It's Not Easy Being Green

Shortly after I got to work this morning I realized three things:

1. It was St, Patrick’s Day
2. I hadn’t worn anything green
3. I didn’t care

Of course, as it turns out there’s some green on my badge, so I suppose that would have counted, had anyone said anything to me about my seeming lack of Irishness.
The last time I remember doing anything to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day would be…1999, and the fact that I was out drinking was pretty much coincidental with the fact that it was St. Patrick’s Day, as I didn’t need a special occasion to get loaded.
Which is why I would assume that I did much the same thing in 2000, though I have no specific memory of doing so.
In 2001 I went on a date on St. Patrick’s Day, though I was sober then, and, again, the timing was merely coincidental.
One thing I remember about the 1999 experience was someone at the bar faulting me for not getting into the spirit of things and not being “Irish enough” because, unlike him, I wasn’t drinking green beer.
When I pointed out that I was being considerably more Irish than he was, given that I was drinking Guinness while he was drinking Bud Light with green food coloring in it, he gave me a confused look and then turned away to talk to someone else, which, to be honest, is pretty much how I wanted the whole situation to resolve itself anyway.
When I was in Best Buy the other day there was a chick wearing a “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” shirt, and I found that I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had attempted to take her up on it. Not because she was cute – she most decidedly wasn’t – but just for the pure shock value of it. Naturally I didn’t, and, though she didn’t even know that the thought had passed through my head, I’m sure she’s grateful for that fact.
Besides, I’m sure that even if she had been okay with it, her husband probably wouldn’t have been so magnanimous.
Of course, given that the trio – they had a baby in a stroller – was consistently in my way at every turn, her shirt inspired me to come up with a similarly-worded slogan of my own: “Get the fuck out of my way, I’m Jon.”
Tomorrow through Thursday, one of the big vendors my company deals with will be in town for meetings with us. Evidently we do this every six weeks, alternating between meeting here, and meeting at their facilities in Kansas. The last meeting in Kansas took place right after I’d started, so I didn’t attend (though I did join in on conference calls for some of the sessions), but next time I will be heading out to Kansas.
Somewhere along the line I’ll probably be traveling to Buffalo as well.
Sadly, it seems unlikely that I’ll ever have to go to Hawaii, which, once upon a time, might have been a possibility.
In any case, the next two days are going to be spent in and out of meetings, which will likely be just as exciting as it sounds.