bruised...

what was meant to be a leisurely ride along a frequented bike path this week, led to a black and blue ankle and leg, with scraped palms to boot... it was an interesting chain of events really, as everyone in our small posse of two-wheelers walked away with a battle scar that night... not to mention the familiar face we saw on our way home, sprawled on the road after being pushed off his cycle... luckily we all walked away with cuts, scrapes and bruises... his fate was hospital-bound and the lingering pain and annoyance of a broken collarbone...

after a few days of chilling out and mending, we decided it might not be a bad idea to leave our abode and venture out to a party of strangers... alright, so we knew a few of those in our company, but it was primarily a concoction of locals that had a bond we were outside of...

the evening developed in laughs and cycles of flip cup and quarters... i hate to admit it, but i never felt comfortable in the environment... each conversation that led to "we should totally hang out sometime" left a sense of over-compensation in my mind and the confidence that we were both just being polite...

it's tough to break into a world that already has its roster... where is your place amongst the already bonded? unlike the world of university where it is open game to crash a room of strangers and welcoming to be a new face at the party, this small town stuff often can seem a bit more elite... some say there's a 45 minute rule -- get your social on for that period of time and then resort to continuing the goal of inebriated desire... both he and i promptly took that approach...

until you've been removed from the opportunity, i don't think one can truly grasp the concept of just how good it feels to be surrounded by unquestionable friends for an evening of self-entertainment... there's a challenge in being the new face in the room, which i don't shy away from -- but there is a definite comfort in being bombarded by old ones...