So, here is the list of the things that I'm most passionate about (all with equal weight):
* Application Security
* Black and White fine art photography with an emphasis on people
* western furniture from 1910-1965
* The women's fashion industry between 1990-2000
* 20th Century Russian literature
* Syncopation in drumming
My girlfriend has absolutely zero interest in any of those. Sometimes she'll patronize me when I start going off on a tangent about one of them, but more often than not, she'll stop me and say "elevator" which is her code to let me know to just give her the highlight of what I'm talking about.
If I were compiling a list of qualities for an ideal relationship partner, I might include any or all of those as things I'd like them to share an interest in. It would seem to be beneficial to be with someone with similar interests.
I've known people who share similar interests. I don't quite think there's another person who shares all of my passions, but with the exception of application security (for what it's worth, I've yet to have a relationship with someone else who likes busting applications), I've been with people who are also passionate about those things. There's been no appreciable difference in how those relationships have turned out.
The one thing which I do think is of the utmost importance, is for your relationship partner to understand "passion", regardless of what your passion is in.
My girlfriend is a writer. She understands that when I'm sitting at my computer for long periods of time swearing about session id's and verbose error messages I'm in a similar state to how she gets when she's sitting in front of her computer writing.
She loves how excited I get when I storm out of my office into the kitchen and tell her "They're totally fucked, I can take money from other people's accounts." If I start to regale her with the method I've used to perform such an activity; she gives me the look, and I stop. But she gets why I'm excited.
So I'm not going to go so far as to say that it'd be a bad thing to be in a relationship with someone who shares the same passions as you, but I will say I think the key is finding someone with passion about anything. Someone who will give you support when you're spinning your wheels, or can't quite figure out how to do what you want to do. Those people are keepers.
* Application Security
* Black and White fine art photography with an emphasis on people
* western furniture from 1910-1965
* The women's fashion industry between 1990-2000
* 20th Century Russian literature
* Syncopation in drumming
My girlfriend has absolutely zero interest in any of those. Sometimes she'll patronize me when I start going off on a tangent about one of them, but more often than not, she'll stop me and say "elevator" which is her code to let me know to just give her the highlight of what I'm talking about.
If I were compiling a list of qualities for an ideal relationship partner, I might include any or all of those as things I'd like them to share an interest in. It would seem to be beneficial to be with someone with similar interests.
I've known people who share similar interests. I don't quite think there's another person who shares all of my passions, but with the exception of application security (for what it's worth, I've yet to have a relationship with someone else who likes busting applications), I've been with people who are also passionate about those things. There's been no appreciable difference in how those relationships have turned out.
The one thing which I do think is of the utmost importance, is for your relationship partner to understand "passion", regardless of what your passion is in.
My girlfriend is a writer. She understands that when I'm sitting at my computer for long periods of time swearing about session id's and verbose error messages I'm in a similar state to how she gets when she's sitting in front of her computer writing.
She loves how excited I get when I storm out of my office into the kitchen and tell her "They're totally fucked, I can take money from other people's accounts." If I start to regale her with the method I've used to perform such an activity; she gives me the look, and I stop. But she gets why I'm excited.
So I'm not going to go so far as to say that it'd be a bad thing to be in a relationship with someone who shares the same passions as you, but I will say I think the key is finding someone with passion about anything. Someone who will give you support when you're spinning your wheels, or can't quite figure out how to do what you want to do. Those people are keepers.