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 cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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 MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At  2
#15777808 - 02/08/12 08:21 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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i've been a member of MeetUp for close to two months now and during that time i've become a member of a chess group that meets every Sunday at a very cool coffee house that has awesome food and music. so far there are 15 people who have shown up regularly and we play 3 one hour games of semi speed. of course it being an odd number of members one person is left holding the bag but they walk from table to table looking at everyone's game plan. everything is on the fly draw so you can play an extremely powerful opponent and get a work out! we spend about an hour shooting the breeze and munching out, so i waste about 4+ hours with new friends. one of them offered me a friggin job managing maintenance in large commercial buildings because of my HVAC/R back ground and education. i've explained to him that i am working part time at the moment for my old company in support as i get back up to speed on the technical changes that have occurred after being out of the loop for over 8 years. i told him i spend most of the 16-24 hours per week reading technical manuals, because the phone barely rings, our shit is that bullet proof. he told me to think about it though and i said i will...
i joined a mindfulness Meditation group located right in my home town believe it or not and to boot one of the primary members is good friends with John Haglin who i did campaign work for when i was younger when he ran for president under the natural law party for two campaigns. i mean what are the odds??? we meet twice each month on Friday early evening then grab a bite to eat afterwords sometimes...
i joined a photography group run by a professional photographer who is into teaching newbies how to use their camera's to take great shots. i've got plenty experience with my cameras but his tips are awesome plus he has offered many to work with him on week end projects or week days if we're available! i've only hooked up with that group twice so far though, they've met much more often then that. the dude is incredibly generous...
this Saturday i'm going to my very first canning group meeting being led by an old lady in Princeton new jersey, which really isn't that far from me. when my brother in law found out he said, "i'll teach you how to can!" and i said "look tom, i know you know your shit but come on man, this is an old lady we're talking about here dude! i'm sure she knows shit you don't!" and guess what? he's coming with me!!!
this morning i logged onto the website to re-familiarize myself with it and decided to plug in "music" and it popped down about 10 choices and i selected "musician" just to see if i can hook up with others interested in jamming... let's see what happens, because i get flooded with offers to join all kinds of groups based on my plugged in interests. seriously, everyday i get at least 5-10 offers to join others groups they have started. actually thousands because attached to those individual offers are links to hundreds of groups in my area, the only reason why the one was predominant was because they searched for me!!! that's right! you can start a group of your own and search for members based on their interests... are you a single parent looking to hook up with others? do you play the ukelele and you want to hook up with others who play well? you can even hook up with mushroom foragers in your area because i plugged that in there too but have only bookmarked the two offers i received! right now i'm too busy playing chess and wanting to learn how to can my own foods! i'll get around to them though as i have a deep interest in this. one of them is the mycological society i used to belong to years ago! if i decide to join this time i'll make it a point not to bring up actives because that unnerved people years ago!  although the guest speaker told me that there may be actives in new jersey... Hmmmmm....... 
i mean the possibilities are really endless with MeetUp... it all boils down to your profile and your willingness to interact with others... people are out there and they want to meet YOU! here's a brief video and below it is a link to MeetUp... if you use the free service and you hook up with others due to this please consider commenting just to keep what i feel will be a great resource for others looking to hook up with others either due to real interests or just to make new friends, because trust me, you will make new friends who share your passions... when you plug in your personal interests it will prompt you to determine how far you are willing to travel in these following increments... 5... 10... 25... 50 and 100 miles if i remember correctly...
by the way, this is available all over the world because when i logged onto the main website they have a very active right hand column of individuals who just accepted an invitation and before i logged on there were acceptations from Brittan, Germany, Australia and Canada on top of a boat load from the US, this shit is all over the world and they want to meet you!
What It's Like to Meetup
MeetUp.com
i really hope that someone gets something positive out of this. PeaCe2U all...
K~~~ 
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 foliocb
Self-destruction...
Registered: 07/14/08
Posts: 1,070
Last seen: 10 hours, 22 minutes
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 Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15779882 - 02/08/12 06:12 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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couchsurfing.org is another good site too, been hosting people for 3.5 years and they all hosted me when i was in europe for 6 months last year. both are great social networking sites, screw facebook.
