• Buddies

    The Lunch Bunch

    The Lunch Bunch

    I always wanted to be the kinda girl who had pals. You know, be part of the group or a gang or a gaggle of girls who all hung out together and had sleep overs and went to the mall and gossiped about boys together. I never really got that dynamic figured out. All through high school I always had a best friend and through her I was friends with her friends but I never had an equal friendship with the whole bunch. We’d always pair off in twos and even though I might like her friends they were “her friends” and my friends were “my friends” and we never had the whole thing figured out very well. Even still to this day I’m kinda awkward at getting my groups of friends to be friends with each other and mingle well at a party. I always find myself split between two groups and always feeling like I’m neglecting the group I’m not chatting with. I don’t know what it is about me I must like to befriend people who mix like oil and water or something.

    Whatever. I should thanking my lucky stars that I can even have friends!

    But the reason I bring this up lately, (meaning since I quit my corporate job) is that I have three friends who independently invite me out to lunch and where one invites me the others show up and we are always the four of us magically together! It’s like we’re a secret club or something. Like we’re the four friends on Sex and the City show except we don’t talk about sex that much, we don’t drink cosmos and we aren’t as good looking. But still we always hang out and if only two of us hang out the other two don’t feel left out. It’s the coolest group dynamic ever. Plus, they are very proactive in inviting me out. Which is very very good because if I was left to my own devices, I’d probably sit at home and rot.

    So I just wanted to give you guys a shout out and say thank you! And Felix don’t you wish you wouldn’t have always put your hand in front of your face and let me take your picture because now you are the only one not pictured and you are the hottest one of the bunch! See.

  • Buddies,  illos,  The Hood

    My Lurker, Sarah

    My Lurker, Sarah

    I met my first lurker today. She lives four blocks over! How about that!!! I’ve actually met a reader who lives in my town. I always used to day dream that this might happen someday. But I figured my town is kinda small and the world wide internet is pretty big so the chances were slim. So when she emailed me it kinda creeped me out, in a good way.

    And you know what, my lurker is awesome! She isn’t creepy at all! If I could order a friend out of a catalogue, I’d order Sarah. In fact she’s so perfect with her perfect house and her perfect husband, I’m wondering if she secretly eats bath tub caulking or something. We went on a walk today and found out that we have five trillion things in common! And she lives four blocks away! I have to pinch myself. I’ve always wanted a friend who only lives four blocks away. Just think of the barbecues we could have and the lemonade we could sip. She has the perfect back yard with perfect chairs for lounging too. I am in like Flynn!

    The only catch is I have to make sure she never comes to my house. She’s allergic to cats and her husband is a neat freak (in the admirable I wish I was you sort of way). If they get one glimpse of my carpet they’ll probably both fall over dead. Even the red light Post Paris Party trick probably won’t work. Her place was so perfect, it was right out of a magazine. I can’t wait for Toby to meet them, he’s probably going to break out the lighting equipment and start photographing them right on the spot. The cool art on the wall, the geometric patterns, the retro furniture, the apple laptops… I’m not sure what I like best, Sarah or her house! Sarah’s husband is an artist too and I can tell he and Toby are going to get along smashingly. Either that or they’ll hate each other.

    I tell you, nothing but good has ever come from this blog. Some of my friends and family shake their heads and wag their fingers at me. They warn me of stalkers and all the crazy people who are out there just waiting to pounce on an innocent blogger like me, advertising every detail of my life for the whole wide world to see. But (knock on wood) NOTHING BAD HAS EVER HAPPENED because of this blog. It has been nothing but good thing after good thing.

    Let me count the ways:

    1. This blog saved me from going crazy with boredom when my dead end job in corporate-land was going nowhere.

    2. It challenges me to look for the positive and entertaining details of life that would normally be forgotten. It’s forced me to record things in such a way that I feel like I’m really living my life. Even bad days are fun now because I know they’ll make a great story later.

    3. This blog has put me in touch with long lost friends who googled my name hoping to find me long after email addresses had expired and phone numbers been disconnected.

    4. The friends I meet through this blog actually have similar interests with me. They actually get me and they don’t think I’m a freak! Which is more than I can say for all the friends I made in school just because I happened to sit behind them in home room.

    5. This blog has brought me work on projects that I actually enjoy. It’s furthered my career in ways that I never thought were possible.

    6. This blog found me a friend in my very own home town!

    If anybody out there is afraid to start blogging, let this post persuade you to cross over to the dark side. Who knows you might meet your very own personal lurker who’s just as perfect as Sarah.