CONSORT
Around 6:45 tonight, I called up my ex-roomie to see what he was up to. He said he was just about to call me. He told me to "put on a clean shirt and come to my house." I thought that meant that we were meeting up to head out for the evening with friends. It turned out to be a house party celebrating the Chinese New Year. I got there a bit before he did, but there were some other people I knew that were there. We ate, drank, and were merry. I even ran into a couple of gals I knew from my past: one who I hadn't seen since I left UT, the other who is a friend of Suzanne's that I'd gotten to know. I was having fun, catching up with the old friends... and then it happened.
The roomie left with his girlfriend, and the other people that I knew made their way out to other events (save for the friend of the ex), basically leaving me in a house full of strangers. And I almost lost it. I can't ever say that I've ever been the "life of the party." Usually, I'm more of a wallflower than anything. But tonight, the thought of trying to introduce myself to people I didn't know (or even to try and carry on a conversation with people I had met briefly in the past) scared the bejeezus out of me.
Short of helping myself to a few drinks from the well-stocked bar, I had no idea of how to overcome this (or at least deal with it enough so that I could be sociable). It almost feels like I've done so many meet-ups through the internets that I've almost forgotten how to meet people IRL. Maybe there's a refresher course I can sign up for at a community college somewhere. All I know is, I don't like what happened tonight, and I'm hoping it doesn't happen again anytime soon.
Around 6:45 tonight, I called up my ex-roomie to see what he was up to. He said he was just about to call me. He told me to "put on a clean shirt and come to my house." I thought that meant that we were meeting up to head out for the evening with friends. It turned out to be a house party celebrating the Chinese New Year. I got there a bit before he did, but there were some other people I knew that were there. We ate, drank, and were merry. I even ran into a couple of gals I knew from my past: one who I hadn't seen since I left UT, the other who is a friend of Suzanne's that I'd gotten to know. I was having fun, catching up with the old friends... and then it happened.
The roomie left with his girlfriend, and the other people that I knew made their way out to other events (save for the friend of the ex), basically leaving me in a house full of strangers. And I almost lost it. I can't ever say that I've ever been the "life of the party." Usually, I'm more of a wallflower than anything. But tonight, the thought of trying to introduce myself to people I didn't know (or even to try and carry on a conversation with people I had met briefly in the past) scared the bejeezus out of me.
Short of helping myself to a few drinks from the well-stocked bar, I had no idea of how to overcome this (or at least deal with it enough so that I could be sociable). It almost feels like I've done so many meet-ups through the internets that I've almost forgotten how to meet people IRL. Maybe there's a refresher course I can sign up for at a community college somewhere. All I know is, I don't like what happened tonight, and I'm hoping it doesn't happen again anytime soon.
3 Comments:
I find it's always much easier when I have a "safety-net" person with me. It's hard to be alone in a crowd. Sometimes I've met and bonded with other folks who were alone in a crowd. You'd be amazed how many of them there are in some situations.
Hang in there. You're not doing anything wrong.
By
~profgrrrrl~, at 9:14 AM
agreed; my friends all think i am really good at meeting people but i freak out easily. i need an in, and usually it's another person (once i'm in, i am pretty chatty, good at finding out shared experiences/ music tastes, and make friends). i mean, it's bizarre to just walk over to someone and be like "hi, i'm lonely like you! let's chat!" or something.
(and it's all fun and games until you're at a party where people wear green to denote single, red to denote taken, and yellow for "undecided.")
also, i hang by the drinks, sometimes offering suggestions, and that helps meet people too.
By
Norman Rose, at 11:20 AM
also, i hang by the drinks, sometimes offering suggestions, and that helps meet people too.
I would try that, but there's only so many times I can make a joke about having a Shirley Temple, you know?
By
Greg, at 8:20 PM
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