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March 08, 2008
Make New Friends, But Keep the Old
Despite the overwhelming urge to stay tucked under my duvet and avoid the world, I've been making a concerted effort to get out and about. My social skills are slipping, but thankfully fortune has intervened to find me a variety of activities to enjoy.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the 8th Annual Karaoke To The Death, an amusing-and-yet-highly-competitive night of bad singing with my friend Ms. Secret Blog, who was fresh back from a honeymoon with Her Boy. While I declined to sing in this year's competition, I did get hit on by a strange guy (I'm talking to you, Mr. Executive Detailer of the Treasury) who was being mauled by a cougar at the same time he was chatting me up. I kept his card (I refused to give him mine) so if there are any ladies out there who want a fun night, let me know and I'm happy to pass his contact information along.
Last weekend I spent time with old friends at a girls slumber party, in which three bad movies were viewed (Blue Crush, Waitress, and 10 Things I Hate About You), taco salad was eaten, Scrabble was played, and the latest we managed to stay up was 1:30 a.m. I can neither confirm nor deny that pillow fights in our panties took place, but I am not ashamed to say that the table full of alcoholic beverages remained largely untouched--as "Drunk Jen" decided to take a hiatus in order to ensure sobriety for her lunch date the next day.
Earlier this week I went to dinner with a friend-of-a-colleague-of-a-friend/colleague, which made for a very strange meeting. We totally hit it off (in a platonic-single-girl-friends way), but it took us a long time to figure out how exactly we were connected to each other. "Oh, so you went to school with C, who now works at X company, which just hired K, who I taught English with in Japan." Lucky for me, she is a social butterfly and has invited me to tag along with her friends to see a Swedish indie-pop band tonight, after which we will partake in Vietnamese food and then wrap up the night with salsa dancing. A veritable smorgasboard of culture, no?
Last night I was invited to an honest-to-god dinner party. Now, I've heard rumors about people who can pull together groups of disparate strangers and--with the help of a few bottles of wine and some paella--turn them all into new friends, but frankly I thought it was an urban myth. Not so! Even though I barely knew the couple throwing the party, I had a lovely time. Driving home afterwards, my cheeks ached with laughter and my bag bulged with new phone numbers. I stand in awe of the entire process.
But that's not all! Next week I'll be in New York for a conference, where I'm going to meet up with a friend of one of my Big Idea interns. Apparently, this girl runs her own Big Idea (although not related to *my* Big Idea) and so we should have plenty to talk about. Frankly, it will be nice to have dinner plans during one of my travel weeks--usually I just crawl into my pajamas and get room service--although considering what I'm paying for my hotel room in the financial district, I might be better off snacking on cheese and crackers. Or selling myself on the streets to make a little extra cash. Gotta pay the bills...
Comments
Yeah, that was the baddest business card I've seen whipped out by a guy who was more than a little inebriated. Way to go!
Posted by: Elizabeth at March 8, 2008 05:58 PM
