I went to my first NJYP mixer last night. Three words: hor-ri-ble.

First of all, I was the first one there (natch), and it turns out the evening's host is a journalist who uses my company's service. So we talked about the service for about 15 minutes before the next person showed up. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't necessarily want to talk about work when I'm not at work. There are so many more interesting topics to talk about -- like root canals, colonoscopies, third-world hunger.

Second of all, it wasn't so much a networking social as it was a meat market. Yes, any time you put women and men together in the same place, especially a bar, that will happen. But I was hoping for something more along friendship lines, introductions to other people. We were pretty much left on our own. Hello? If I didn't have trouble going up to people and introducing myself to them, I wouldn't need the NJYP, okay?

Third, the bartender stole my money. Ok, it was only $4, but still ... I bought a diet coke, and left the change next to my purse, and after a couple of minutes, the change was gone. Now, I'm not a bad tipper; I always leave at least 20 percent. But 400 percent?!? Um, no. I don't care if you are really cute.

But I am not giving up hope. I will march on. There's another gathering tomorrow in Bayonne, so I'm going to go anyway. It'll probably suck, but hey, let's be realistic here -- what else have I got to do?