Today I received an invitation to an event that I really want to go to. It's cultured, informative, and on a topic that surprisingly is of interest to me. Surprising because as girly girl as I am this is probably the most ungirliest of topics. So here's my dilemma. Do I bring a date, bring a friend, or go solo???

Bringing a date would be cool. It's a masculine topic and my interest in it would probably score brownie points. And the after event conversation would be great because it wouldn't be about my past, his past, feelings blah, blah, blah. However, the event is Friday, February 15. The day after Valentine's Day. And I don't want anyone thinking I'm trying to finagle a Vday date out of them. I would imagine that any guy I ask to this event would think "Oh shiiit. Now I have to buy her something since its the day after Valentine's Day, and she'll be expecting something." Now I could sidestep the whole issue by just putting it out there "Hey, I just really want to go to this event. Don't bring me no damn 50% off box of chocolates just because its so close to Valentine's Day". I know I'm probably over thinking this a bit but that's the inner workings of my suspicious but over-imaginative mind.

Now, I could ask a friend to go. Taking a friend would be cool. I can have someone to talk to about the event and about the people attending the event. There's always bound to be someone who does something funny/cute/ignorant/thought-provoking that I could turn to the person with me and converse with about said act without having to explain what happened. They were right there with me to witness it all unfold. Now a friend could be male or female. I know almost for a fact that most likely none of my female friends would go with me. I would get the side eye when I tell them the topic like "You want me to spend a Friday night looking at WHAT?????!!!!" or "Girrrrrl, I got a date" or "Girrrrl, don't ask me; take a date". So that leaves me with my male friends. In mulling my plus one dilemma, I realized that either my male friends live too far away to ask, have prior committments, or have fallen off because a) their woman doesn't approve of female friends and its not worth the headache to keep my friendship, b) their attempts to get at the bootay is transparent/has failed/is history or c) some miscommunication between us has led to the call only on holidays and birthdays status. I need more male friends. Wait let me rephrase that. I need mature, secure, fun male friends who are not trying to get in my boyshorts and whose significant other is understanding of my "friend with absolutely no bootay benefit" status. I realize that the older we get the harder it is to make those kind of friends. I had a plethora of male friends in college who now mostly have scattered in the wind. Sigh. Maybe I need a Will to my Grace, a Jack to my Karen kind of friend. In contemplating my plus one for this event, a gay male friend probably would have been perfect for this event, but alas, I haven't cast that role in my circle of friends. At least I don't think I have. hahahahaha

So my other option is to ditch my plus one and go solo to this event. Going solo would rid me of the "is my plus one having a good time?" guilt. I can stay as long as I want, leave early if I choose, mingle if I dare without worrying about my plus one. I can enjoy the event without distraction and get completely lost in my thoughts on said event. But who do I talk to? Who do I share a giggle with? Who will hold my purse while I get another glass of wine? Who do I give the other glass of wine to when I return from the bar double fisting?? Who do I turn to at the end of the event and say 'This was nice" or "This sucked ass"???

I thought that by the time I finished this blog I would be closer to a decision on my dilemma. This is after all "my sanctuary of clarity". Not today, my friend. I'm more confused than when I started. I turned to my guy guru du jour (Rashad) and he too could not guide me onto the path of what the hell I'm going to do either. Why the hell does two simple words, "plus one", have to be so damn complicated???? But who is more complicated - "plus one" or me? Sigh....