What smells like beer?

Before I get too much into the boring details, let me say that I mostly had a good weekend.

And if you were planning to eat your spaghetti dinner while watching the latest episode of Being Human, alter your plans a little bit.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make some cookies. I don't think that I have made any cookies from scratch since I have lived here, but I thought that it might be a good idea after I found this recipe online, and I remembered that I would have three things coming up that would require me to bring food.

So I took the new mixer out of the box and I went and spent five bucks on a new cookie sheet (cause it had been so long since I made any cookies I couldn't find the old ones) and I got together the ingredients that I already had and went out and bought what was missing. The new cookie recipe was not that great, but now that I had this new cookie sheet and all the ingredients for making cookies, I decided to try making an old recipe except to substitute whole wheat flour. That wasn't great either, so I went and bought some regular flour and tried again.

The cookies weren't bad, just not like I remembered. They are sort of tall and fluffy. I don't know what I did wrong. Also, I don't taste the baking soda. Chocolate chip cookies have baking soda, and I am quite sure that I put in the baking soda, but I can't taste it. Does baking soda get old or go flat or something?

Again, the cookies aren't bad, and in fact I am starting to like them, though I sort of doubt that anyone else will. I just can't figure out why they are different. Anyway, I took some of the whole wheat ones to the annual meeting, cause I had to take something, and most of them did not get eaten, which is okay cause that left more for me. I took the regular flour ones to the party, and again not many were eaten, so again I have leftover cookies for me, which I am not complaining about. But I think that I will give up on making the cookies for anyone other than me, and I will figure out something else to take to the last thing, and in fact there is no reason that I have to take anything to that at all if I don't want to. But I'm thinking that I will just purchase some candy instead.

All day Friday and Saturday, I had been very careful to read any emails from the group, in case it had something to do with the party that I would need to know about. Not that there was much, just people asking other people if they were going, and what are you bringing, and once in a while what are you wearing, etc.... And there was this new guy that hasn't been to a regular meeting yet, though he's already officially a member of a club, just that most of us hadn't met him yet and didn't know who he was. And he was asking about the party, and no one else answered him, and I didn't quite know what to tell him. But I thought that somebody had to say something. It wasn't an official club function, just that someone had invited pretty much everyone in the club. If he had joined a few weeks earlier, he would have officially been invited already. I didn't think that it would be a problem if he came, but I really couldn't invite someone I didn't know, and I thought that he should talk to the couple giving the party, though by that time it was too late. He already knew where the party was, so I told him the time and a little more info, hoping that someone else would chime in and say whether he was or was not officially invited, but again no one else said anything.

So after all this wondering what I should take to the party and what I should wear to the party, I have bought a black blouse and this sort of black thing that is not really a shawl and yet another black dress, and then I decided that it was too cold to wear any of that and just gave up and decided to wear what I wore last year. Except that I couldn't find what I wore last year. So I ended up wearing some really dark blue stuff and black boots and this black thing that used to be part of a Masonic costume.

I was getting ready to leave early, cause I hate driving in the dark, when I realized that I forgot to charge my phone. So I wait a little while to put some life into the phone, and then I head out, and as I am just nearly there I realize that with moving things from one bag to another and getting my keys sorted out and everything that I have somehow not transferred my wallet and do not have my driver's license or any money or a debit card or anything. Not that I expect to need any money or anything, but it would be very upsetting if something happened and I needed to show my driver's license. I didn't expect that would happen, and I was nearly there anyway, so I kept going, and nothing bad happened. But it was still very annoying.

So I got there at about the same time as a couple of friends, and we were all about twenty minutes later than we had intended, but we were still the first there from our group, and the parking lot was mostly empty. And I have been to this place several times before, but I am always surprised by the layout when I get there. There is this sign that says something like "Lake Ahead", and literally, the lake is right there after the sign. Not that the parking lot I'm looking for is ahead, but the lake is ahead. By the time I read this sign I have already missed where I meant to go, and I have to turn around and go back a little bit.

So we go in and see all empty tables, as everyone who is already there is in the back helping our hostess. So we are relieved that we are not late.

