Shoe money tonight!

I'm excited: tonight is poker night for my department, a whim of Biceps' which Bosslady decided merited a little more followthrough than some of our other ideas (say, the construction of the Redhead's box fort). You would think that, given that I spend a significant portion of my week with these people, I wouldn't be thrilled at the prospect of devoting my Saturday night to them as well, but on the other hand, work at the bookstore doesn't usually involve classy beer and minor gambling.

I think fictional President Josiah Bartlet summed it up best in one of my favorite episodes of The West Wing: "I don't know why, but nothing makes me feel quite so good as the sight of colleagues, enjoying each other outside work." (The episode in question is "The Crackpots and These Women".) While my colleagues don't have quite the frenetic charm of a Josh Lyman, the gawky grace of a C.J. Cregg, or the sardonic, "the world is going to hell" humor of a Toby Zeigler, I'm fond of them, and it'll be entertaining to spend time with them in a less professional environment (though I'm sure Bosslady would make some comment about how we could hardly get less professional, some days).

Hard to say why the appeal of social events with people I work with is so compelling, or why I find it so enjoyable when fictional characters do the same thing. Maybe it's because, for the first time, I'm in a job where my colleagues aren't my fellow students or my housemates. If I want to see them outside of work, it has to be a conscious choice. I hardly ever have a chance to bicker with my colleagues over who's better at chopping onions or compare references for that hefty paper. We don't go on school trips to foreign countries together. If I want to spend a Saturday evening mingling with the people I'm usually rearranging books with, it must be planned. It's a good sign that we get along well enough to agree to this. After all, we could just meet up again on Monday. The office part is a curious phenomenon; at least I am assured that ours will not be quite so awkward as those on The Office (though less carefully planned).

I imagine our work-friendship will stand the test of one evening playing poker. After all, the buy-in is low and so is the potential for tipsy shenanigans. And it won't be as idyllic or moving as Sorkin's various descriptions of colleagues playing poker (Sports Night's "Shoe Money Tonight", The West Wing episodes "Mr. Willis of Ohio" and "Evidence of Things Not Seen", among others), but I imagine there will be plenty of laughs. And hey, I finally have something to do on a Saturday night.