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wat
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: foliocb]
#15780195 - 02/08/12 07:20 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
foliocb said:
couchsurfing.org is another good site too, been hosting people for 3.5 years and they all hosted me when i was in europe for 6 months last year. both are great social networking sites, screw facebook.
couchsurfing looks awesome bro... it's strange, i just logged on and watched their video explaining it and decided to look into it further and the website knew where i lived! that's fucking bizarre, no real anonymity on the net any longer it seems, no worries though. i'm going to talk to my wife about becoming a host since it seems like a safe, moderated thing. i became good friends with a guy named Omercan(pronounced Omerjohn) from turkey on the ICC chess server and he hooked up with some psycho bitch who lured him to come to live with her here in the US in chat sessions on the server. she sent him old pics and lied about how fucked up her kids were... the first night he met her he was like HOLY SHIT BRO! this bitch lied! he was obviously miserable and after three days i talked with my wife and we invited him to come up north as she was from south carolina. i picked him up at the bus terminal in Newark NJ, we had never seen each other before and we knew right away who each other was man, it was that bizarre... anyway we hit it off so well that he ended up living with us and starting school to complete his education at Rutgers in computer science, one of my sisters is a computer science educator. he stayed with us for almost two years and early on the psycho bitch showed up on my doorstep at like 2 in the morning looking for him and making a scene. my wife was angry as all hell and told her to leave but she told her and i to fuck off and continued acting out with Omercan. when my wife got the cell phone to call the police the bitch jumped in her car and attempted to drive off but the cops caught her as she was trying to get on 287 and arrested her after discovering she was drunk, and not only was she drunk but we learned she left her two children home alone at the ages of six and nine i think? other then the crazy chick at our door my experience with Omercan was so positive i'm hoping my wife would be into hosting, not really sure how many people visit new jersey but as long as i'm not dealing with scumbags looking for a free couch for the week I'd be into it... if someone could prove to me that they are legitimate travelers I'd be into it and i believe Cheryl would too assuming it's safe...
as far as Facebook goes, i joined only to become a friend of a friend as a favor to him... he only has three friends, including myself... my profile is invisible to everyone else but him.... i went to a high school reunion recently because my wife wanted to meet the peeps i used to talk about and everyone was worried i had died or something because i wasn't on Facebook! when i tried to explain why i don't do Facebook only a small handful knew where i was coming from and that was only because they felt the same way and never started accounts or remain invisible themselves... that Facebook hurt a lot of people, especially children who were vulnerable to attacks, fuck that shit, they should be able to permanently ban people by IP but they don't plus, Facebook cooperates with the police on any small case, fuck that! and fuck Facebook! i understand they are going public at 30 bucks a share.... well i'll invest my money in dog piss before i invest in a Facebook IPO...
as far as MeetUp goes, this site is so dynamic man, i can't even describe it really, i honestly can't do it justice which is why i included the video.... these people in the video are not kidding at the quality of people you meet... they are out there and they are looking for U!!! anything, any interest at all... even if it isn't part of the normal search query, i believe you cab plug it in. this morning i changed my willingness to travel from 50 miles to 25 and i'm still getting a lot of invites today, i'm just not getting the new york area which is completely crazy with MeetUp groups! new york is a very happening MeetUp culture...
so anyway, thanks for the couch surfing site... this might become another thing i get involved with... Kudos!
PeaCe2U...
K~~~
Edited by cateyes (04/25/12 06:37 AM)
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Black_Sunset
Amateur Anesthesiologist
Registered: 11/16/08
Posts: 1,058
Loc: Somewhere California
Last seen: 2 days, 8 hours
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15780545 - 02/08/12 08:38 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Hey Kensho! You referred me from Tai Chi  . This site looks amazing!! I'm checking it out right now.
As for couchsurfing, it's totally safe and fun. I've surfed in Panama and Corsica, but the people are super friendly everywhere. It's a great way to meet people when you're traveling, or who are traveling if you're hosting. Typically, if someone stayed with you it's kind of just whatever you want to do. Hangout, cook them dinner, go out, show them around town, tell them cool local things to checkout - whatever you want!