More people come in and bring food, and I am surprised how many of them are not wearing black. A few more of my friends show up, and some of us sit down and eat. And then this guy comes in by himself, and I think that's probably our new guy, and then I restrain myself from blurting out something like "Are you the new guy?" and he looks around a bit and goes to the back of the room. So maybe he isn't our new guy. But a bit after that someone brings him over and says something like these are some of the people in your group. And then there is a discussion between the four guys about steampunk stuff, and then the new guy and the other guy wander off to meet other people.

I get up to get some more food, and I'm wondering what smells like beer?

Probably beer.

I don't drink alcohol, but I do like several things that are made with alcohol, mainly beer bread and beer chili and beer cheese soup. But there was none of that, just beer.

So there was a lot of talking to people I don't really know and whose names I can't even remember. And I talked to the new guy some more. And I talked to M.

This is not M my friend the Klingon, this is the other one, and I see him once in a while, and I have finally decided that it isn't weird and running into him a couple times a year is not a problem. So that's what I thought, so I kept talking to him. I was wrong.

I had a few items of clothing that I decided I needed to part with, though I would rather give them to someone I knew would appreciate them and make costumes from them, so I brought them to the party. I gave a t-shirt to my host, who thought it was such a cool picture that it didn't bother him that it was started to tear. And I looked around the room for women who might fit into the dresses, and I asked a few if they were interested, and they said no. And then I noticed a certain person I did not want to have any of my things, so I did not make an announcement like I had planned. But then another friend arrived, and she said that she wanted the whole bag, so that worked out. I'm glad I thought of it instead of just dumping the stuff at Goodwill with the rest of the clothes I got rid of.

I talked to the new guy some more, and it is always nice when someone attractive is paying attention to you. He made suggestions, and though he said upfront that it would not be a date, I'm afraid that he didn't really mean that so I declined. It seems like the guys that I have known for a while who suggest something that is "not a date" really mean that and totally get that it is not a date and is not going to lead to anything resembling a date, but guys that I have just met are thinking that the "not a date" will either somehow become a date or at least end with me agreeing to a date later. So no more "not a date" type things with anybody I don't already know. I will be happy enough to talk to you when we just happen to be at the same place at the same time, which is probably going to happen a couple of times later in the month anyway.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, M has reached a whole other level of stupid. And it is hard to believe that anyone is really that stupid, so he must just enjoy making other people uncomfortable. I am thinking that if I have anymore trouble from him, I will start a new blog totally devoted to answering the question, is M really that stupid?

The party ended a bit after that, and I waited for certain people to get their things together so that I could walk out with them and not be around either M or the new guy, even though the new guy was being totally nice.

I managed to drive home without anybody finding out that I didn't have my license in my purse.

Sunday we ate at Taco Bell, after my husband saw a commercial for something he wanted but they hadn't had for a while. And then there was the Superbowl, which he watched, and I watched commercials in between Googling stuff.

Yesterday we went to various thrift stores, but I didn't buy much, and it got cold and rained and we came home earlier than we might have and watched Caprica and Being Human.

And then we got some bad news about this job he was applying for. He had read somewhere what the pay was, but then he couldn't find where he had read that, so he sent another email. And we can only hope that they misunderstood the question. Surely no one gets paid that little. We were only thinking about the job because he read that it was a lot of money, and we wanted some clarification on if that was the most you could make or if that was an average or what. And on top of that you had to provide your own transportation to the interview, which was out of the state and would require either plane tickets and cab fare, or would require driving a lot and get a couple of motel rooms. And then you had to provide some of your equipment and buy somewhat of a uniform, plus nicer clothing was sometimes required.

Anyway, that is the end of that. We would have serious problems with paying to get to the interview even if we thought it would mean a good paying job. There is no reason to even waste the time if it is really such a low paying job. It was about half or less of what we have read about similar jobs, and even those do not seem to pay enough. So that was disappointing, but at least that particular discussion is over.

