"Well Hi!" the lady at the door says.
"I hope I'm at the right place" I say.
"You are! I'm Natalie." she says.
"Hi I'm Nata... No wait, You're Natalie. I'm Mark." I say as I walk in.
Crap. I haven't even gotten in the front door and the damned social phobias are pegging the meter. And so starts a very surreal night.
---
Actually it started a couple of months ago when I got an email from Scott-San telling about a potential blogger meetup. "Sounds great." I wrote back. I wasn't sure I'd make it, quite frankly I was more sure that I wouldn't.
You see, I'm an anti-socialite. Not anti-social, I just do "meet and greets" about as well as Charlie Brown does porn. I have the social graces of a leper with tourettes.
But, honestly the meetup thing did sound great. Not sure why.
Now it's Saturday, the day of the meetup. I drive to north Atlanta, not knowing what to expect. Actually not knowing anything or anyone for that matter.
I had told my friend BigFunny about the meetup earlier and he reminded me of the basement scene from Silence of the Lambs--"It puts the loh-tion in the bah-sket."
Man, I hate realists.
---
So the meetup is underway.
I've gotten through the front door, and several awkward moments of silence. I decide that staying quiet and flying under the radar is my safest course for the night. Not as if there was much of a choice.
Right off I notice how easy everything is falling into place. Conversations, laughs, friendships.
I have a couple drinks and start to relax. I've met most everyone by this point and can remember each person's name--a rarity.
It's odd, it's like I KNOW these people. Comfortable. So comfortable in fact that while I'm sitting on the couch watching Kill Bill with Julia and Snowy I doze off a couple of times, only to wake myself up and do a quick freakout each time to make sure I don't have drool ropes hanging.
Later on after the drinking, the games, the drinking games, the food, the happy birthday song, late in the night we're all sitting around talking. CW suggest that each of us read a story from our blog. The man is a genius.
I can't describe how incredible it was hearing each of these writers, telling their stories in their voice. For me that was worth every bit of anxiety to be there. Although I hadn't kept up with everyone, I had read something from each at one time or another over the past couple of years.
After the stories and more conversation, things wound down. It's around two in the morning. Thankfully for me CW had invited me to crash there. And after I got my ass beaten to a quivering, bloody mass several times over on Dreamcast's Soul Caliber. I do just that, I crash.
I wake only a few hours later. The sun is shining, but the room is still dark. While lying there I had to convince myself last night happened. It actually happened.
---
CW, Mrs. CW, Scott, Michelle, JAB, Styro, Snowy, Larry, Julia, K, thank you for your warmth, your friendship and for sharing an incredible time. It's rare when you meet somebody for the first time and immediately know you like them. It's amazing when you meet an entire group and feel that way.
Now before this post gets any more fireside kumbaya-ish, I need to go stir fry a puppy.
PS - Pictures and more pictures.