Everyone has their own profile so you can see what kind of person they might be before they get there. But really, everyone is really cool. You sound like good host material
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foliocb
Self-destruction...
Registered: 07/14/08
Posts: 1,070
Last seen: 10 hours, 22 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: Black_Sunset]
#15780581 - 02/08/12 08:49 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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CS is where its at. Ive hosted dozens of singles/couples and been hosted about 20 times and have never had a bad experience yet(though they do happen of course so meet em in town before you decide to bring em to your door step)
everything is free and unofficial, and ive made tons of friends oversees who all still visit me to this day. everyone interested in traveling(inside&out) should consider being a part of CS
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wat
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domesticgnome
Registered: 04/22/11
Posts: 837
Loc: For me to know and you to...
Last seen: 3 days, 13 hours
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: foliocb]
#15782154 - 02/09/12 03:36 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Damn, that shit looks tight. I joined, and hopefully I'll be able to meet some new people. It's so hard to find anything to do around memphis. Hopefully these people can help me expend some of my excess energy. Thanks for the post.
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Didn't one of them go Baptist so he could play basketball?
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: domesticgnome]
#15782257 - 02/09/12 04:43 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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you're very welcome bro... make sure to bump this post if it works out for you! i'm hoping to keep this on the radar so to speak, because i've met too many cool people for this not to work for others...
PeaCe2U and good luck!
Kensho 
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: Black_Sunset]
#15782283 - 02/09/12 05:09 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Cool Black_Sunset... i'm glad you like it... i thought about our exchange and plugged in Tai Chi and it popped downed at least ten options for Tai Chi so i figure at least one of those options should pull through for you. i saw one for beginners, whether that was territory specific i'm really not sure though...
how do you do that magnify option in your sig? not that i want to do that right now but it would be nice to know how to do that, also where can i locate the left image in your sig or do i just pull it from this server?
in any event, i really hope MeetUp works out for you in particular and i promise to continue to search for the Tai Chi videos of my neighbor for you, if worse comes to worse, i'll just drive by there one nice morning and re film it for you...
PeaCe2U...
K~~~
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 7,740
Loc: colorado
Last seen: 8 hours, 23 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15782332 - 02/09/12 05:43 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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I forgot about this stuff somehow. I just moved to this here town so this seems like a great way to meet some new people. Thanks for the rec! There are like a gillion postings listed; I think I shall be entertained for quite some time.
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"plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: All We Perceive]
#15782378 - 02/09/12 06:54 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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aww man... i'm glad this is going to work for you especially... keep us updated on how you make out! OK?
K~~~
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 7,740
Loc: colorado
Last seen: 8 hours, 23 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15782384 - 02/09/12 06:58 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Will do. Looks like there's some cool stuff going on this weekend. I'll check in and let you cats know how it went. 
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"plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 7,740
Loc: colorado
Last seen: 8 hours, 23 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15784930 - 02/09/12 07:46 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Do you like talk about your feelings? Do you find yourself getting lost in Oprah’s recommended reading? Does progressive storytelling scare you? If you said yes to any of these questions, read no further. You won’t like us and we probably won’t like you.
This book club is the Anti-Oprah Super Awesome Book Club. We don’t want to read anything too uplifting or so sweet it makes us nauseous. In fact, this book club likes to read stories where things blow up, people get fucked, and violence happens regularly. The stories we like reading are along the vein of American Psycho, House of Leaves, and Geek Love. Oh, and it’s a plus if the books have robots in them, just saying.
However, we’re into a wide array of genres. We’re not snobs or anything. We just hate melodrama. Once we gather enough awesome people we’ll meet every four weeks or so to discuss the violence and fucking while drinking wine and eating awesome food. It’s pretty much going to be the greatest thing ever.
I think I have found the group for me haha. Who doesn't love robots???? There's also some meditation ones that I'm going to check out. Once I get some snow pants maybe I'll do a hiking one too. .
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"plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: All We Perceive]
#15787343 - 02/10/12 07:59 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
All We Perceive said:
Quote:
Do you like talk about your feelings? Do you find yourself getting lost in Oprah’s recommended reading? Does progressive storytelling scare you? If you said yes to any of these questions, read no further. You won’t like us and we probably won’t like you.
