Surviving just fine in 2016

3:36pm

So, the party happened. Looks like my introverted self can actually attend a party and not die from small talk. ;)

Work got busy in the afternoon. Actually we were busy all day. The last appointment was a long one, but I’d booked extra time in advance. They left a bit after 4 and we rushed to put everything away and shut down so we could leave before 5. We technically close at 5pm but church starts at the same time and so we ditch out a few minutes early [if it’s not busy] to get there before it starts. It was nice to be able to leave early enough to not actually be running up to the door after they’ve already begun.

So we did that whole thing, it being Palm Sunday and all. Then we came by the house. We still needed to put the gifts together and decided to drop off all of our stuff. I took advantage of the time at the house to kind of hit the reset button. Like I washed my face and changed my jacket and all that good stuff. I wasn’t really sure who I’d be running into. We also put together JR’s joke gift and repackaged the legitimate gift.

I was nervous. Not like intensely so, but I hate walking into something that has so many unknown factors. It’s why I mostly stick to routine and hang out with the same people all the time. I know what to expect with them. Plus, young people scare me! Like young people my age. I don’t know why I’ve never really figured out how to hang out with them. I don’t know what to talk about. Especially with the girls!

Anyway, we drove out to his parents house. We contemplated going to the casino instead. Mom suggested she’d go inside to play and I could enjoy the bottle of whiskey I bought for JR. haha! But then we realized we only had 30 bucks between the two of us and it was too far of a drive. =P
As soon as we rounded the corner we realized there were already a ton of people there. The street was covered in cars. All up and down the sides of the road. We passed by a whole bunch of people that were causing raucous behind a row of cars and ended up parking down the street.

We avoided the giant crowd out front and walked towards the house. JR crossed the road in front of us, I shouted “Hey” but he couldn’t hear and so we kept walking. As we got to the door he called out behind us. I guess he’d seen us after all. Or was keeping an eye on the door. haha. We did the whole hug greeting thing, handed him his gifts, and walked inside. Where I ended up staying with all the old ladies. ha!

He offered me a drink as soon as I walked in but I said I was fine. He decided I needed to have one though and pushed me for a beer choice. I told him to get whatever and a few seconds later he arrived with an 805. Good call dude. But I didn’t want to be drinking a lot of beer [I’m not into using stranger’s bathrooms haha!] so I nursed it for most of the night. He tried to get my mom a drink but she refused and he didn’t push anything on her. Then he tried a couple of times to get me to go outside where they were apparently playing some redneck version of beer pong. Umm....no thanks. He didn’t seem all that surprised that I’d choose to stay inside. He knows me well enough by now.

sidenote: I wanted to go outside. I did. But I could not bring myself to do it. I knew that I would walk out there with him, smile at a bunch of people, he’d go mingle, and I’d be left standing there on my own. I’m horrible at striking up conversations. The thought of standing there staring at strangers was enough to completely push me away from the idea. If I knew one or two other people really well, maybe. Or if I’d had a friend to walk over with, who would stay with me, also maybe.

So I said hi to all the ladies in the kitchen and grabbed a seat at the table with his mom and a couple friends. People were in and out. I saw one girl I went to school with but only briefly and there were so many bodies in there at that point that we barely smiled at each other and never spoke. [Fine by me. I’m not sure we were ever even friends] I saw one of our new clients, but again only briefly. My back was actually towards the door so I couldn’t see who was walking in and out unless I turned around. And I really only turned when it looked/sounded like someone I’d know. Like all his family. I made sure to stand and give them hugs. You know, I don’t want to seem too anti-social. hah.

I was introduced to a couple of people whose names I don’t remember. One though was Aaron. JR had come into the kitchen and was chatting. This guy came over next to him so he asked if we knew each other and made introductions. I smiled, said hi, shook hands and all that. I’ve actually met him before but only in a work setting. When he went to shake Mom’s hand she said she knew him and he recognized her too. I guess people skip over the front desk girl at work. haha.

At some point we finally went outside and got tacos. I ignored the girl’s warning about the hot salsa, poured a spoonful on each of my three tacos and definitely regretted it. A little bit. More so when I realized I was out of beer and had nothing to cool off my burning mouth. ha. I ate a lot of salty chips. My brother called me and since he’s been kind of sick, I answered. And proceeded to pace in the living room, trying to take in extra air, and get him to let me go. I told him I was at JR’s party and he asked why Mom was there too. He thought it must be a weird sorta party for us both to be there. Dummy.

Then I heard JR storm in the house calling my name. He was looking for me everywhere. Asking where I’d gone. They kept telling him I was on the phone so he finally found me in the living room and stood there staring at me. I’d heard him saying I had to have a shot with him, so I mean, I had to hang up on my brother at that point. I needed to cool down my burning mouth. lol. ;)

I followed him outside and straight into a crowd of strangers. Ahh! And of course he kept loudly saying that I needed to have a shot with him. “Get Rose a shot!” haha. He stood at the drink table, turned around, and shouted about whether I wanted whiskey or tequila. I chose whiskey and one of his friends [best friend maybe?] and a new client of ours, turned towards me and goes, “Atta girl!!” and gives me a huge smile. hah. Great. Quite the reputation I’m building for myself with that crowd. Plus JR started yelling out for a couple other guys to come over, one of them being JC [the guy he kept trying to set me up with!] and they ended up standing right above me. But he didn’t even make eye contact or attempt to talk to me, so whatever. The other guy he was with smiled at me a couple of times but that’s all.

