Put your paw out. Shake!

Last night I went out to the regular monthly meeting of the Houston Area Bears (HAB). They have dinner at a restaurant and then use the party room upstairs for the meeting.

I pulled into the parking lot and saw a couple of nice looking guys getting out of their truck. I disembarked and waited as an older guy was leaving the restaurant with his take out. He looks at me and says, "There's some beard and mustache convention in there that I guess you're going to." I politely told him, yes I was, and left it at that. Why do I always get these questions from people?

I entered the restaurant and saw them at the table right in front, and went over and said, "Hi, I'm Michael." Of course you expect someone to ask you how long you've been an alcoholic, and I wasn't disappointed. I just laughed.

I think the group was a little unsure about me, as one of them asked me if I was there for the "prayer meeting." I just smiled and said, "Yes, I'm expecting some good fellowship and a real spiritual breakthrough tonight. Blessed Be." He seemed satisfied by my cynical answer.

So after a little dinner, we went upstairs. The meeting room isn't the choicest, but hey, what are you going to do?

Once again, I'm horrible at names, so I've forgotten almost every person's name that I met. There were two other new people at the meeting, one, who I think was Chad, who didn't look old enough to have scruff (and didn't) and James who had just moved into town from Chicago. The only person I knew there was Bruce, but I had seen some of the others at BearWatch last month. When it came time to tell the crowd who I was, I stated my full name (I've gotten past such things, and my name's so damn common, it doesn't really matter) told them I was a long time Houstonian (well, Houston area, but it's still true) and that they may have seen me at BearWatch (some more than others...*grin*).

The meeting was like expected. It was just like an old fraternity meeting. Here's what we're doing, here's our budget, a committee head has left, who wants to take it, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary, just with older guys.

After the meeting I struggled with my usual wallflower-ness and actually went to meet some of the other people. Yes, there were some good looking guys, but I wasn't capable of doing more than a handshake with most of them. I know I could have gotten hugs, and did from a couple of them, but I didn't press the issue.

I still live in a space where men shake hands when they meet. I remember a few months back when I first met Matty, and I put out my hand, and he shook it, but he added, aww, come on, we hug here (he and Randy had hugged and kissed in the restaurant a few seconds prior to this, causing an interesting look from the table next to us). I hugged Matty and thought...The world is a little different, here.

I talked to a few people, just trying to get a feel for some of them. I ended up speaking to the guy who coaches the softball team, and we talked about the upcoming rugby season. The rugby coach was also in attendance. Cool.

I went home, listening to the Astros wrap-up on the Radio (and grabbing some ice cream therapy to calm the nerves I had had from the meeting). Wow, the team had no-hit the Yankees. They set a record for using 6 pitchers in the no-no. That's incredible. How often do you see a whole pitching staff be so on? This is the Astros first trip to Yankee stadium, so you would think they would be all nervous. Plus the Yankees are pretty good. I was also happy to see Lance Berkman hit a huge home run into the upper deck of the historic ballpark.

I haven't been to a single game this year. I need to get there. I will be at the Ballpark in Arlington for the Rangers-Astros series on June 21st. Anyone want to go?

I also talked to Chris for a while on the phone. A good day all around.