This book club is the Anti-Oprah Super Awesome Book Club. We don’t want to read anything too uplifting or so sweet it makes us nauseous. In fact, this book club likes to read stories where things blow up, people get fucked, and violence happens regularly. The stories we like reading are along the vein of American Psycho, House of Leaves, and Geek Love. Oh, and it’s a plus if the books have robots in them, just saying.
However, we’re into a wide array of genres. We’re not snobs or anything. We just hate melodrama. Once we gather enough awesome people we’ll meet every four weeks or so to discuss the violence and fucking while drinking wine and eating awesome food. It’s pretty much going to be the greatest thing ever.
I think I have found the group for me haha. Who doesn't love robots???? There's also some meditation ones that I'm going to check out. Once I get some snow pants maybe I'll do a hiking one too.
that group sounds so interesting, i wish there were something like that here. not only are robots cool but aliens are my real interest! what type of search did you do for them to reach out to you or did you look them up? my mindfulness meditation group is awesome... some of the coolest peeps i've ever met! i'm looking forward to how this MeetUp turns out for you, quite honestly i think you hit a home run on this one! i love your gremlin too man...
Kensho <----- brother from another planet...
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 7,740
Loc: colorado
Last seen: 8 hours, 23 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15790137 - 02/10/12 10:38 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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I just browsed through the list of groups like 8 or 9 pages deep. There's north of 1500 groups here so there's a lot of variety. I guess the book got mixed or something so they had to postpone the book discussion until march but they are grabbing some food and wine in 2 weeks. I'll probably go. I usually feel pretty uncomfortable in situations where I don't know anyone but it seems the only way to get over it is to do it up. Seems like the only way to get jobs these days is through knowing people in the right places. 
I plan on doing a meditation group or two as well. I've been pretty stressed about finding a job as of late so it would be good for the peace of mind. Haha thanks! The nazgul in lotr are pretty fucking badass and that picture reminded me of them.
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"plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
Edited by All We Perceive (02/10/12 10:48 PM)
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 7,740
Loc: colorado
Last seen: 8 hours, 23 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15821884 - 02/17/12 03:39 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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So I went to my first meetup on Tuesday. It was a free meditation group at this library in the south part of town. It was so/so. The facilitator had a small lecture in the beginning about stressors and such. It was really oversimplified which was kind of frustrating. For example, the facilitator would proclaim, "stressors lead us to feel tense" and then ramble about that for a while. All I could think was duhhh.  I guess it was understandable though given about half the people there had no idea what meditation was about.
We then meditated for about 30 minutes or so which was rad. I haven't meditated in a good while so that felt great. After that, the facilitator tried to sell us on this 3 day course for like 250 bucks where we would learn a "meditation technique which required close supervision" at some nearby church. Again, this is understandable but the cost seemed outrageous for something that was only 2 half days and one 8 hour block. The facilitator kept pressing it over and over and over and just recycling what she already said about how we should join her retreat thing.  I guess this lady just recycles people through the meetup and tries to pick up people for her retreat.
There is another meditation meetup on Tuesday with a different group so I'm going to try that one. There is another meetup next Saturday for the halfway to the next book discussion. I guess they got the book mixed up or something so they are going to get some drinks and food and chill for this month's meetup. Places where I don't know anyone and there is no real "purpose" with which I could occupy myself if I don't instantly click with someone there have always been pretty uncomfortable for me so hopefully I'll enjoy myself. Being able to flourish in that kind of situation seems like one of the best life skills to have so I intend on keeping at it until it's at least usually enjoyable.
I'll update after the next meditation meetup. Cheers Shroomery! 
