this date with Marshall or, "No, wait. I can explain."
I haven't written all that much about the people I've been working with for the last six months at the HelpDeskThisIsKimberley gig, in part because I pretty much just keep to myself and keep interactions limited to work-related questions. The people are all great (as far as I can tell, at any rate, with only The Douche excepted), but I'm not feeling it for letting too many people from what's still a temp gig into my personal life.
That said, there's Marshall. *facepalm* In describing him to friends out here, I've explained that to know him is to think "...oh, this will not end well." Usually while trying to maintain a poker face. He's just...well, in his soul, he still sports a long-ass mullet. His soul, people. He moved out here from Texas about the same time I moved from Chi-town. He loves playing team sports and wishes he didn't work on Sundays because he likes going to church for the sense of community. He's a people person in all the ways I am utterly misanthropic and anti-social. He's cheerfully loud and when he's not on a call, he's usually singing some stupid song or jingle ("Ch-ch-ch-chia!") at his desk in a surprisingly good barroom voice. He chats with everyone, jokes without being dickish, and just seems to be an all-around decent guy.
As it happens, he hasn't made any hanging-out buddies. He only had a few weeks of playing football before he sprained his ankle and a few weeks of softball before the weather turned. Oh, and a few weeks of playing basketball before he sprained his ankle again. (I think he sucks at sports with all the enthusiasm he plays them. It's kind of adorable in that "...oh, this will not end well" way that I mentioned he has about him.) The whole "what are you doing for New Year's" thing came up by way of polite conversation. I was surprised as hell when Marshall said he was on his own. He was bummed in a sincere but casually-dudeful way about not having anyone to hang out with for New Year's Eve. Personally, his notion of a lame New Year's -- just staying in and maybe watching a movie or something -- is my idea of a perfectly fine New Year's. I felt for him, though, because he's such a social creature and blah blah blah whatever see all the above.
Basically, compassion short-circuited self-preservation and I found myself inviting him to hang out with me and my friends that evening. Not that I had any plans with my friends at that point, mind. In the instant I extended the invite, I was determined in a deeply and profoundly panicked way that my friends would by damn be having some plans with me.
So. Now I'm looking at wrangling both Marshall and a set of twenty year-olds. Probably while all three are drunk and quite possibly drunk on utterly disgusting drinks. (His favorite beer? As in, the beer he will purposefully select and savor when given his choice of any beer in the world? Bud Light. Yeah. When he's not mixing Beam and Mountain Dew. My soul would die a little whenever I think about this if it weren't so busy throwing up each time instead.) The phrase "...oh, this will not end well" has rarely seemed more apt.
On the upside, 2010 will have to work pretty hard to go downhill from a start like that.
That said, there's Marshall. *facepalm* In describing him to friends out here, I've explained that to know him is to think "...oh, this will not end well." Usually while trying to maintain a poker face. He's just...well, in his soul, he still sports a long-ass mullet. His soul, people. He moved out here from Texas about the same time I moved from Chi-town. He loves playing team sports and wishes he didn't work on Sundays because he likes going to church for the sense of community. He's a people person in all the ways I am utterly misanthropic and anti-social. He's cheerfully loud and when he's not on a call, he's usually singing some stupid song or jingle ("Ch-ch-ch-chia!") at his desk in a surprisingly good barroom voice. He chats with everyone, jokes without being dickish, and just seems to be an all-around decent guy.
As it happens, he hasn't made any hanging-out buddies. He only had a few weeks of playing football before he sprained his ankle and a few weeks of softball before the weather turned. Oh, and a few weeks of playing basketball before he sprained his ankle again. (I think he sucks at sports with all the enthusiasm he plays them. It's kind of adorable in that "...oh, this will not end well" way that I mentioned he has about him.) The whole "what are you doing for New Year's" thing came up by way of polite conversation. I was surprised as hell when Marshall said he was on his own. He was bummed in a sincere but casually-dudeful way about not having anyone to hang out with for New Year's Eve. Personally, his notion of a lame New Year's -- just staying in and maybe watching a movie or something -- is my idea of a perfectly fine New Year's. I felt for him, though, because he's such a social creature and blah blah blah whatever see all the above.
Basically, compassion short-circuited self-preservation and I found myself inviting him to hang out with me and my friends that evening. Not that I had any plans with my friends at that point, mind. In the instant I extended the invite, I was determined in a deeply and profoundly panicked way that my friends would by damn be having some plans with me.
So. Now I'm looking at wrangling both Marshall and a set of twenty year-olds. Probably while all three are drunk and quite possibly drunk on utterly disgusting drinks. (His favorite beer? As in, the beer he will purposefully select and savor when given his choice of any beer in the world? Bud Light. Yeah. When he's not mixing Beam and Mountain Dew. My soul would die a little whenever I think about this if it weren't so busy throwing up each time instead.) The phrase "...oh, this will not end well" has rarely seemed more apt.
On the upside, 2010 will have to work pretty hard to go downhill from a start like that.