I survived the picnic!
I was pretty much sick to my stomach as we walked between the houses to where all the people were, but in the end, I was able to suck it up and have a good time. People are always amazed to find out how shy I really am, but doing something like that, going into a crowd of people where I only know one, maybe two people, really freaks me out. Thankfully Rose is a great friend and she went with me to keep me from having a heart attack. Christina was supposed to go, but after agreeing to go with me, she made two other sets of plans for the day, so I wasn't surprised that she backed out in the end. But Rose, YOU KICK ASS, and I owe you big time!
Anyways, when we first got there Todd took me around and introduced me to everyone. I am pretty sure I know now who it is he wants to fix me up with. He is a tall, cute, bald guy who is even shyer than me. I am not kidding--once I got there and started talking to some people I was okay and was able to carry on conversations with pretty much anyone around me. This poor guy took four hours just to get up the courage to come over and join the group of 6 or 8 people who I was talking with. It was actually kind of cute in a way. Unfortunately though, by the time he finally got around to trying to talk to me, this older man had attached himself to me and would NOT stop talking. He was a very sweet, funny guy, but he completely took over the conversation and would call you on it any time you tried to talk to anyone else, guilting you into talking to just him again. "Oh, I can see I am boring you. I am a silly old man who doesn't know when to shut up." Of course when someone says something like that to you, you are going to turn your attention back to him! The other guy got a few words in here and there, but not enough that I can really say we got to talk. So, doesn't look like it was a go this time. I don't really know if I will get to see him again, but hey, you never know. What little I did get to talk to him, he reminded me of my close friends, so that is a good sign--he is likely someone that I would get along with well. We'll see!
After we'd spent a while at Todd's party Rose and I headed down to Inner Harbor to watch the fireworks. What a complete waste of time! It was so incredibly crowded that it was miserable and uncomfortable to stand there. We were wedged shoulder to shoulder with people, with other people trying to shove their way through, and of course the guy right beside Rose and myself didn't have the decency to think that in such tight quarters maybe lighting up a cigarette wasn't the kindest thing to do. After about 5-6 minutes of what could best be described as mediocre fireworks, I asked Rose if she wanted to go ahead and head out. I LOVE fireworks and have never in my life left a show early--that was how disappointing these were. My hometown of maybe 15,000 people normally puts on a really good show, 30-60 minutes of nonstop fireworks, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, one on top of the other. The best that Baltimore could do, a city of over 600,000 people, was 15 minutes of pop......long...delay...............pop........long...delay...........pop. It definitely was not worth breathing in second hand smoke and the nasty body odor of those around us. Nor was it worth the traffic and parking fees. Maybe I have been spoiled by growing up in small-town USA, I don't know. I do know now though that I will never bother heading to the Harbor again for a fireworks show! The good news about the show sucking so much though was that Rose and I were back to her car and heading out of town long before most people were back to their cars, so we didn't hit the madhouse traffic trying to get back out of the city.
All in all though, I had a good day. It was strange to not be with any of my family, but in time I will get used to that. I hope everyone else managed to have a great holiday as well, but hopefully you weren't so let down by the fireworks you saw!
