I went outside of my box and didn't get murdered (and made some new friends)

I got a random message earlier this month from a person I don't know inviting me over to their house the following day. This is how stories about people getting murdered start.

The invitation was for a NaNoWriMo write-in. That's where people meet under the guise of working on their novels when it's really just an excuse to eat snacks and gossip.

As a natural introvert, it goes against my nature to agree to things like this. But I'm also fairly alone in a town where I know a very limited number of people. I'm alone to the point that when I go to the doctor, I struggle with who to put down for an emergency contact. I had to put my boss down, since she's the reason I had to move here and probably the most relevant person to contact since she expects me to show up for work on time. (As an aside, I don't want to know what sort of things could happen during a pap smear that require me to list an emergency contact, and I'm afraid to find out.) So, against all my natural inclinations, I took a chance and accepted an invite to a random strangers house.

And you know what happened? It was a lot of fun! She turned out to me an amazing host who had these adorable gift bags for us that included tissues for when our writing doesn't go as planned and hair ties for when you gotta just pull back your hair and get to work. And coasters. Coasters are key, because if you don't have a beverage nearby when writing you're not human.

It was actually nice to make some friends. In this town, everyone I know is either through work or through my ex-boyfriend, so breaking into a new social circle was refreshing.

It just goes to show that sometimes it's worth it to get out of your comfort zone.

It's a good spot for a bottle opener

So a month ago when I went to my grandfather's funeral, we went to Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Sioux Falls the day after for mass, which was honestly the first time I'd been to a Sunday mass in years because I work weekends and generally can't go. In fact I hadn't been since they changed the wording a few years back...apparently it's no longer "and also with you" now it's "and with your spirit". I'm behind on the times.

The church was gorgeous. It was so extravagant it makes you go "damn, that's a lot of money they spent on all that marble that didn't go to helping people in need". I'm all for pretty flourishes but this place really takes it over the top.

They do have a cool feature though that I really appreciate, and that's bottle openers in the pews!

"Hush," my mom whispered to me. "They're not bottle openers."

"Are you sure? Because there's a whole lot of Catholic guilt in this building."

My mom glared at me. But I persisted.

"I thought maybe I missed part of the story of the Last Supper," I explained. "Like, Jesus was holding up bread and was all, 'here is my body', then he held up the wine and said 'here is my blood', and then he picked up a Bud Light and his disciples stopped him there."

"It's not a bottle opener. It's a hat clip," my mom said rolling her eyes.

I still think it's a bottle opener.

Also apparently at least at the churches we went to there, the wine at communion is no longer a thing? I don't know if that's a regional thing or what but I was very disappointed. Overall my first mass in years was 3 out of 5 stars: decor was too extravagant, no wine, homily felt watered-down, but bottle openers in pews and a semi-hot ginger priest made me give it a couple extra stars.