Misantrophy? Or just plain unbalanced?

So it's the housewarming jaunt for me this first 3-day weekend of June. I decided to forgo the bash in Zambales and the Pagudpud outing with my college batchmates. Whuuut?! Although it doesn't sound like me at all (I haven't passed on a single invite since post-college), they both share a common reason why I begrudgingly indulged myself to bask under the nice, summer sun: I am becoming more and more antisocial - or so I think. Maybe I'm just not into meeting new acquaintances (note the 's', obviously it's more than one, and it's not just two either) and staying with them for more than a day to enjoy the beach together and get the acquaintance meter up to the friendly-friends level (I miss The Sims). Pathetic, eh?

There's actually a justification why anyone (by this I mean any introvert, hehe) would make a decision similar to mine, I think. Maybe somehow they'll agree with me on this. First fact: The first invite, 'the bash', originally included less than 10 of my officemates from other groups. They're already acquaintances and somehow we've already established this nod-or-smile-whenever-we-pass-by-each-other kind of relationship. So I think it's okay to join the group. The invite was sent via e-mail weeks before the trip and it didn't get much replies (either the invitees replied to the sender only, or talked to him directly). A few days before the trip, I confirmed if it's still a go because I and one groupmate would like to come. The answer's yes but, the participants have changed. There were now a total of 17, and it now involves family and college friends we barely knew. I'm so not used 'anymore' to large packed outings...

Which reminds me of my last Palawan getaway with my college friends last February (that will lead to the second fact, and the second invite). Of all the outings we've had, that was the first time there were more than one invitee who's not our batchmate. There were officemates, a sister and her boyfriend, and a boyfriend and his friend. I won't digress to expound on our 5-day adventure, just check this out...

L-R: Ley, Jaq, Me, Eric

The end result is that for me, it was okay except for the part where we couldn't do something as one whole group. Example: Breakfast - we don't wake up all at the same time (all 20 peeps? go figure); Diving - we were halved, first half went snorkeling (including me), second half went scuba diving (aawwww); Dinner - some wanted to eat here, some wanted to eat there; Drinking session - some bogged down early, some don't. Nevertheless, I'm grateful I got in a group where my 2 closest mates and her sis w/ bf are the coolest, so I still enjoyed the whole shebang.

On to the second fact and invite: to revisit Pagudpud with good ol' college batchmates. Frustratingly, there were more newcomers than the last trip. Enough said, I passed. So I figured, maybe the kind of vacation that will fit me is this: with only 3 to 4 friends to bond with and enjoy the summer with. That way, we get to do whatever we want to do "together" and "all the time". We can stay in one room, wake up at the same time, eat breakfast together, get drunk together, play something together, etc. In other words, there'll be no factions, no trying to figure out where the other group might be, no hurrying up coz the other groups are already somewhere else and we're way behind, no whatever else subgroups of a group tend to do in a supposed to be fun and memorable experience that is a summer vacation.

Oh well, I'm glad I get to bond more with my groupmates in their pad: Stolich and Sochu are the best (they're not persons, for those who don't know them, hehe).