My First Munch

 I know I promised education rather than self-reflection, but I think that a quick story time can serve both goals quite handily.

My first munch... was not technically my first munch.

Oh god, I've now lied twice in as many blog posts. This is not a good start.

Technically for my first munch, I was still in college, and a friend dragged me along because she was scared and knew I was also interested in the community. It was in a food court, I had a great time and even went out to a restaurant with a bunch of people after the mall closed down. All in all, a great success, even if I never went to another munch in that city again.

My second munch was with my then-partner, during which we wandered around until someone deigned to talk to us. One particular guy was very obviously interested in me, so my ex made up an excuse that there was a server down that he had to attend to and we left. It is important to note that we were fully monogamous - had I been poly at that point I would have handed him the keys and continued chatting.

The munch that I want to really dig into, therefore, was technically my third munch. But it was my first one solo, not in a monogamous relationship, and not knowing anyone there already. So I count it.

It was a year after the aforementioned partner broke up with me. My roommate, normally the pinnacle of introverts, was at a concert and meeting their internet friends for the first time ever, and I started to think about my own bare-bones social life. I decided to Google the community calendar and plan to go to the next public event.

Oh shit. The next event started in 5 hours.

What's a girl to do?

Put on her big girl panties and keep a promise to herself, apparently.

It started at seven, so I showed up precisely at seven. I trudged up the long flight of stairs past the sign indicating (subtly) what event was being held, and saw a giant room full of people centered around a full bar. Instant panic. Luckily there was a seat at the bar open, so I slid in and cast my eyes down at the menu, praying it would save me.

Two Diet Pepsis (ew) and a full HOUR later, I managed to glance at my neighbor, who was chowing down on a delicious looking lobster roll. I commented that it looked fantastic, and that my standards were high, coming from Cape Cod.

The rest of the night? A delirious blur.

I know that he pulled another fellow into our conversation and they started talking D&D, which I had never played but was vaguely familiar with, and then someone else joined the conversation and I got pulled from my seat to go meet a group of women who were all discussing a scene.

I know that I bonded immediately with a woman around my age over our favorite anime and the impending remake.

I know that I watched her discuss a scene with another woman, who seemed delighted at the idea of tormenting her with birthday cake.

I distinctly remember starting as someone screeched "NO MORE GROWNUPS" when she realized that everyone who identified as a Big had gone, and there were only Littles and non-ageplayers left. I received immediate reassurance, when I expressed confusion, that everyone present was over 18, and laughed at myself a little.

I remember squealing joyfully when I realized that the woman I was talking to was also good friends with one of our vanilla friends, who had actually offered to accompany me that night. We spent a good fifteen minutes singing her praises and comparing notes.

I mostly remember a particular gentleman who joined the circle of women at one point and struck up a conversation with me, with gentle reassurances about it being my first time and descriptions of scenes he had participated in with the people in the circle. He even showed me some pictures of his costumes from various parties, and when the night was done offered to walk me to my car.

One week later, he kissed me, and we've been together ever since.

Now maybe in the future I will go over each of these moments and dissect them, with an eye for what to do/what not to do at your first munch. Don't sit alone for an hour, for example. But for right now I'm content to leave this as an example of what can happen when you put yourself out there. 

Especially when there's lobster rolls involved.

P.S. The gentleman? I realized an embarrassingly long time later that he was the overly-interested fellow who caused my ex to feign a computer injury. Like, months-into-the-relationship later. But that's a story for another time.