I am older now and go to FNM (Friday Night Magic), mostly, for my son who got me back into it. There are a couple of regulars, one of which is a girl that remin

I am older now and go to FNM (Friday Night Magic), mostly, for my son who got me back into it. There are a couple of regulars, one of which is a girl that reminds me a lot of you and the other ladies in this article. When she is concentrating on her turn and play more of her tells come out as she focuses. I try to do two things 1.) Don't make small talk (unless they initiate with something specific) and 2.) Since we it is a card game and there is a pretense not to, I don't make eye contact. She actually talks /lot/ more of I do those two things. The guy in the group has a kind of opposite problem and rambles a lot but his train of thought is funny (genuinely funny/witty) to me and my son so w e don't mind. Our group is also (super male heavy) but very nice and in a more liberal area. It is a great to get out and be nerdy and give everyone a social thing where everyone has immediate common ground. Age 12-50. It really is cool. Not sure I had much of a point and I had already figured most of this out (we have a niece who is on the spectrum), but.. I didn't realize quite how deep it could go with the practice social things / mask. Being not so great at social things myself I just find it exhausting to do more normal social stuff, but I don't have to practice, I am just an introvert.