I do not have much experience with drunks

I have very little experience with people drinking at all. I don't put up with much of it. If you have like one drink, and I think that we are going to stay wherever we are long enough that it will wear off before we leave, I probably won't say anything. If you order another drink, I'm probably going to ask if you are driving. That is, I'm going to ask if you are driving if you didn't already volunteer that information after that look I gave you. If you order another one after that, I'm probably done talking to you anyway.

But I rarely have that much of a problem even at the New Year's Eve party or the Halloween party. And those last hours and hours, so possibly even three drinks would wear off.

I'm sorry if you think you need a few drinks to loosen up a bit. I'm sorry that you can't do a bit of the When Harry met Sally restaurant scene sober. Have you tried? I have.

I used to not be so strict. I still didn't drink, but I didn't bother other people much about the alcohol, if they planned ahead of time. I had a friend whose mother would let all the kids come to the house and drink, but if they had more than one drink they had to check with her before they left, and it was just assumed that most of them would be spending the night anyway. I used to think this was a great idea. I still think that this is a better idea than to just start drinking without a plan, but I am now very much in a just say no phase.

So I used to go to this girl's house, but I didn't drink. After a few times, she asked me not to come anymore. My good influence was rubbing off on other people or something, cause they stopped drinking too, and she didn't want to drink by herself.

Anyway, I've only had a few experiences with actual drunk people. Once was a drunk guy that hit my truck. Luckily, no one was in the truck at the time. The guy came in the store and said that he thought he had put a little dent in my door. The little dent was so big that it made it impossible to open the door. The cops came, found an a guy that was clearly driving drunk, which is illegal, and driving without insurance, which is illegal, and couldn't get anymore insurance because everyone knew that he was a drunk. And nothing happened to him. The cops did not arrest him or take his license or anything. He hit a parked vehicle, but since we were in a parking lot on private property, he did not even get a ticket. Weird.

Another time I had to deal with a drunk person was during a college field trip to Galveston Island. Some of the kids were going to camp on the beach, but I wasn't feeling well and needed my sleep. Four of us were supposed to go in together and rent a room for the weekend. The fourth girl had to cancel before we'd even reserved the room. The other two girls I did not know very well, but they seemed nice enough. They hated the field trip and left that first morning. That left me with the bill for a very expensive room all by myself. But I wasn't feeling well, so I kept the room rather than try to sleep on the beach.

At about two in the morning on the second night, I woke up after hearing someone pound on the door. I opened the door to find six of my classmates, a few of them soaking wet, and one of them with a very big smile and wide eyes.

"Can we use your shower?"

Since I have just been woken up at 2am, I am not yet awake enough to manage to say "What the f***?" or anything else that might have been appropriate. I guy that I thought was pretty nice stepped into the room to talk to me while two other girls dragged the smiling one into the shower. She was having a really bad time, over some problem that was none of my business, and she wouldn't talk about it. Her friends decided that enough was enough, and they got her drunk so that she would tell what was going on. After that there was a bit more drinking, and the girl took a walk into the ocean. A couple of them went after her, and now they needed a shower. And I was the only one they knew who still had a room at the motel.

I still had a room at the motel because I was sick and needed my sleep. Take out your wallet and get your own room. But I didn't actually say that, and the guy got me to calm down. We waited for the three girls to come out of the shower. While we were talking. A fourth girl decided that as long as there was a free shower, she might as well have one too. She didn't ask or anything, and everyone had to wait on her. The guy I was talking to was the only one who even apologized, and no one even offered to pay for some of the room or buy me breakfast the next day or anything.

Back to the girl having people over to drink at her mom's house.

All the kids had a beer, but when they heard me say that I didn't drink, that's about all that most of them had. That is, almost all of the kids had a beer. I declined, and so did this guy I liked. I assumed that he declined to impress me.

The guy I liked was not my usual type. He was good looking and sort of looked like Tom Cruise. The thing was that he knew he sort of looked like Tom Cruise. He would even go up to people and ask if they thought he looked like Tom Cruise.

So I should think that it was very obvious to everyone that I was here mainly because I was interested in Tom Cruise guy. This guy said he liked me too, but we were not in relationship. Okay, whatever. But he does kiss good, and I'm hoping for some alone time later.

