|
Social Groups
Saturday, March 28, 1998 Friday evening I went to Entros with a group from work. Entros is a restaurant with games, or is it a game place with food? This was a follow-up to an outing we went on in October. At that time, the group won a fifty dollar gift certificate, so we had to have a return visit. We had delayed it as long as possible in hopes that they would change the games, which they do several times a year. But our fifty bucks was about to expire, so we went even though most things were still the same. I wore my many-colored patchwork dress, as being one of the most festive items in my wardrobe. This time I chose another route, so I didn't end up heading down the highway in the wrong direction, but I did park farther away than I meant to. I walked the several blocks to the restaurant, passing the shuttered Fuzzy Wuzzy Rug Company building where we had the Fremont Arts Council Winter Solstice Feast a few years ago. I remember how pleased I was that Luke invited me to come to that! Of course, due to my Neurotic Promptness Syndrome, I was the first of the group to arrive. (Most of the others were carpooling from Microsoft, but I had come home first.) I grabbed a beverage at the bar and waited, and the rest arrived fairly soon. The one person who never showed was Jody, who works in an office right next to my bay! If I'd known he was having doubts about coming, I'd have given him a pep talk, but I'd no idea! While we were chatting in the bar, Mike P. told me that some one had said to him, "If Anita is going on this outing, I don't want to go. She's a bitch!" Well! I was astounded, until he revealed that the person (who ended up not joining us anyway) had confused me with another woman active in the singles pf (public folder, like an internal newsgroup) also named Anita. The other Anita has been having some disputes with another pf participant. She does seem to jump on any statement this guy makes. Now I know how my buddy Ed feels: there's another Ed who makes himself obnoxious in various pfs, and I think they both even have the same initials! I'm sure a lot of folks confuse them. The dinner was very good. Sitting at my end of the table were Jennifer, my quiet friend Ed, Mike P, and, of course, a guy named Jason. Jennifer and Mike exchanged travel stories: she lived in Singapore for a few years, and Mike's been all over with the Marines. I turned Jason on to Frontier, since he's an internal tools developer who is all excited about XML. When Mike demanded that we each tell a joke or story, I was reminded of someone who, when I asked him for a story from his life as part of the getting acquainted process, didn't have one that sprang to his mind as emblematic of himself (or at least not one that he was willing to tell on demand). I've been thinking about this since. I think most people do have such anecdotes or stories, that show aspects of themselves that they want to show off, or think are important or typical. My friend who didn't have such may put that energy into other areas, or perhaps he is even more reserved than I am! The games were mostly the same as last time, except for a charades variation where the actors were behind a screen, so that only their silhouttes were visible. Jason and I were the actors on our team, and Jennifer and Ed did the guessing. This was fun, except that the guide/host was too generous with hints. This led to too many tied-up rounds, and too many tie-breakers that depended on luck. We won anyway! I don't know what caused this, but by the end of the evening Ed was holding up his end of the conversation. He was the most chatty I've ever seen him!
Saturday during the day, I worked on sewing some new Trollsylvanian vests. This was in preparation for a Cacophony event I was sponsoring: Trollsylvanians' Night Out. While cutting out and sewing, I listened to my laser disc of La Cenerentola starring Cecilia Bartoli. I like this version, but it doesn't have the emotional power of the Frederica Von Stade/Jean Louis Ponelle performance for me. It may seem strange to speak of the emotional impact of the Cinderella story, but the multi-layered approach of the Von Stade version really speaks to me.
I did get to do some dancing, though! My friend Sterling, from my Lindy class at the Russian Center, was there with his parents, so we got to do some swing and lindy hop, and Jayson and I did some foxtrot type of things. The second band, Rise and Shine, was excellent! This is a group of high school age and younger kids, who have organized themselves a hot swing band! They rock!
Because of waiting around for the good music, we didn't get to the games or arcade stuff, which had been part of my original idea. But just dancing or people watching was a good evening!
Scott had a link on his journal index which I hadn't noticed before. Mr. Blowup has a truly unusual fetish interest: not just latex clothing, but inflatable latex clothing! I was suprised to find that I was the first to bring to Scott's attention the resemblance between Mr. Blowup and Kenny of South Park!
|
