I have been working from home since December 5th, 2010. Inching closer and closer to the one year mark of solitude filled working and a life where the "people" I interact with the most both have four legs, and fur.
Each time I meet someone new and I tell them I work from home they give me this side eye look where they question if I'm actually the sort of person who's a hoarder and "working from home" actually means, "hanging out with my 1200 cats, buried in boxes, where I sleep upright in a rocking chair because it's the only place in my house not covered in shit."
And I get it. I don't get out very much anymore.
Between the working from home and not having a car, this lady doesn't interact face to face with many people on a daily basis.
The thing that is starting to scare me is that this doesn't bother me.
I know right?
I DON'T CARE THAT I'M BASICALLY A FUNCTIONING HERMIT.
I mean, I have friends. I meet them for happy hour, or weekend dinners at their house. We go to bars, hockey games (first game this weekend! Yeah hockey!), meet up for BBQs. I make phone dates to catch up with friends who live in other states and cities. I interact via email, phone and Skype with my coworkers 40+ hours a week, and I also have this crazy world of the internet/blogosphere filled with comments, Facebook and Twitter. So I mean, PEOPLE, I have them!
But the fact I'm not crawling out of my skin makes me wonder if there's some screw loose.
Am I supposed to feel like something is missing? Should this suck balls?
I do notice some ways that working from home has changed me though. Because I mostly work in yoga pants, when I do go grocery shopping or have errands to run I find myself getting dressed up in full on OUTFITS. Yesterday for my trip to the grocery store my outfit was downright adorable and required much primping. To buy groceries.
I'm toying with the idea of "getting out more," possibly even taking a stab at joining the local derby team here in Anchorage, but the thing that stops me every single time is the idea that although joining derby would be insanely fun, allow me to meet a bunch of new people, and enable me to take back up my alter ego Ash'n Burn, which I loved so much, the catch is I'd actually have to ATTEND PRACTICE. Often. I would have to take time out of my solitary life of ME to be somewhere a couple times a week.
Maybe it's because the last team I was on felt like it was trying to steal my free time and my happiness, maybe I was way too over scheduled as a kid playing 9 months out of the year travel softball, or maybe it's because suddenly I'm a hermit, but the idea of even three days a week where I HAVE to be somewhere at a set time sort of gives me hives.
So looking at this entire package, I can only conclude that the fact that I'm holding back from joining derby again because I don't like the idea of being on someone else's schedule makes me wonder if I need my head examined.
Oh my God you guys, I'm on the road to full fledged hermit-ville. Aren't I?
So the 