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"plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
Edited by All We Perceive (02/17/12 03:42 AM)
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: All We Perceive]
#15822342 - 02/17/12 08:33 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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i read your post moments after you put it up but decided to check to see if MeetUp has any policies regarding solicitation but they don't. i'm sorry you had to go through that but the canning MeetUp was awesome as we each received printouts in folders for nothing and she provided something to drink throughout the MeetUp and we're meeting a total of two more times. as i said, my brother in law who has been canning for well over a decade was floored at how little he knew and loved the woman. when we all left one woman in t he group said we should all chip in and buy her something for her time and effort and of course everyone is on board with the idea. a lot of people were no shows though according to the hostess, their loss, ohh well!
the only group that has asked for money is the group in north jersey discussing Eckhart Tolle's CD "Through the Open Door." but that's to cover the costs of beverages and a small donation to the Buddhist temple it's being held at which seems completely fair to me. ohh yeah and then the chess group that i'm not going to make this Sunday meets at a coffee house that the groups owner is part owner of, so we are technically buying food from him but he's got food i eat and i have to eat anyway, i don't consider that any type of coercion. i bet the ranch they'll be no give me your money bullshit in your anti Oprah book MeetUp! you may have to chip in for the wine and good food but i wouldn't be surprised in the least if they don't try to bill you. it'll be up to you to decide if you want to offer them something which is something I'd definitely do, know what izzz sayin' bro? i'm just kidding bro i'm sure your the type of person to cough up if you have the coin...
it's funny i said i was going to look for local musicians but i've received only two reach outs. one from a blue grass MeetUp and another in Princeton like the canning Group. the owner of the group identifies herself as a well known business woman from the town of Princeton who has been given complete access to some performing arts theater for the entire evening. it seems like a lot of people are showing up based on the activity in the chat up section and everyone is bringing their own instruments of course and a good majority are bringing amplifiers with multiple channels. some dude has claimed his drum kit is already assembled on stage... the thing is they're all into the dead and cream... one guy has already volunteered to sing all of the jack bruce vocals, this is how much these peeps are into this, which is very cool. now i like the dead to a degree, i even have a dancing bear on my ranger pickup's bumper but i'm not really into that kind of music and i've listened to cream because i grew up hearing my parents playing it but i'm not into that that much either. she said i could just show up and chill out if i want and if i get the urge to play, which i doubt, someone would gladly give up their bass... we'll see what i do, i'll make a decision... maybe i can find an old acoustic bass for sale on eBay and hook up with the blue grass group
to me, MeetUp has been nothing but a completely positive experience so far... i mean you're using it in a way that is quite unique in that your performing a form of therapy in being around people in the process which i think is incredibly awesome as you'll have this for the rest of your life if it can work out for you. there is no better way to come to terms with something then if you're able to do it completely on your own because there is absolutely no manipulation of your psychology involved here, this is completely your personal achievement... i'm just saying...
anyway, thanks for bumping this because i really believe this thread could do a lot for others if they only give it a shot because it's clear to me that there are people out there who want to meet you. what ever you're interested in there's a very good chance there is a MeetUp group out there and if there isn't you can start one of your own and reach out to others.
i can't wait to here of your experience with the anti Oprah MeetUp...
PeaCe2U AWP...
K~~~
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c1dh3d
The elephant is BACK
Registered: 07/15/08
Posts: 4,640
Loc: 
Last seen: 13 hours, 42 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: cateyes]
#15829764 - 02/18/12 11:45 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Thanks a lot for posting this! I'm going to be living on my own soon, no real frends, and trying not to drink / drug myself constantly out of boredom.
Looks very cool 
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c1dh3d
The elephant is BACK
Registered: 07/15/08
Posts: 4,640
Loc:
Last seen: 13 hours, 42 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: c1dh3d]
#15829871 - 02/19/12 12:16 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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+5 shroomies for cool threads
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c1dh3d
The elephant is BACK
Registered: 07/15/08
Posts: 4,640
Loc:
Last seen: 13 hours, 42 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: c1dh3d]
#15830248 - 02/19/12 02:10 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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I'm having a tough time figuring out how to change your mile radius for groups in my area, could you point me in the right direction anyone?
This is a cool site too, hope to find some cool groups
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 7,740
Loc: colorado
Last seen: 8 hours, 23 minutes
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Re: MeetUp! : Make New Friends - Learn New Things - Get More Involved in Things You're Great At [Re: c1dh3d]
#15830252 - 02/19/12 02:13 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Find meetup --> at the top of the list of meetups, there is a drop down menu to change your mile radius. Is that what you're looking for?
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"plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
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