Wisconsin 101: Clueless

After my first book club meeting, which I have joined specifically to meet neighborhood women and make friends, because really, I don't need a club to read books.* I read on my own. I read voraciously. Yes, I watch trash TV, but not that much because my cheapness exceeds my desire for trash TV. My cheapness is relevant because our TV is in the basement and the heating down there stinks so I have to use a space heater, which means $$$$$$** so really I'd rather stay upstairs, which we are already paying to heat, and read books from the library that we are supporting with the money the government is taking from us.


Chilean kids.

Oh. Back to the story. So I have joined this book club, which, much to my relief, is a book club where they actually talk about the book. I went to a friend's book club in Memphis a few times. She is a lovely friend and her friends were lovely, I'm sure, but they didn't spend much time talking about the book and I really wanted to talk about the book. I mean, if I'm going to be at a book club, I do want to talk about the book. Or maybe gossip. But it's no fun to gossip if you don't know the people and I didn't know the other people at the Memphis book club.

So what do I do? There is a woman who says at the beginning of the meeting that she has joined so she can make new friends. Cool! Two of us who want to make new friends.


Chilean cowboys. And cows. Some might call them horses, but they do things differently in Chile.

At the end of the meeting, we walk out together. She notices I am walking home -- the meeting was two blocks from our house -- and offers to give me a ride home.

I decline.

She offers again.

Oh, no! I tell her. I can walk. I need the exercise.

She offers again.

I decline again. How dumb can I be? Do I need an engraved invitation, "Hey! Let's talk a little bit while I drive you home and see if we might want to be friends?" Thump me on the head, please.


Chilean fishermen.

* This sentence was supposed to be much shorter and really not even supposed to be a sentence, which it isn't. It was just supposed to set the scene. I guess I rambled a bit.

** Almost $300 a month for heating. That's with half the house closed off.