My little voice warns me

This was the Dining With Friends evening in Greenville. It's a series of dinner parties to raise money for AID Upstate, and a very worthy cause, which has morphed into a social occasion as well.

I got up this morning too early. As usual, when I plan to sleep in, I can't. But I got up, had coffee on the porch, and decided to make a run through the flea market. It was pretty much a junk show yesterday, although I did find Russ a Bubble Bowl in white to go with one he already has.

I really needed to do some work in the yard and on the house, but really didn't feel like it. All I really wanted to do was read, but I made myself get out there. I ran over the shrubs in front of the house with the clippers in case Lady D and them came by the house tomorrow. I went back and tried to do some cleaning out in the back yard, but after digging out one huge Wisteria root the length of a baseball bat and as big around as my wrist, I was all in. I usually spend the spring killing Wisteria. The old lady that lived in the house before me (or maybe her mother) set it out in the yard, and it went crazy. It was trying to eat the house when I bought it, and it is a constant struggle to keep it subdued. I don't think you can kill it.

I came back in and cleaned up the house a bit, got cleaned up, had some lunch, and got ready to go to the Dining With Friends parties with Russ and Billy. I was just really close to calling and cancelling. I so didn't want to go. But I kept telling myself that I really needed to get out there. I can't meet anyone in the bear group, because all the guys are married. And the online thing really hasn't been working out so well. This was a prime chance to meet some people I didn't know, and maybe meet someone nice. So I dragged myself mentally by the scruff of the neck to the car.

First we went to a dinner party at the home of Dean and Scott, two guys I know and like. They had a friend bring in a marvelous artichoke dip I had eaten before, and had some lovely red skin potatoes done in rosemary and tons of butter that were divine. James and Ben went with us, and they are very good company. Ben is sweet, and James is very funny and entertaining. Not to mention he is a lil fox. He managed to spill an drink down my leg at the dinner party, but it was fine. The crowd there was nice, but mostly older - I understand it was the MCC crowd. After the discussions of their health, and income tax filings, I was beginning to nod off. Nice people, but not really a party crowd.

Cougar was there. He was flirty, and funny, and very complimentary. I really like him. But I can't trust him. It's a shame. He was there with a friend of his named Scott, who was a dead ringer for my friend Jeff Deitz, who died years ago. It kind of freaked me out. He was very nice and all, it was just weird how much he looked like Jeff.

After that we went on to a cocktail thing downtown. It was nice enough, but as usual, I just don't fit in with the pretentious set. To make matters worse, the guy who christened me Mr "Cruel and Heartless" was there, and I spent the first hour or so we were there trying to make sure that he didn't run in to me. I didn't want a scene. Plus, this guy I can't stand was working as bartender, so I couldn't even go get a drink. Fortunately, Billy went to the bar for me. I basically just stayed on the edge of the party and waited for time to leave. At least I had Billy, Russ, Ben, and James to talk to. They made periodic forays into the party, but we all kept coming back to the edge. I did flirt with one cute little guy who seemed to be interested in me, but after talking to him for about 10 minutes, it was easy to tell he was pretty vapid, and would be horrified of me when he got to know me. I'm not really the "settle down in cream cheese suburbia with a matching pair of Yorkies" kind of guy. He also did about 10 minutes on safe sex like within a half hour of meeting me. That's kind of a turn-off. I don't have anything wrong with safe sex, but I felt like he was setting up barriers and trying to decide whether or not I was sponge-worthy. It's a shame; he was really cute.

I'm getting to bed about 2am. And we have the Jockey Lot with Lady D in the morning. And I haven't done any cooking today.