Now Auditioning for the Role of Drinking Buddy

So last night R and I went out to drinks with a new pal we'll call, per his request, Rip Van Winkle. It has to do with his being asleep in a marriage for 20 years and just now waking up to life - plus he played the part of RVW in a play in 8th grade.

Great guy, nice time. Went to Clancy's for Dollar Burgers, one of my most favoritest places, as you may recall. It was fun, plus, I love introducing people to Clancy's.

So I got this email from him this morning. He wanted to post it to my blog, so here y'all go:


OK so all you very hip and cool people out there, I am about to make y’all jealous as HE-double hockey sticks. You don’t even KNOW me, but you are jealous. Trust me.

You see, I am a Penny Karma newbie. Somehow, buy sheer dumb luck, we connected through cyberspace, and once I “beheld” her brilliance, I knew that this Penny chick was something very special. This connection happened, what? About a week ago, maybe? And here’s the make-you-all-jealous part: PK and R invited me to drinks with them! Yes, I broke bread and bottlecaps with the excitingly scintillating Penny Karma.

With the anxious anticipation of a kid waiting for Christmas morning to arrive, I tried to put this all in context while sipping a beer at the very cool irish bar where we were to meet. PK is in a “dark” swing through life right now. What in the world caused this woman to decide to meet a total stranger on this day, at this place? Is there something I can offer to her and R that will help them put some perspective to their lives? I am older than they, by a healthy decade, and maybe that’s a good thing from a life experience standpoint. But the “wisdom of the elder” thing just doesn’t seem to be what drew PK to ask me to party with her. Not sure, but I ain’t complainin’.

Having read a bit (not most and certainly not all) of her blog, and then the comments from the good people who have found her, I know that I should consider myself to be very fortunate, and I do. Intelligence and sparkling wit and brilliant storytelling, when all wrapped up in one person, do not come along very often. R and I actually sat there and talked to Penny about how she should try her hand at writing, really writing, some stories, for publication. To me, this elder-type PK newbie, nothing could be more clear. She has a talent for something that, for her, is “easy,” and following that talent should be a natural thing.

I don’t know exactly what will come of this new friendship that I hope to foster with Penny and R. I am fresh from a long marriage and my search for new friends has just begun, and I need all the friends I can get. I get the sense that once Penny’s friend, always a friend, and the same is true for me, so perhaps there is hope that we can find each other mutually beneficial in the friend department.

Oh, one last thing: To quote the Divine Miss K: “They’re real and they’re spectacular.” Yup. Have to agree there! Thanks for the hug, darlin’!


I'm assuming he's talking about my stunning blue eyes. I didn't whip my tomaters out or anything. I usually save that for the second non-date. ;)

And I think you'll all appreciate this conversation we had as we were leaving - I was saying that I think of myself more as a Penny than a Sarah.

I've never thought the name Sarah suited me. It's too boring and Puritanical.

Penny suits you. Penny's fun. Pennies are bright and shiny.

Except when they're tarnished, like me, you mean?

No, no! Pennies are great. It's just kinda sad that nobody bothers to pick them up anymore.

WHAT????

Once I got over the shock of being publicly dissed by someone I'd just met, I have to say I admire the man's balls - wait, that TOTALLY came out wrong - I admire that he felt like he could give me shit and that I could take it. I can absolutely take it! That was hilarious, intentional or not. And R thought it was brilliant too, so Bravo, RipVan. Bravo.

You can totally hang. Although, you're gonna need to check your filter at the door. H-E double hockey sticks, dude? Nah. Say Fuck. Everybody who reads this blog can take it.

My Vast Readership is Fuckin Awesome!