Thursday, November 7, 2013

Oot

Though I will freely admit my hermit ways, I do occasionally mix with the outside world in a social manner. This week, I did so not one, not two, but three different evenings. Not entirely of my own volition, but it's really not the thought that counts...

Uno:
Mondays are community group nights! Shelby and I have missed the past few due to lack of transit, but we made sure to get there this week. Wes (the leader) had told us to bring our fun hats and be ready to party. Uhm. Yes. I am always about fun hats. Get it from my Grandma Ruthie. :) (Family joke. Slash, family reality).

There were no actual fun hats involved this time, but there was a good deal of this:



Everyone but we two Americans had heard of this game. What you do is start out with an empty cereal box. Put it in the middle of the room and, without anything but your feet touching the ground, pick it up with your mouth.

After each "round", the box is cut down further until only a wee flat square on the floor remains. It's such good fun. Even the elderly lady in our group joined in. More flexi than you'd expect. Although the tongue waggling down from her mouth toward the box is something my mind won't be able to erase.

The whole thing was hilarious. Then came a nice friendly game of mafia.

I'd say the evening was fun hat title appropriate. A good community laugh is always an excellent way to render people more comfortable with one another.

Dos:
Evening two was the Storehouse Fashion Show held at Cafe Vaudeville which, by the by, is gorgeous.
The fashion show was high fashion vs. pre-loved clothing, as one of the branches of Storehouse is a clothing bank, the goal of which is not only to clothe people but to clothe them in things they can feel confident in, things they'll like. 

To that end, I can see how that could seem vain or "not quite in the realm of outreach" But to me it makes sense. Rich or poor, you want to feel as though what you wear reflects who ya are, not who somebody else defines ya as or what you're forced to be defined as because of your position in life. I dunno. Judge for yourself. 

Shelby, Abbi, and I met up at the bar with two of our Belfast best friends, Lynsey and Lauren. Absolutely love them. Shelby compares them to squirrels. In a good way. They're quite energetic and talk enormously quickly, especially to one another. We can almost never understand them. It's a time one wishes for subtitles. 

They're a blast to be around, though, despite our need for a translator (who, when she's around is Kiera). It's been a pleasure to have them adopt us into their lives.


Tres:
I done geared up and snazzed up in a right adult (pronounced "ah-dull-t" for you non okies) fashion to attend a postgrad party at Queen's.

Everything from my earrings, dress, heels, and jacket was styled entirely by somebody who isn't me; namely, my mother. It deserves recognition, really. When I left for college, she started reading 'InStyle" fashion magazines. I come home and she's all chatty about Katie Holmes and knows what's hott and what's not and what's on the fashion horizon.

It was all very disorienting, but has been beneficial in the alteration of my street urchin style ways. Guaranteed if you compliment me on something cute I'm wearing, I'll respond with "mom-buy."

Enough about my fashion-forward mother, though. Let's talk about social gatherings.

Dante had a lot of things pretty dead on, I think. But a chunk of his Inferno must have gone missing pre-publication. There's just no other explanation for the utter lack of a social gathering hell ring.

There are few things worse than walking into a crowded room and seeing no one you know.
Conversely, there are few things more relieving than encountering said event then hearing your own name called out.

Helloooooo Patti! Out of the whopping seven of my classmates, only two of us showed.
Patti and I found a nice wee place and chatted over psychoanalyzation and social theory for the better part of an hour. It was actually very nice to get to know her outside of class. Especially because (drumroll please) she'll be joining my class of one! Upping our attendance by half. Thank God.

Did that change the fact that I was 20 minutes late and left an hour early? No. But it made the 45 minutes of attendance quite tolerable, if not enjoyable, indeed.

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