Day 2: Vegan Potluck Delight

Sarah and Chris at the vegan potluck

Today I tried a different tactic to find a new acquaintance: Meetup.com.

This social networking website essentially facilitates gatherings; it is to get-togethers what dating sites are to romance. I'd always imagined it as a place where people could find others to discuss obscure branches of philosophy in smoky Manhattan bars, but last month while I was in Maryland, a friend and I participated in a practice triathlon convened using Meetup. Real people, real cool things happening. Definitely an important Encantada Project tool.

This morning I was browsing the local Meetup listings, and nearly jumped out of my chair with joy when I discovered that the "Vegans for Action Monthly Potluck/Lecture series" group was having a potluck this very evening! Twenty-five people were already signed up. I RSVPed saying I'd be there, then relaxed knowing that my ticket to success today was as easy as a bowl of roasted potato salad.

My original plan had been to go to a radio regatta in Oakland. I'm sure it would have been fun, but much more stressful in terms of meeting people -- outdoor events seem to be better as things to attend with folks you already know, rather than as places to make new connections.

The potluck went as well as I'd hoped. I plopped down with a plate of amazing food at the end of one of a line of plastic tables, and spent over an hour getting to know several fine people with whom I already had something in common.

There was Sarah, who had adorable cat-eye librarian glasses, which makes sense because she's a librarian. Chris is a plumber who grew up in the same town as me -- instant connection. He clued us in on how college radio stations are a stellar place for scoring free tickets to music events. I extolled the virtues of the pressure cooker to everyone around. Sarah bemoaned the way that commuting from Oakland to her two jobs in San Francisco and Hayward, respectively, left her little time for anything but cooking great farmer's market food. That is a problem I can understand.

The Encantada Project itself came up once again, this time right at the start; Ron, the animal activist who sat next to me, asked how I'd found out about the event, and I told the whole story. Whereafter a large part of our table's conversation centered around ways to meet people, and why doing so can be dastardly hard. There was an honesty hovering over the meal that was more refreshing than the food, even including the sparkling pomegranate juice.

Chris and I made plans to get together again soon (if it goes through, there will be another post). I told Sarah we should cook dinner sometime, and meant it, though who knows if it will happen. Ron encouraged me to keep coming back to the monthly gatherings. I will.

By the time I left to head home, I was tempted to do a little victory dance. If the rest of the month goes like this, I'll have more friends than I can handle. Fantastic.