Successfully Social

This weekend, I was, in an out-of-character manner, very social. As I thought about it, I haven't really made any attempt at socialization, outside of family and visiting with Nicole in Michigan, since Steph died in July, and I think that spring in the air is helping to really push me out of my apartment.

So what did I do this weekend? Here is a list of sorts:

Friday night, I went to Loopy Yarns for the knitting night, and I actually sat with other people and made conversation. It only took an hour or two for me to sit at the table with other people.

Saturday, Jennifer came over to help finish my mom's felted bag, intended for her birthday 2005 and abandoned due to finishing roadblocks circa August 2005. Please note, it is currently March 2007. Anne also came by for a little while to look through (and buy) some of Piddleloop's headbands. She got one as a gift and two for herself. Then, her boyfriend Nat came over and we all went to Thai Pastry for dinner. It was fun, big thanks to Jennifer for finishing mom's bag, now all I have to deal with is the yarn ends from sewing up. I think that I will needle felt them into the bag itself, rather than tie knots.

Oh, but wait, I continued on with interacting with other people (normally, this would have been my limit for a weekend). I went to Justin's St. Patrick's day gathering for the "bar-weary" and met some of his friends and had a few beers and generally enjoyed myself without being a wallflower. The theorem that the world is small was proven once again when Justin's friend Helen turned out to be Lavina's friend Helen from Cherubs. And Helen is super. I like her a lot, as well as Katie and Courtney. Its always good to meet new people. At least, I keep telling myself that. =)

Today, Sunday, I was social from approximately 3:30pm to 11:00pm. That would be 7.5 hours for those of you keeping track at home. First, there was the Demons and Darlings Stitch'n'Bitch at the Urban Tea Lounge on Montrose. It was lots of fun, and I got to meet interesting people and get going on the second sock of the pair I am working on, in the hopes of having two matching socks at the end by working on both at the same time. Also, UTL had good food and beverages, including regular Coke in a can for those of us who prefer our caffeine to be cold, sweet, and fizzy instead of warm, adjustably sweet and creamy, and flat. I had the hummus plate, a coke (obviously) and a pint of Ceylon tea. Lisa and I left there around 7:30 to go and meet her friends Roger and Robert for dinner up in Edgewater.

First, we met up at Roger's, a place I had never been, to wait for Robert and drop off our knitting bags before hauling them to a restaurant for dinner. While there, I got to meet a sweet, attention-loving cat named Nicky (sp?), Roger gave me a book that he is the publisher of (I started reading it while waiting for the train home) and the Firefly TV Series DVD set to borrow and watch. Hopefully, watching it will make the Jayne hat craze comprehensible. Once Robert arrived, and I was able to greet him with, "So, I hear you are a four ball man." (in reference to the number of balls of yarn required to knit him socks, not his reproductive anatomy, silly), we headed off to The Little Mexican Cafe for dinner. I had the mahi mahi special and it was good, but I was hungrier than just that and chips and salsa, so I may still have a bowl of cereal tonight.

After dinner, we returned to Roger's place (around the corner) to retrieve the knitting bag (for me) and to fit Robert's sock that Lisa is knitting, and then we ended up just hanging around and talking about eBay business for a while before I noticed how late it was in relation to my alarm clock settings. So now I am home, finally getting sleepy, and telling you all about how social I was.

Here is the breakdown, by time:

Friday 5pm - Sunday midnight: 55 hours
Social time:

1. Friday knitting at Loopy: 6-10pm = 4 hours
2. Saturday with Jennifer, Anne and Nat: 3pm-8pm = 5 hours
3. Saturday at Justin's: 9pm-12midnight = 3 hours
4. Sunday at DnDSnB: 3:30pm-7:30pm = 4 hours
5. Sunday dinner etc: 7:30pm-11:30pm = 4 hours

Total Social Time: 20 hours

That is an incredible ratio of social time to awake time, if you figure that I slept for 9 hours minimum for each of two night of sleeping. I suspect that I will not want to talk to anyone in the morning at work. I think that I may be looking forward to the laundromat and my knitting tomorrow night.