I used to feel like the OP in my teens and early twenties, and then put conscious effort into learning how to listen and talk to people. As I grow older, I am able to find deep intellectual stimulation talking to almost anybody, the prerequisite being that there is some kind of quieter spot at the party itself to allow for conversation.
The "trick" I use to get to that point is to always steer the conversation so that I can learn something new with the next question I am asking, and let the conversation flow from there. Even with people who don't have any deep intellectual pursuits, don't read books, they have lived, come from somewhere, have family, kids, have experiences you didn't have, all of which are surely deep enough to keep your interest for 15 minutes.
It's hard to give much more input without knowing the kind of parties the author is attending in the first place. Living in a bigger US city, almost every event I've been going to (which I'm going to call "parties for nerds"), I feel like the ruffian while people discussing science, art, politics, and I can have a grand time just sitting there and not interacting at all, just taking it in.
And it might totally be the case that the author just doesn't like being around people, but framing it through the lense of intellect is missing out on the richness of people out there.
The "trick" I use to get to that point is to always steer the conversation so that I can learn something new with the next question I am asking, and let the conversation flow from there. Even with people who don't have any deep intellectual pursuits, don't read books, they have lived, come from somewhere, have family, kids, have experiences you didn't have, all of which are surely deep enough to keep your interest for 15 minutes.
It's hard to give much more input without knowing the kind of parties the author is attending in the first place. Living in a bigger US city, almost every event I've been going to (which I'm going to call "parties for nerds"), I feel like the ruffian while people discussing science, art, politics, and I can have a grand time just sitting there and not interacting at all, just taking it in.
And it might totally be the case that the author just doesn't like being around people, but framing it through the lense of intellect is missing out on the richness of people out there.