Pushing myself outta the comfort zone.

Pushing myself outta the comfort zone.

GalPal left town this weekend to head south and visit her family then head out with her sister to get drunk on a friend’s really big boat at some place called Party Cove. I was extended a last minute invite but turned it down because, let’s be honest here, putting me on a boat in “Party Cove” surrounded by a bunch of hard partying early twenty-somethings would probably lead to me getting smart-alecky and end in some sort of drunken altercation with some super tan guy named Biff. Or something like that. So I opted to stay home.

Usually when GalPal leaves town I tend to stick to the familiar: this includes lounging around the couch watching lots of DVDs, maybe having a couple early evening beers, and then heading off to The Burlington or something close to home. This time around I decided to mix it up a bit. I tend to be – and this may surprise most – a little less comfortable in social situations than you might expect. Maybe that’s why I DJ, or started putting on shows, or feel I need a reason to be somewhere. It affords me an excuse to be busy when I want to sort of fade into the background for a bit. So I went to meet friends at a bar I never hang out with and ended up having a really great time. It certainly helped that the company was stellar, but I also found I couldn’t rely on talking to the bartender or disappearing to escape a lull in a conversation I didn’t want to deal with. It was actually rather nice.

Saturday I went a step further and met some friends I almost never see for dinner. Now, this is something I NEVER do … I eat with GalPal and, every once in a great while, with Keep and his lady or one of GalPal’s old friends. And you know what? Great time again! The I head to a surprise party where I was unfamiliar with, oh, 80% of the attendees and, again!, a great time! A bit more bar hopping followed, hitting up establishments I do not regularly patronize, and I found I was really enjoying myself. Apparently you can teach n old dog new tricks, or at least this old one.

So what’s the upswing of this? Well, I think GalPal will be pleased when I suggest we go out in the evening she won’t hear me reading off the same five possible destinations; instead I intend to try and mix it up more. Y’know, I tease my Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park friends for never leaving their neighborhood, and I have a certain right to since I DO make it to those neighborhoods on a semi-regular basis, but maybe it’s time to start venturing even further north, further south, and maybe ringing up people I know that I rarely see in order to reconnect somewhere new.

At least it’s worth a try, huh?

Top Photo: Within minutes of GalPal leaving town I return to the eating habits of a 12-year-old

Bottom Photo: Pickle the Kitten asks, “Is she back yet? Is it safe to come out? The boy is stinky!”