So we all stood crowded together, his friend made a quick speech, and we all took a birthday shot with him. Apparently a couple of pictures were taken but I haven’t seen anything pop up on fb. They must be too cool for fb. And I’m too cool for everything else. =]

Somehow I ended up next to T, the guy we went hunting with. Maybe he walked up to me as I stood with JR. I don’t remember. But his wife was there and I introduced myself to her since neither of the boys took it upon themselves. They were nice enough to stick around and bs with me for a while. Mostly we talked about work though. How they’re planning to come by the office soon. And he asked me about Halloween and whether or not that was me dressed up in costume. He swore it was an automated machine that had motion sensors. HAHA! Mission accomplished.
Then he admitted that he almost peed in my yard, but my Mom happened to be standing in the driveway at that exact moment. Thank God! He apparently ended up peeing in one of my neighbors yards but wouldn’t say which one. haha. So gross. I told him how I’d recognized him but couldn’t place his face for a few days. Then I made a joke about realizing who it was after I noticed him and a couple of other guys standing in the street drinking beer. His wife thought that was funny. She was pretty nice too. We talked for a long while. JR came by and took another shot with me after I pointed out my empty cup. Then a couple of other people walked up and we were introduced. People started drifting away. A couple disappeared and the others went out to smoke. To the point where I was left standing there with the girl that I’d just met. Someone’s girlfriend, I guess.

We talked for a couple of minutes. She was one of those people that seemed to like to talk about herself. She’d actually introduced herself to me as people were walking away and told me all about how she hadn’t been living around here long. Blah blah. When I finally got a word in, she didn’t seem interested in what I had to say. So she went to check on her bf and I went back inside. Stood in there for a while, half listening to stories.

Eventually JR came by and we got him to open his joke gift. He hated all the tape on the box, but of course had his pocket knife [not the new one though. He’s lost that already. SMH] He immediately started laughing when he saw the wrappers of all the candy we’d put in the box. [The box that I had to cut down with a shitty box cutter type knife] Then we started laughing, I grabbed his arm and jammed his hand back into the box. Where he found the small bottle of Maker’s Mark my Mom had buried in the bottom. I told him it was her idea. haha. And said the other gift [a bottle of Knob Creek rye whisky] would be better.

He hugged my mom and stood there chatting with us. Did that too close standing thing. I don’t remember if it was before or after the gift, maybe when he walked in, but he rubbed my back and rested his arm across me. At that point I wasn’t really worried about it being weird though. I ended up putting my arm across his back like it was no big deal. He actually did the same thing again later. But it didn’t even make me feel uncomfortable, so I guess that’s progress? I mean I’m not completely averse to human touch. I am kind of a normal human being on the inside and so it was nice to just stand there. Without feeling like there was anything else attached either.

[sidenote 2: That guy Aaron was totally touchy feely with me too! He walked by me a couple of times outside and kept holding on to me to get through. Like legit grabbing onto my arm. Or rubbing it affectionately. Caught me off guard. So weird! (and in case you need to make comment - he’s married)]

JR ended up telling me to go outside with him. We had another shot, which he tried to pour into a giant cup before I pointed out shot glasses. He told me to hang on to mine but I said we were getting ready to leave. He then went on to tell me all about how him and the gf were having issues. In some sort of fight apparently. Ugh. So much drama there. She was like sending people pictures, he called her out on it, she didn’t want to fight, and that was that. They were in a fight but not talking about it. heh. He was just standing there venting to me. About all the things that I tried to warn him about. That multiple people tried to warn him about! But I couldn’t exactly say, “I told you so” at that point so I listened and gave opinions and agreed with most of his.

At some point my Mom came out since we were actually getting ready to go, and JR had decided we needed to have another shot. Right at the moment when his gf came walking out of the house and my mom was trying to signal to me that it was a bad idea. But I mistook her signals to mean that his mom was worried about his drinking, or something, and I went on to insist he was fine. Then she finally whispered something about the gf having an awful look on her face. And she accused me of having done something wrong! As if the girl was pissed that he was standing there taking shots with me! Geezus Mom!! Always blaming me for guys’ problems. I had to tell her, multiple times, that I had nothing to do with it! And took the shot anyway.

As if I were some kind of slutty girl who gets all up in a guy’s business! Mom should definitely know me better than that, but she always assumes the worst!

She ended up going back inside, JR bummed a cig off of someone and went out to smoke, and I went back inside too. We left shortly after that. Out the front door so she could say bye to JR. We waved at a couple of people, like his dad, standing in the crowd and his mom walked us to our car. I never did make my way towards the big group. I’m sure I could have found someone to talk to but I couldn’t find a way to even get over there without feeling completely out of place. Oh well. I doubt I missed out on much. The guys weren’t all that interesting anyway, and they were probably all married. ha!

This recap got insanely long. But basically I had a good time. It wasn’t the best party I’d ever been to, but it wasn’t horrible either. At some point I would actually like to go to one of these things and hang out with people other than the old ladies inside. Baby steps though! I need to meet a few more people in smaller settings and work my way up. Because it would be nice to be around people my age and make friends. That way I’d have someone to go with me to the next one! =)

rose.
4:42pm

Last updated March 20, 2016