The process is quite easy. Visit
the site, plug in your location, choose a few activities or interests, and BAM!
Soon your email inbox will be flooded with get-together-options that will keep
you busier than an IRS employee at a Tea Party Convention. Of course, you have
to get up off the couch and actually GO
to the events. And that’s where things might get a little dicey because, for me
at least, it means driving in LA (Ugh!), meeting new people (Yikes!), and possibly
missing a ballgame or a favorite TV show. (Waaaa!)
There are hundreds of groups from
which to choose. Categories include Photography, Literature, Fitness, Religion,
Music, Movies, Pets, Socializing and many more. Much to my sister Jenny’s disbelief,
I have been to numerous Meetup events. I’ve been hiking in Griffith Park. I
have two writing groups that I often visit. I’ve been to dinners and happy
hours. I went to a Thanksgiving meal. I
visited (briefly) a wine-tasting event where I was the youngest person in the room.
I went bowling where I got beat by a cute Wisconsin transplant named Jerilyn who
I’d meet at two previous happy hour events.
Many of the groups are based on a
specific activity like hiking or drinking alcohol. I haven’t discovered a group
that combines both of these pastimes, but there is one that mixes drinking and
reading. Kind of like a BYOB Book Club. However, some others cater to extremely
specific demographics. Here are a few:
·
The Lez Hang
Out Group (Long Beach,
549 members) -- I believe Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen Degeneres founded
this group.
·
The UFO and
Paranormal Research Society (Studio
City, 688 members) -- Join
and get a free “ET Phone
home” T-Shirt.
·
Canadians in
Orange County (Santa Ana,
385 members) – Get together to watch the
Bluejays and drink Labatts in Balboa.
·
Burbank
Single Baby Boomers (Burbank, 46
members) – Let’s reminisce about the 50s!
·
Just Graduated
from College and Moved to LA (Santa
Monica, 696 members) – Bring your textbooks, we’ll have
a bonfire!
·
Los Angeles
Responsible Pit Bull Owners (Van
Nuys, 558 members). Dog groups are very popular.
Thankfully, there aren’t any cat groups.
·
VeJEWtarian
(Tarzana, 62 members). Because being a vegetarian started in the
book of Genesis.
Meanwhile, other groups appeal to a wide swath
of folks (in my area there are 230 groups with over 1,000 members):
·
Los Angeles
Hiking Group (LA, 11,701
members)
·
Drinking
with Strangers (Santa
Monica, 5,708 members)
·
Los Angeles
Smart Singles (LA, 2,872 members)
·
I’m a Cool
Nerd (LA, 2,499
members)
·
So Cal Flash
Mobbers (LA, 2,100
members)
But not all the groups appeal to
everybody (or to me):
· Libros de Traje -- Spanish Book Club (Gardena, 48 members)
“Libros de Traje” es un círculo de libros para los amos y novicios
de la lengua española.
Huh?
·
H Socials All over Southern California (Santa Ana, 950 members) This is
a social site for people with Herpes & HPV. I don’t think I even want to drive through
Santa Ana anymore.
·
Wild about
Mushrooms (Los Angeles,
614 members). Join us for a
wild mushroom hunt as we go look for edible and medicinal mushrooms here in our
backyard or in faraway places. I don’t always eat mushrooms, but when I do, I dig for my own!
·
Los Angeles
Hacker News (LA, 968
members) -- A group for
readers of hackernews.com, or just those interested in hacking, software and
entrepreneurship. Um, really?
·
OC Christian
Pregnancy Group (Anaheim, 21
members). Nuff said.
·
Los Angeles
Yankee Fans (Redondo
Beach, 8 members). The eight most confused people in
the South Bay.
And other groups make me shake my
head:
·
Loving More
(Polyamory – Santa Monica, 847
members) Ok, so I had to look this one up.
Polyamory is the practice of loving more than one person. Not to be confused
with Polygamy because I guess you don’t have to get married. There are nine
Polyamory groups. Orange County even has a Polyamory with Integrity group. How
‘bout that for an oxymoron?
·
The Galactic
Federation of Light (Los Angeles,
224 members) This
group is formed to help inform others about taking the mystery out of the
growing ET presence and ever increasing UFO’s, knowing that if they were meant
to cause any harm, they would have done so long ago. Well, maybe the ETs are just
waiting for the right moment.
·
Los Angeles
Urban Chicken Enthusiasts (LA,
1,279 members). This
group is intended to create a community for people who either have chickens or
are thinking seriously about getting chickens. I don’t think they meet up at
Chik-Fil-A.
·
Los Angeles
Area Pagans and Witches Group (LA, 935
members). “I’ll get
you my pretty and your little dog too!”
Groups that won’t be mingling:
·
Atheist
United Southbay (Torrance,
163 members) and the I
Love JC Christian Singles (Los
Angeles, 382 members).
·
Celebrate
Recovery (South
Pasadena, 12 members) and Santa
Monica Beer Lovers (Santa
Monica, 178 members).
·
Ready for
Hilary (Beverly
Hills, 13 members) and the San
Fernando Valley Young Republicans (Northridge, 31 members).
·
The South
Bay 2nd Amendment Gun Group (Redondo Beach, 13 members) and the Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America Group (Irvine, 2 members).
I have a lot more time to devote
to my Meetup groups now that summer vacation is here. Plus I’m just about
caught up on Downton Abbey and my favorite baseball teams stinks. I’m debating
whether to start with the Chicken Enthusiasts or the UFO guys. Or maybe I should
start my own group:
·
Single Southpaw Teachers of Torrance? Hmm. Possibly too narrow.
I could try to track down Jerilyn.
I believe she relocated to Santa Monica. But that’s way too far to drive. I
guess sitting on the couch isn’t so bad.
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