997 Friday Fun

Saturday, December 2, 2006

[Later Edit - I just "got" the name of the band. My mind doesn't normally run that way. Besides, it was so very long ago....]

All week I had been looking forward to last night. I wanted to go to Woodstock to see the Tw1sted Tassels dance at 6pm, then to Saugerstock (that no-man's-land between Woodstock and Saugerties) to a 7 pm pot-luck party at the Blue Mountain Bistro, with FirstWoman (FW).

And then the weather came. It got darker and windier. The pine outside the kitchen window was leaning about 30 degrees. The electricity was flickering, and I was worried about trees going down. I called FW and told her I didn't think I would be going out. I'd be driving the minivan, on a twisty up and down road through some very lonely woods, and I wasn't too excited about a tree falling on me.

She talked me into trying. "Start out, and if it gets bad, you can always turn around and go home."

So I got all dressed and made up, and by then it was too late to attempt Woodstock, because it was pouring rain and it would have taken too long to get there. I got soaked between the front door and the car, and that was with the umbrella.

I had to stop at the deli for cigarettes, and I needed both money and gas. The 2.5-mile drive into the village took twice as long as normal because the rain was dense and blowing horizontally and I couldn't see the road. I was already considering giving up. Oddly, the very second I turned in to the deli, the rain stopped completely. But it got worse when the car radio announced a tornado watch - not for the county, or a section of the county, but for THE VILLAGE! The village which is four blocks wide and four blocks long. "Tornado in the vicinity of " this tiny village. I thought "Ok, do I go back home, or do I get the @#$% away from the village?", and just then the ambulance and heavy rescue vehicle tore past. (Heavy rescue indicates there's a motor vehicle accident.)

Things are not looking promising. However, I look really good, hair is behaving, outfit is nice, and I hate to waste all this pulchritudinosity. Rare as it is.

So, I go into the deli, and the electricity promptly went off. When it came back on, I told the deli man my dilemma, and he said the same thing FW had. So I went to the bank, and decided that if the ATM wasn't working because of the iffy power, that would make the decision. I got my money. Ok, I'll go to the gas station, and if the pumps aren't working, that'll make the decision. Got my gas. Ok, I'll head for the bridge, and if the bridge is closed because of the ferocious winds, that'll make the decision. All the traffic lights near the bridge were out, and cars trying to turn in off the side roads were taking crazy chances which explained the heavy rescue call, but the bridge was open, and the van didn't get blown off.

On the other side of the river there was no wind or rain, no trees down, the sky was clear with a bright moon, and I made it to Saugerstock with no trouble. Very strange. You see that a lot around here - 2 feet of snow on the ground in a blizzard, and you cross a bridge and there's clear ground and sunshine. Always a bridge. I don't understand.

So I made it to the party. I'm not sure whether I should call it a party. It was on and hosted by "Carl's List", which is a local website for business networking, advertising, and so on. There seems to be a concentration on arts. FW said it's mostly for business networking, but good for social networking, too. They have a get-together once a month or so.

I was concerned that, once again, I'd find myself the oldest one in the room, but was pleasantly surprised to find that everybody there was pretty close to my age.

FW and I set a goal - we would speak with at least four strange men, stranger men, men we'd never met before. And we did. I actually walked up to people (I included women), introduced myself, and had a few minutes conversation. I think I may be embarking on a new phase. I wasn't afraid, and I don't know why, don't know what has changed in me.

I thought FW was familiar with this group, but it turned out it was all new to her too, and she considers herself shy, too. She had found out about CarlsList by having met Carl at some other (job-related) function.

FW ran into some old acquaintances there whom she hadn't seen in years. She's very active socially, knows a lot of people, but her interests and activities are very different from mine, and so her social contacts are pretty far outside my usual realm. Mindset-wise, I mean. She's a painter, and her lifestyle is very, um, experimental. I'm pretty conservative. But we seem to get along just fine.

Anyway, along about 10 pm, somebody mentioned that there was dancing at New World Home Cooking, just down the road, so a bunch of us went there. The band was Monica's Kneepads (which seems to have some meaning beyond a band name - I'll have to research that [Later edit - ok. Figured it out.] - and where do bands get these weird names anyhow?), see the photo at the link, and they were really dressed like that, huge wigs and all, and they were very very good. Whatever is changing in me hasn't made it all the way yet, because I couldn't quite make it onto the dance floor, it seems like "dancing" these days consists of just jumping up and down and I can't do that, but I enjoyed the show and the conversations anyway. Also a Cosmopolitan. Or two.

At 12:30 am I was headed for the bridge and passed Wal*Mart, so I decided to stop in. I need a bulb for the bedside reading lamp, and I have discovered that they restock in the wee hours, and sometimes they put out a few samples of some really nice things that are all gone by the next morning. I found boots! Finally, warm comfortable driveway-clearing snow boots that I can actually get on past my high insteps!

At 1:50 am I was raising Cain at the W*M customer service desk because there were TEN! people lined up at the ONE! open checkout counter, and the SIX! people in line in front of me had multiple carts each, overflowing with groceries. They opened two more registers. I got cheers from the others in line. After which the people behind me almost knocked me over trying to beat me to the opened counters. I was still feeling very Cosmopolitan, and snarled, and they actually backed off.

I am woman, and I'm learning to roar. And talk to strange men.