From Wallflower Back To Hermit

So on Friday my boss, or rather, my boss’s boss, came in to visit for a bit.  It was just Scott and I that day, as Brian was off at another desk for some cross-training.  Scott had gone to lunch, so it was just me manning the desk.
As it usually does when he comes in to visit, the big boss launched into a rather depressing discussion about how our company is circling the drain.
I made a comment along the lines of, “Sure, it has to happen now after I bought a condo.”
He backpedaled a little and said that he didn’t foresee us going out of business any time real soon, and added that with all of the other companies in the area a “guy like me” would have no trouble finding another job.
As an afterthought he added, “I mean, at least you have a clue.”
I’m not entirely sure what to make of that or what he meant by it, but I’m assuming it was complimentary.
I think it made Brian a little nervous when I told him about this, as he has since started taking an interest in getting in some free training while he can, so he signed up to take the Red Hat training that I’m taking in a couple of weeks.
Speaking of Brian, on Sunday he and Kathleen had a barbecue as a sort of belated birthday party for Kathleen, so I stopped by after work.
When I got to what I thought was their house I was a bit hesitant, as the address didn’t look right.  At least, it wasn’t the address I had written down for them in my PDA.  After double-checking that the Explorer parked in front of the garage was Brian’s, though, I came to realize that I had the wrong house number written down.
Which meant that the birthday present I ordered for Kathleen last week (the DVD and soundtrack combo of Walk the Line) was shipped to the wrong address.  Whoops.
Hopefully their neighbors will be honest and will part with it.
It was the first time I’d talked to Kathleen since my birthday, and the main thing on my mind was what did she think of DuddyKat?
She looked uncomfortable and admitted that she’s been avoiding telling me that she didn’t like it.
Turns out that she actually was hoping for something more along the lines of what I’d originally started on, though she had realized that I might be a little creeped out by it.
So there’s another object lesson with Heroic Portraits:  just as adding the greenish cast to the Zalfiro picture demonstrated that the pictures can be adjusted upon request, DuddyKat showed that people aren’t always going to like the finished product.
Oh well.  The one consolation is that, thanks to the text of the entry accompanying the picture, three people doing a search on latex cat-suit were likely even more disappointed to see a cartoon cat than Kathleen was.
Anyway, it’s not a total kat-astrophe, as I did nearly finish the picture I originally had in mind, as I’d done things sort of separately, so drawing the body wasn’t creepy, and drawing Kathleen’s face wasn’t creepy, but when I started to put the two together, that’s when the creepiness crawled up my spine.
I guess I’ll just have to get over it and finish it so that I can have another satisfied…well, not customer, but I suppose that “guinea pig” isn’t exactly the most flattering term.
As for the barbecue itself, I’ll admit that, not surprisingly, I felt out of place, surrounded by people whom I’ve heard of but for the most part haven’t met.
And of course I would feel like an outsider anyway, but in this case I most decidedly was one.  Not that they were doing anything to be deliberately exclusionary, but most of the people there were from the fire company, and as such were part of a group that I’m not part of.
Even if I weren’t socially awkward it would be difficult for me to participate in conversations that would be filled with in-jokes and banter and references to people and things that are almost totally alien to me.
I think the overall effect is rather a lot like what you would get if you were to dump Brian in the middle of a comic book convention (though honestly, even I would probably feel uncomfortable at a comic book convention).
Add in the fact that being around people who are drinking isn’t at the top of my list of things I like to do, for various and mostly obvious reasons, and the end result is a Jon standing off in a corner by himself.
And no, I am definitely not asking anyone to feel bad for me this time around, I’m just telling you how it was.
I also don’t want to seem ungrateful for being invited.
After all, to his credit, Brian did try to bring me into the mix by pointing out that I was the one who did the “Fireman” picture of him.  That worked for about ten seconds and then they went back to what they’d been talking about.
Thanks for trying, though.
At one point Kathleen came over and said, “Smile.  Move around.  Mingle.”
I looked at her, laughed, and said, “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?”
She asked, “Is that why you came here?  To just stand in a corner by yourself?”
I responded, “No, I came here to be polite and to have something to eat.”“Did you eat?”
“Yes, and now I’m going to leave because my contacts are bugging me (I’d had them in since 5 am) and it’s almost time for The Simpsons.”
I’m sure they’re all very nice people, but on my best day I’m not in much of a party mood, and the end of a long three days at work is decidedly not my best day, and so after about 40 minutes I headed home.
I would say that I didn’t do much today, except that I kind of did.
Granted, I only set foot outside my door to get the mail (and that was a waste of time; all I had was a flyer and one of those “missing” things), but while inside I paid a bunch of bills, registered a domain, and completed a new Heroic Portrait, this time for Scott’s wife, Stacy.
I’m waiting on her reaction before posting it here.  I’m hoping she’ll like it.  After all, this is my first “request.”  All the others I’ve done have just been what I thought I should do.  This one is what Stacy wanted done.
It was an especially good test for me, as her request was sort of ambiguous at best, so I guess we’ll see how I do when I don’t have detailed instructions.