HoCoBlogs party at Alexandra's Turf Valley

Not to whisk my own batter, but I'm a pretty cool gal.

Unfortunately, I still have a terrible time meeting new people.  I walk into a room of strangers, and I am immediately transported back to the dreaded middle school cafeteria.  Searching for someone I know, and when no one is to be found, panicking at the thought of being rejected by the people at the table where I try to set down my plastic partitioned tray.

Luckily, I'm not in middle school anymore (does anyone out there actually have pleasant memories of middle school?).  I am a grown woman now and have the means and ability to conquer my fears, or at least fool myself into thinking I've conquered them by having a quick glass of wine on an otherwise empty stomach.

Ah, fermented grapes - the classy gal's mental ice breaker.

I loved meeting so many people from different aspects of Howard County life at the HoCoBlogs happy hour last week.  I'd never been to one of these events, but I'm really glad I did this time.  In the span of two hours, I:

• Met the Marshmallow Man, became instantly intimidated by his intimate knowledge of HoCo happenings, then a second later something I said made him laugh uproariously, which put me at ease.
• Found another "worker by day, writer by night," Faye McCray.  I think my day job may be slightly less demanding than hers (she's a lawyer, for crying out loud), which makes the fact that she writes fiction in her spare time all the more inspiring.
• Instantly identified one half of the 2 Dudes, partially because I recognized him from a picture on his blog, but mostly because he stuck out as the only guy in the bar without the ability to grow facial hair.  I told him how much I admire that he and his brother don't just write about food, they also give back to the community, and that's pretty darn cool.  It was a surreal experience - one of the first times I've felt like an old lady telling a young whippersnapper to "keep up the good work."
• Sampled bacon ice cream.  It was...okay.  Honestly, I'm kind of over the "put bacon in everything" fad.  When pig fat starts making its way into my desserts, I think it's time to stop.
• Heckled a political candidate.  To his face.  I didn't mean to, it just...happened.  He came in with a jacket that had his name embroidered on it, and in my nervousness (see above notes about social anxiety) I blurted out, "Didn't your mom teach you not to put your name on your clothes?  Now the kidnappers know how to trick you into a sense of familiarity!"  (This, by the way, is what made Marshmallow Man laugh).  And after that, it just kept going, as I made fun of the obviously posed photo ops in the pamphlet he handed me.  And now I feel so terrible about turning into a Mean Girl that I have to vote for him in order to right my karma.  Well played, Political Candidate.
• Saved someone from accidentally eating tofu.  She thought it was chicken.  It seems like everyone's afraid of tofu these days.  I thought it was pretty tasty, by the way.
• Talked code with a computer nerd.  He's hoping to host a workshop on enhancing your blog by learning some basic skills in HTML, CSS and another code I don't remember the name of.  This is why I need the workshop.
• Encouraged a fellow thirty-something to write a blog.  She was there as part of the entourage of a politician (not the one I heckled), and told me a little about her previous blogging attempts.  She too has a hard time writing about just one thing (that reminds me - I haven't written about my cats in a while).  I told her to just do it - to write what she loves, and her audience would find her.  Isn't that how it works?  Oh, who the heck knows...

After the HoCoBlogs happy hour, Sous Chef and I shared a meal at Alexandra's.  I'm going to write about it in a different post, because at this point, most of you have probably stopped reading anyway.

If brevity is the soul of wit, then I'm not very witty today.

Mingle well!