Far Out Son of Lung...

The Meeting

Last night was the undate with Melissa and Shane. I got to the Old Monk early and gave John a call to discuss the state of his race bike, his plans for getting back to the track and the general nuances of taking an obliterated race bike from the garage back to the track. It was a nice time waster until Shane arrived.

Shane and I don't hang out much. I've never made a point of spending time with anyone from work, mostly because I get my fill of them while in the office and don't really have enough in common with them to do anything consequential. As such I really don't know much about him, but I figured he was a decent guy. He is a decent guy, he's just a little on the eccentric side. Unusual, would be a good adjective.

Melissa arrived a little late but no worries. A cute gal from the mid-west she was easy to talk to and willing to entertain conversation. Things went fine, I ate a juicy burger and sipped some iced tea while the two of them drank a few beers. Conversation rotated, mostly, around Shane. I don't like to compete for conversation. I don't like to try and redirect things so that they are about me. In fact, I generally don't try to make a point of talk about myself unless I am asked, and even then I don't go into any real detail because I don't think anyone besides me is going to find it very interesting.

As such, the evening was dominated by Shane. I didn't have a problem with this aside from the fact that the man is very animated. So animated, so over the top and so in your face that it is quite annoying. Entertianing to a degree, but the depth of his animation is such that you wonder when it will reach bottom, level out and settle down. It doesn't.

Seeing as how we were just sitting in a loud bar talking about... what were we talking about? I can't remember. Kick ball? Volleyball? Some band? Crickets? Work? A mess of topics were brewed and stewed on the table but in the end my brain shut off and I more or less tuned out of the conversation. I'm generally fairly quick witted but I also tend to be mean. Rather than say something rash or risk being a complete ass, I chose to just sit back and soak it up. They took it to mean I was bored. Which, to be honest, I suppose I was!

Toward the end I was beginning to wish I had other plans. "Shit", I thought, "this is getting old".

At any rate, she's a nice enough gal but I think she'd be easier to get to know if I could talk to her one on one. We'll see what happens. I'm not looking to hit on her, I just want to include her in some of our weekly-weekend activities.

posted by GreSam @ 12:19