I love the hell out of you crazy weird bastards. I have one cousin who is INTP and he's my favorite person in the world. He's actually a bit more extroverted due to age and life's circumstances, and he's got creativity seeping out of every pore. We're probably the only people that can keep up with each other. Ideas fly and bounce all over the place when we are together. He shuts my hair brained schemes down with a quickness, detailing exactly how I will fail, but with such a fierceness and intensity that all I can do is laugh laugh laugh. He's got charm for days.
He suffers from a severe addiction, but when he is sober (currently 2+ years, yay!!!!), there is no one on the planet I'd rather be with. He knows instantly how to charmingly defuse situations that I find myself in. He's extremely, painfully self-aware - which led him down that dark path to begin with - but he's also very talented, smart and cunning. He's knows the ins and outs of everything. Growing up, all of us kids always said he's the only one we feel comfortable with being lost in the woods or stranded on an island. He can get out of any situation. I remember very clearly how he got us out of being robbed at gunpoint, using his charm. He's always 2 steps ahead of me, mentally. I guess because I'm so busy talking that I don't always pay attention... He can also maneuver and charm his way into any situation. Like a silent grim reaper. But he is his own worst enemy.
When he wasn't sober, he used his powers for evil, creating all kinds of innovative situations to get money to feed the beast. I hated it, but also secretly admired his genius.
As kids, we used to come up with all the craziest schemes, and I was always the one forcing them to come to fruition when he'd be most comfortable in the sketching it out phase. He sees things I can't imagine and I bring his ideas to the next level, which hypes him up even more. It's really the coolest feeling when we are together. He's the only one who 'gets' me and always finds humor in the same things that I do, once I point it out what's actually funny.
Once I get on a roll with a new passion, he always slows me down and makes me learn about it step by step before I hurt myself. I feel like he's always teaching me something, and for that I am eternally grateful... He taught me how to drive when he was 13 and I was 11 - but even more important, he taught me how sneak the car in and out undetected. He taught me the mechanics of painting, photography and tennis, and all the secret tips he learned from intense observation.
I know quite a few INTPs and they are all so damn awesome. Even though you guys are full of self-doubt, I have the ultimate faith in you and your abilities.
It's funny, most INTPs I know can't shut up around me. As much as I need my downtime, they seem to cling to me and never give me a moment to myself. In a way, I kinda like that. You guys rock.