Cold, Busy Week

It's freezing out here now!! My ears will hurt after being outside for more than a minute, and my nasal passages will hurt so much from breathing in cold air that my eyes will tear up. It's the windchill that kills everything. The wind drops the temperature another 10 degrees.

Regardless, it's been a pretty busy February so far with work events, happy hours, and visiting friends. Last Tuesday, the Boy and I went to a hedgefund event at the Opera Gallery down in Soho where they were showing modern Chinese art while trying to sell software packages. There was wine, bread and cheese catered by Artisanal. It was all a very strange combination, but I went along with it to view the Chinese paintings and get my fill of Artisanal bread and cheese. These events are always fun for me as long as I'm with the Boy. Why? Because I'm not in the hedge fund industry so I don't need to schmooze with anyone just for the sake of schmoozing, and I don't need to be on my best behavior. I can enjoy the food and art without having to pay attention to anyone or feel out of place as long as the Boy is next to me to suck all of the attention away.

The event started at 6:00PM and was a 15 minute walk away from my work. It was a much further commute for the Boy coming in from Connecticut. We were supposed to meet there at 6:30PM and go in together. Technically, I wasn't invited, as the event was exclusive to people in hedge funds only. The Boy signed me up as an employee of his firm.

I got there 5 minutes early. Normally, I would have waited outside until the Boy showed up, but it was so freezing cold outside that I had no choice but to go in first. Crap! I was crashing an event that I wasn't invited to...alone. I knew that the Boy's trains would probably be delayed due to bad weather and estimated that it would probably be about 20 minutes before he showed up. Twenty minutes where I'd be in a room full of people, but would have to avoid contact with anyone. What was I supposed to say if people asked what I did, or how long I'd been in the industry, or where I'd worked, or what area I focused on?!

I can do this.

Hostess: Hello. Your name please?

Me: LANYTransplant.

Hostess: Ah, here you are, and it says here that you work for [Boy's firm]. Do you have a business card for us?

Crap! I pretended to look inside my wallet for one.

Me: Hmmm...can't seem to find one right now. I must have forgotten them.

Hostess: That's alright then. What area would you say your work focuses on?

I knew better than to get too creative with this one, but was probably a bit over my head with the answer.

Me: Quantitative research and analysis.

Hostess: Alright, then you get a purple bracelet to identify your group.

I asked the hostess to check if the Boy had come in yet. As she searched her list and asked around, I shoved the bracelet into my purse.

Hostess: Sorry, I don't think he's signed in yet.

I surveyed the crowd briefly and decided to get a glass of wine while waiting for the Boy. I waited by the main bar first, but it was so crowded that I decided to get a bit of food first. The bread and cheese table was really crowded, too, with people schmoozing and networking. I didn't want to seem to eager or aggressive, so I headed downstairs where I knew it would be nearly empty and I could easily get a glass of wine. I didn't want to look like a pig, so I decided to wait for the Boy to come before getting any food.

As always, no one was really paying attention to the art except for the loners and misfits who had no one to schmooze or network with. I sipped my glass of wine while admiring the art, careful not to spend too much time standing next to a fellow attendee admiring the same painting for fear that I might have to swap information about where I work and what I do. I wandered around awkwardly for about 15 minutes before the Boy finally showed up.

Thank god! I now got a plate and piled it with bread and cheese. Immediately, the Boy struck up a conversation with someone, and I blended pleasantly into the background. As everyone else daintily nibbled at their slices of bread and broke off small bits of cheese, I slapped a healthy slice of cheese in between two pieces of bread and ate it like a sandwich while paying very little attention to my company's conversation. As the boys talked, I scanned the room and people watched. I was enjoying myself now. When the conversation finished, I gave the Boy a tour of the paintings while we sipped on more wine.

It was a very cold night, so we headed back after this.