Going to a Party

While I was ill, the weather grew warmer. Now that I'm feeling better, it's gotten colder again. Lovely. It means that I needed to wear my heavy dress coat in order to attempt to prevent freezing in route to the party. It's not that my car doesn't get warm, because it does, but I don't like starting my car and letting it sit to warm up. Besides, I didn't know if I would need to walk around outside after parking my car and before getting inside. The coat is of the thick, heavy, woolen type of years gone by. It's dark colored and dressy, but it's not all that stylish I guess. Still, I would rather be warm than look cool.

As things turn out, there aren't street lights in the part of River Hills I was to go to for the party. In all honesty, I'm not all that familiar with River Hills, so maybe they don't have street lights at all. Even without lighting, my map was good enough to lead me directly to the house, well, mansion where the party was being held. This place was huge and modern and it looked like something out of a movie to me. It didn't look like a building I'd expect to see in Wisconsin. The building looked like boxes of different sizes assembled together. With the snow and the white of the building blending as they do, it looked quite odd indeed. I wondered if they had someone shovel off their flat roofs because the accumulation couldn't be good for the building in the long run.

The overhangs hold shadows, covering the windows in darkness. Small polite lights did their part to illuminate the path to the door but it did nothing to dispel the gloom. My frozen shoes clacked loudly on the pavement as I approached, alone and cold, excited and nervous, keen to get in and not being able to wait to go.

Not Looking Forward To This

I'm still not looking forward to this party. It's not so much the remnants of the cold that bother me, it's just the party itself. I don't mix very well. It's not that I can't or don't chat or anything like that, it's just that I'm not particularly outgoing when I'm surrounded by a number of unfamiliar people. There will be some people from work but that'll mostly be the other department heads and I'm not all that fond of most of them.

Besides, it's in River Hills. For those of you unfamiliar with the Greater Milwaukee Area, River Hills is the suburb where the Rich People live. There's a pecking order to the area suburbs, in a slightly joking manner, where the people in Glendale wish they lived in Whitefish Bay, and the Whitefish Bay people wish they lived in Fox Point, etc. Top of the list for a Milwaukee suburb is always River Hills. Some people might drag Mequon into this but it's not technically a suburb of Milwaukee and is big enough to not be completely ritzy. Besides, I think there are people in Mequon that wish they were in River Hills as well.

I've met people with wealth before, mostly in situations like this party. People with money aren't that different from people without money. Some are pleasant, some aren't. Some are money hungry, some not. Some like baseball, others don't. You get the idea.

Dealing with the uncomfortability of an unfamiliar situation is one thing. It's part exciting and part nerve wracking. The pressure to impress a group of rich folks so that they'll contribute to the cause, that I don't care for at all.

On the downside, I'm not allowed to drink any alcohol while at an event where I'm representing the school. On the upside, I'm not allowed to drink any alcohol. I can't use alcohol to relax me in any way but, at the same time, I'm less likely to get overly casual.

There's an advantage and disadvantage to getting the invitation on short notice. I don't have time to overthink the situation, which is a good thing. I'm also less likely to forget the appointment. On the downside, short notice irritates me. It's a side effect of my work. People regularly come to us at the last minute, making us scramble to assist instead of being able to plan things out and doing them properly. As a result, some people grow accustomed to the idea of approaching us at the last second, because we manage to still meet their need, and others complain about my department's failure, somehow not acknowledging their own part in the process.

I look forward to it being over and done.

'Invitation'

“Not doing anything on Friday are you?” Cuthbold asked. Without waiting for the answer, he continued. “Good, good.” I didn't recall having anything planned for Friday night but the idea of spending that evening shaking off the last of my cold appealed to me. I liked the idea of just resting. I was not allowed to articulate this position. As I began to protest, Cuthbold became a bit serious. It almost came to the point where he had to remove his glasses as part of a Serious Gesture. “Whatever it may be, cancel it. Your presence is required at this party.” Before I could comment on the short notice, I was cut off again. “You would have gotten the invitation last week but you were out ill that day. I know a week is still a bit short notice but we received the information a bit late ourselves.” His gaze grew distant. “One of our major contributors might be looking to up their donation. We need that funding Patrick.” He gave me the Serious Look again, this time accompanied by the removal of the glasses gesture to drive the point home. “Need that funding or jobs may be lost.”

I can take a hint. Things are a bit tight and no one is indispensable. I agreed. “Good!” The glasses were returned to his face. “Look forward to seeing you there. Dress well. Very well.” With that, he left me be.

Been Sick

I know a number of teachers. I suppose that's an obvious statement really as I work in an educational facility. I'm not a teacher insomuch that I don't have a class that I speak to or anything like that. With all the interns I have, teaching is part of what I do. Teachers tend to exist in a petri dish of illness, swimming in all the diseases that their students bring in. For some reason, I never seem to get sick like some of the teachers get sick. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I have a stronger immune system or perhaps I just don't get as exposed to as much of a mix of people than some teachers. The majority of my illnesses are really no big deal and I can continue to work through them, perhaps just spending more time in my office so as to lessen my impact on the rest of the group.

When I get Sick, I get Sick.

Some monster cold grabbed hold of me last week and knocked me low. I can tell it's bad when I decide I need to call in sick to work. I just don't do that. I think, on average, people are good for a few sick days a year, whether it's a physical illness or a mental health sort of thing. In the past decade I think I may have missed ten days, maybe, if that. I have to be Sick before I call in, so take that as a sign of how I felt.

If television and stand-up comics have taught me anything it is that men tend to become babies when they become ill, demanding that a woman take care of them. If this is true, then I am different in this regard as well. I just curl up in a ball and want to be left alone. Well, I don't mind being taken care of a bit but I don't pout and sulk and all that until someone does so.

That's why I thought it odd that Julia came over with lovely warm soup. It seemed very out of nowhere as I hadn't told her, or Chris for that matter, that I was ill. As it turns out, I told Sarah Jean in a communication that I don't even remember having with her and she told Julia, who then came to check on me. Which was nice. It was also nice to 'see' Sarah Jean and Julia getting along. I wasn't sure Julia liked her. There was some... unpleasantness when they met. Julia might blame me for that and, if so, rightfully so.

Feeling better now. Lots of work email to go through. Not enjoying that.