Going to this girl's house and watching people drink was not actually my plan for the evening, even with Tom Cruise guy. My plan for the evening was trying on shoes, and they were dress shoes, so I was wearing a dress. A Sunday dress, not a go out with my friends who are going to drink kind of dress. Everyone else is in jeans. I just happened to run into Tom Cruise guy and some of the others at the mall and got invited over. So I look way out of place.

Across the room from me is a blond scruffy-looking guy. He just always seems to be looking at me. Well, maybe he is just wondering why the hell am I wearing a Sunday dress. And I'm sitting with Tom Cruise guy, so I don't really think much of it.

A bit later the girl come over and says something not to subtle about needing me in the kitchen.

So she tells me that scruffy guy is into me.

Really? Cause he hasn't said two words to me.

Well, he said that you have sexy feet.

Sexy feet? There are a few people who like the way I look. I have my fans. I have been called sexy. But sexy feet. No. I do not have sexy feet.

He actually said that? Sexy feet?

Yes. What are you going to do?

Do? I'm not going to do anything. And can't he tell that I came here to be with someone else?

You mean you're not interested?

In the scruffy guy? I can't even tell if he's good looking under all that hair. (It was the eighties.) And he hasn't talked to me or anything. I am just supposed to to be really impressed with this guy?

Most of the girls at school are. He's slept with a lot of them.

Have you slept with him?

No. I'm not into him.

Well, I'm not either.

The Tom Cruise guy was not as much fun here as he had been at the mall. He was all glad to see me at the mall, but now he was all quiet. I know we are not in a relationship, but I don't see why he doesn't want to talk or go outside with me or anything. After a while I give up.

Which gives the scruffy guy a chance to talk to me.

Okay, so there were some pretty blue eyes hiding under that hair. He might clean up nice, but I don't think he bothered with that very often. I didn't want to be rude at my friend's house, so I talked to him.

It was just dumb chit-chat that you could have with anyone. He did not have anything impressive to say. He wasn't a trekkie. He didn't read a lot.

I don't remember if he was in a band or anything like that to explain his appearance.

And I didn't see any reason that anyone would be impressed with him, other than the eyes and that the rest of his appearance might really be something after say, a haircut. And knowing that a bunch of other girls had slept with him was a turnoff for me. And the idea that I was just really supposed to be impressed with that was even more of a turnoff. I didn't see that we had anything to talk about, and I'm not really sure why we were talking at all.

I think maybe he'd had a few before I got there.

And I think maybe he'd never seen a girl in a Sunday dress before.

What was really bothering me was that Tom Cruise guy never came to rescue me. I thought he was into me. I thought that he wasn't drinking to impress me. I gave up and went home.

Me and the Tom Cruise guy were kind of on and off for a while. It just wasn't going to work out. It's a whole long story how I ever was interested in him in the first place, which I will not get into right now. But we were both friends with this girl, so I still saw him once in a while, and she would tell me stuff about him.

Tom Cruise guy did not decline the beer to impress me. Apparently he had a problem. My personal belief is that anyone who drinks has a problem, but this guy had a serious problem. If he starts drinking, he doesn't stop.

At another one of these things at my friend's house, Tom Cruise guy had a few drinks. And he had a few more drinks. He didn't have a car anyway, so no one said anything. He had a few more drinks.

At some point during the evening he was seriously after my friend. My friend was in a long term relationship, and everyone knew that she was off limits. She did not give me all of the details, but at the time she was really not happy about it. Her boyfriend came and rescued her. Tom Cruise guy woke up the next day in a neighbor's lawn, missing his shoes, and having no idea how he got there or that he had done anything to my friend. He really remembered very little of the evening.

He did a lot of apologizing and such. After about a month or so, everyone was friends again. He was at the house one day, and he had a drink, and then he had a few more drinks, and then he had a few more drinks.

After that it was about the same as the other time, except that this time he wasn't after my friend. He was seriously after my friend's boyfriend.

Tom Cruise guy woke up in a neighbor's lawn without his shoes. He had no idea how he got there, and he remembered very little about the evening.

We didn't see much of Tom Cruise guy after that.