand-Me-Character-Temperament/dp/0960695400

I think the book, "Please Understand Me", by Keirsey and Bates, has a section that talks about pairings. It's been a while since I looked at it, though.

To over-generalize a bit, the test and its types are outgrowths of Carl Jung's work. And I think Jung would have suggested that opposites attract. That's not to say that an INTP would necessarily be strongly drawn to an ESFJ. Just that we seek what's missing from ourselves, and so to some extent we have attractions to those things in others. Again, probably a serious over-generalization. But notice how you are attracted to "I"s and "J"s in both profiles, and "T"s in another. The INTJ is almost your exact opposite.

You don't need a plethora of different partners, although that can sometimes help you to gain more perspective. All you need to do is educate yourself on the ways people tick.

You need this book. 75% of the world is extroverted, so that leaves the rest of us a bit misunderstood. Most people simply don't have a reason to try to reach out to the people who seem to want to be left alone, but being different than what most of them experience just means they don't understand your temperament.

I'm range situationally from an INTP to an INTX, which for a guy makes me statistically one of the rarest character types out there. I'm certainly not bragging, just pointing out I know how you feel. INTP = Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving (X = cross between Perceiving and Feeling). If you don't buy the book, at least read up about Myers-Briggs personality types.

PS: I'll bet you're plenty boisterous around friends you've known for a long time.