"You need a drink"
Saturday was Steph's birthday.
She invited a bunch of people out for drinks.
I spent the day cleaning the old house and unpacking at the new one. Missed the bus I'd intended to take (10:30 p.m.) and caught the next (11:00 p.m.). Waited in line for two minutes at the bar she'd originally invited us to. Was found in line by Ian and Jer, who had gone to the bar she'd changed the invite to and decided to swing by the original one in case I hadn't got the message. Without internet or phone (the move), I hadn't got the message.
We got to Van Gogh's and I bought Ian and Jer a drink to thank them for helping with the move.
I was exhausted and so had parked my ass in a tall bar chair with my back to the post/table that Steph, and therefore the rest of us, was standing at. It also gave me a clear view of the exit and half the crowd, which was a plus.
I'd intended to buy Steph a drink, but a bunch of other people - chief among them being Jay, her boyfriend - had beat me to it. As she swayed slightly, I grinned and promised to buy her that drink another night. She thanked me by convincing me I should stay past the last bus (I'd intended to take it 'home'), that I should drink (I'd intended to just have one) and by buying me drinks whenever she thought I should be drunker than I was. Which seemed to be a trend. Jer and Ian each bought me a drink too.
At one point Ian leaned over to yell in my ear, "Isn't it funny how different being in a bar by yourself is when you're seeing someone from when you're single?"
I laughed because I had been thinking about Christa, wishing she had been there. Maybe Ian can read minds. Or expressions. Or maybe he was thinking about Kiernan. I don't know.
Shortly after Steph bought me a drink a vaguely familiar song came on and she put a hand on each of my knees - she was standing and I was sitting on the tall bar chair - to get my attention and asked who the song made me think of.
Apparently our layout guy at the paper had played a CD with this song on it in the office continuously for a good chunk of the year. But while it was familiar, I couldn't remember that. Steph looked slightly disappointed.
We ended up at the Albion not long after that, with me on a couch with my back to the wall and a clear view of everyone in the room and both exits.
Jay bought a beer for Steph, but this time someone else beat him to it. So he offered it around and I took it. And didn't hate it. Which was odd.
At one point I found myself sitting back and mapping all the social interactions going on in the group of people I was with. Ian and Jer were chatting to my right. Steph and two of her friends were chatting on my left. Across from me two more of Steph's friends were talking to each other. Jay was reading an article from an entertainment newspaper on the other side of Jer.
I realized I was drawing social network diagrams in my head. Then I started doing the entire room. Then I started imagining links between everyone in the room and everybody in their lives. Then I got dizzy and took a step away from the mental cliff I'd been teetering on the edge of.
That happens to me a lot.
That's why I need to be talking to someone if I'm drunk and tired and in a room full of talking people. If I'm not directly and intensely linked with one or two other people, I get sucked into all the interactions happening in a room.
Sociology - which was half my degree - screws with the way you look at the world.
"You're not drinking," said Steph.
Then she disappeared and came back with a rye and coke. Which I enjoyed immensely. Am I the only person my age who likes those?
Ian and I left shortly after that and I crashed on Ian's couch for the night.
She invited a bunch of people out for drinks.
I spent the day cleaning the old house and unpacking at the new one. Missed the bus I'd intended to take (10:30 p.m.) and caught the next (11:00 p.m.). Waited in line for two minutes at the bar she'd originally invited us to. Was found in line by Ian and Jer, who had gone to the bar she'd changed the invite to and decided to swing by the original one in case I hadn't got the message. Without internet or phone (the move), I hadn't got the message.
We got to Van Gogh's and I bought Ian and Jer a drink to thank them for helping with the move.
I was exhausted and so had parked my ass in a tall bar chair with my back to the post/table that Steph, and therefore the rest of us, was standing at. It also gave me a clear view of the exit and half the crowd, which was a plus.
I'd intended to buy Steph a drink, but a bunch of other people - chief among them being Jay, her boyfriend - had beat me to it. As she swayed slightly, I grinned and promised to buy her that drink another night. She thanked me by convincing me I should stay past the last bus (I'd intended to take it 'home'), that I should drink (I'd intended to just have one) and by buying me drinks whenever she thought I should be drunker than I was. Which seemed to be a trend. Jer and Ian each bought me a drink too.
At one point Ian leaned over to yell in my ear, "Isn't it funny how different being in a bar by yourself is when you're seeing someone from when you're single?"
I laughed because I had been thinking about Christa, wishing she had been there. Maybe Ian can read minds. Or expressions. Or maybe he was thinking about Kiernan. I don't know.
Shortly after Steph bought me a drink a vaguely familiar song came on and she put a hand on each of my knees - she was standing and I was sitting on the tall bar chair - to get my attention and asked who the song made me think of.
Apparently our layout guy at the paper had played a CD with this song on it in the office continuously for a good chunk of the year. But while it was familiar, I couldn't remember that. Steph looked slightly disappointed.
We ended up at the Albion not long after that, with me on a couch with my back to the wall and a clear view of everyone in the room and both exits.
Jay bought a beer for Steph, but this time someone else beat him to it. So he offered it around and I took it. And didn't hate it. Which was odd.
At one point I found myself sitting back and mapping all the social interactions going on in the group of people I was with. Ian and Jer were chatting to my right. Steph and two of her friends were chatting on my left. Across from me two more of Steph's friends were talking to each other. Jay was reading an article from an entertainment newspaper on the other side of Jer.
I realized I was drawing social network diagrams in my head. Then I started doing the entire room. Then I started imagining links between everyone in the room and everybody in their lives. Then I got dizzy and took a step away from the mental cliff I'd been teetering on the edge of.
That happens to me a lot.
That's why I need to be talking to someone if I'm drunk and tired and in a room full of talking people. If I'm not directly and intensely linked with one or two other people, I get sucked into all the interactions happening in a room.
Sociology - which was half my degree - screws with the way you look at the world.
"You're not drinking," said Steph.
Then she disappeared and came back with a rye and coke. Which I enjoyed immensely. Am I the only person my age who likes those?
Ian and I left shortly after that and I crashed on Ian's couch for the night.
