Posted by Lindenblüte on December 2, 2006, at 13:41:04
In reply to Lindenblüte and SatinDoll are posting together!!!, posted by Lindenblüte on December 2, 2006, at 0:34:24
I was scared, because I don't often go out to unknown restaurants and it felt a little more "upscale" than the frozen entrees I usually eat :)
I got there and didn't recognize anyone, but I saw Dr. Bob come in a few minutes after me, so I waited to see what would happen. Dr. Bob managed to find ClearSkies, and they were talking. I watched for a few minutes (yes, I was observing you guys!). I decided that I could do this, and I was hungry anyways-- I followed my gut :o) I went to introduce myself. We waited a while for them to find us a table for our group of unknown size. We eventually were seated in a cozy in a nook with a view of Michigan Ave. (Magnificent Mile) all lit up with lights :)
The food was yummy, and the company was good. We tried our best to understand what Dr. Bob considers civil, and told him about how we use babble, and how we interact with the website. We discussed and tried to tell him what works and what doesn't work. I think he was a good listener, so who knows? Maybe we see some changes one of these days. At any rate, Dr. Bob is more of a listener than a talker. I did my best to cross-examine him about whether he's a cat person or a dog person. To no avail. He's very evasive! I think the only things that I learned about him personally is that he really enjoyed his chicken, and that he rides the bus.
(Note to self- he would make an excellent expert witness)
Muffled, I tried my best to give him a friendly kick in the butt, but that's not really my style. Plus, I was wearing kind of hard leather boots, 'cause my suede ones were soaked from walking through slush puddles all afternoon. What if I had tried to kick him anyway? I might have stubbed my toe, and what if I had gotten blocked? Would he make me sit at a table all by myself ;) ?
SatinDoll didn't get an opportunity to carry out her mission either. It would have been extra cool, since Dr. Bob took public transit. No cars to pee on, but a bus instead. hmm. Now THAT's an opportunity!Of course there was a lot of silliness. I was sitting next to SatinDoll, and she kept on making me giggle. It was fun. Incivilities abounded, but that's okay, because we were not gathered to provide support to each other. We were gathered to eat food. I had lots of swear words, and I only remembered to asterisk a couple of them. Dr. Bob's automated asterisking system has a few bugs before it will work in real-time face to face conversation...
((((((good company)))))))
(((((((good conversation)))))))
((((((((people who talk openly about psychosis, mania, OCD, drugs...))))))))It was so nice to meet you all, and I'm so happy that I could convince SatinDoll to stay at my place overnight, at the very last minute!
I can only imagine what must have been going through her head. SatinDoll, please excuse my speculations-
"hold on, did I actually just agree to go to dinner with a bunch of people that I met on a mental health website called "Psycho-Babble"? Did I actually just agree to stay at this random woman's home, who has never met me?"
and in my head
I really wanted SatinDoll to be able to come, and since I have some space in my humble abode, I suggested it to her. Hopefully she won't think I'm too crazy. Hopefully she won't be too uncomfortable staying in a big city. Hopefully I won't be too unstable, tired, anxious [had some really really tough stuff come out in Therapy this week]. Hopefully I'll be able to clean up the mess my friends made on Thursday night as they stayed to eat dinner and drink wayyyyy too much wine and then proceeded to scavenge through my cabinets for midnight munchies. Hopefully I'll be able to get all the curry-encrusted dishes off the coffee table and into the dishwasher! I always have "hostess-anxiety".
I NEVER ONCE! had a doubt that I would get along with SatinDoll. I could tell that she and I would have lots to share, and that we'd have a great time :) Thanks for taking a BIIIIIG risk, SatinDoll. I think you're very brave!
And thank you to ClearSkies, who arranged all of this, and picked a fantabulous restaurant with a great atmosphere for us to get to know each other for the (first?) (3thousandth?) time :)
-Li
Oh yeah, Deneb*- I sat next to Dr. Bob. I guess I have "essence", huh? I'm just happy I didn't spill anything on myself or him! :o)
poster:Lindenblüte
thread:709586
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061123/msgs/709695.html