My Excuse

So far, since I started this blog, I have missed two days. In both cases, it was because I was out socializing. I suppose that's to be excused, huh?

The first time I missed writing, I was with the Friday night club. We used to be the Slade's group. At least I called us that. We all met through the bar at Slade's, a restaurant at Tysons Corner. I started going to Slade's because I had a friend who tended bar there. Some of the crowd worked at the mall. Some of the crowd worked in the area. Some of the crowd just were looking for a place to have a drink on a Friday night. Somehow, we became a group. Amy and John had a few parties and invited the others, which started us socializing outside the bar. And eventually we became friends. The bartender that I knew left Slade's, but by then, I'd gotten to know the afternoon bartender (who stayed on Friday's through the dinner rush). She took over for the bartender I knew, and one of the wait staff became the other bartender. The group settled in with the new bar staff, and all was well. Then the restaurant owner crossed the line one time too many. And the two bartenders that we had gotten to know decided to leave as well. At that point, we switched bars. So instead of being the Slade's group, I started calling us the Friday night club. Several of the members are regulars - you can find them at the bar every Friday night. I only go every few weeks, but that particular night I didn't get home until almost midnight.

The second time I missed writing my blog was last night. I was out with my colleagues. An old friend and colleague of ours from where we all used to work was retiring. Many of us had been invited to the celebration, but since the party was during the day and would have a bunch of people there from the company we had left, my boss decided that it would be awkward for her to go to that party and so organized one of her own. There are 6 of us at my office, plus the guest of honor, and then a couple of other old colleagues - only one of whom still works for the company at which we all met. Let me just say that I am not good at spontaneous social events. By not good, I mean that they are not on my list of favorite things to do. I'm a planner. I like to organize my days in advance. So deciding to go out for dinner at 4 in the afternoon is not something I do easily. I'm also trying to lose some weight so eating out for dinner when I was also still planning to attend the lunch party wasn't high on my list either. But when it turned out that all my colleagues were going to go, that others were coming too, well I just couldn't not go. It was a fun evening, but by the time I got home about 9:30, I was exhausted.

So I guess I'm just going to have to resign myself to missing the occasional entry. If it's for a good reason - like socializing - seems like it's excusable. At least that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.