So social
The week of the 12th to the 18th ended up being a pretty rough week; I spent much of the latter half of it (when not at work) sitting at home alone, not up to interacting with people. (And every time I started to regain some equilibrium, some new minor-but-annoying thing would happen. A lot of those instances involved things like me trying to do something at some website, and it not working, and me trying to contact the website owners to tell them about it, and that not working either, and me trying to contact them some other way to tell them their contact system was broken, and that not working either.) I did have cleaners come and clean my house, though.
But it was probably just as well that I spent time at home alone that week, recharging my social batteries, because then the socializing began.
It started Monday evening, when Kat and some local folks came and hung out at my place. Low-key small social event. Good warmup for what was to come later in the week.
I think Thursday was when things really got underway. After work, I picked up Mary Anne at the train station and took her to Los Gatos; hung out with her and her family for the duration of a brief pizza dinner. Then up to Palo Alto for bowling with Kam, Rich, Barbara, Dana, Bex, and Dave.
I haven't been bowling in a while (not even Wii Bowling), and for the first seven frames, I did rather badly. I've never been a really good bowler, but I usually manage a couple of strikes and several spares in a game; this time I kept ending up in the gutter. Going into the 8th frame, I decided it would have to be my last, because I had scheduled a phone call for 9 p.m., which was impending. And then I got a strike, my first of the game. So I decided to stay for one more frame. And then I got another strike. But by that point I was definitely late, so I bade everyone adieu and rushed home, and then had a nice long videophone call with Debby B.
(Kam told me the next day that I won that game, which was surprising but somewhat gratifying given that I had, I think, been in last place going into the 8th frame.) (I'm not generally especially competitive about bowling, but I do like my score to be at least vaguely representative of my capabilities. So it's not so much that I'm glad I won—it was a game focused on fun, not on winning—as that I'm glad my game improved.)
And then after the phone call, I remembered that that was the night I was going to shave my beard off. So I did that, and took photos. And then had a hard time sleeping because cold air kept blowing across my chin.
So that was Thursday.
On Friday, I went to San José to hang out with Mary Anne and her kids. Various things went wrong that morning, but I disremember details, except for the pizza incident.
The pizza place very near the condo where M et al are staying was open that day, unlike everything else, so we called the number for that pizza place that was given in Siri, the amazing concierge-like iPhone app, and we placed an order. A little later, I walked down to pick up the order, and they said they'd never received it. Eventually we figured out that the number given in the app for that pizza place was actually the number of another branch of the same chain, a ten-minute drive away.
Very frustrating. But eventually got the food, and later Cliff came by, and there was more socializing.
After which I headed up to Kam's place, where Kam and Naomi and Kendra L had brought back soup and olallieberry pie from Duarte's for me. Yay! I haven't been there in years. It was tasty as always.
We played Settlers, and then chatted for about three hours afterward.
And then I came home and upgraded my blog, and I was too keyed up to sleep, so I ended up staying up ’til about 4 a.m.
Woke up sometime around 7:30 or 8, worked on blog upgrade some more, then got up and drove to SFO to pick up Rob. We hung out at my place and chatted until it was time to drive to Santa Cruz for Xmas dinner with the Evanses.
We had a Christmas dinner that couldn't be beat, and chatted, and played Wii games, and eventually I drove home.
Yesterday, I sat in a cafe in Los Gatos with Mary Anne for about two hours while she finished her book!!! and I worked on my novella or book or whatever it is. (See my previous entry.)
When we were done writing, we headed over to Kevin's parents' condo. Hung out there (with Kevin's parents) for an hour or so, then over to Susan L's for a gathering with various friends, and pizza dinner. (I've had more pizza in the past few days than in the previous couple of months combined.) I think there were only eight kids there, but it seemed like more. (Not in a bad way! I mention that only to emphasize the amount of social interaction, not to complain about the kids who were there, all of whom I like, though I don't know most of them very well.)
Then back to where Mary Anne and Kevin are staying so they could put their kids to bed. Talked with M for a while. Then headed home, but Kam turned out to be up so I stopped by and hung out with her for a couple hours.
All of which adds up to nearly nonstop socializing (punctuated by lots of driving and a little sleep) since last Thursday evening. That's only about three days, but it feels like more.
Today, going to see M and kids for a while, then heading up to the East Bay with Jay and Holly and Avery for dinner with our cousins.
I don't think I have any social plans after tonight. I may just hide in my room for a while.
That gives me about three days to do about two weeks' worth of Strange Horizons tech stuff before we reopen to subs on January 1.
Oh, and there are a couple of New Year's Eve parties and a New Year's Day party that I may or may not go to.
It's almost all been good and fun socializing. But I'll be glad to take a break for a couple days after tonight.