2682 My Meetup!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

"A friend is one before whom I may think aloud."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson --

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I started a Meetup group! There are almost no Meetup groups close to where I live for just plain getting together for fun, and Rhinebeck has a wonderful little movie theater, Upstate Films, that shows independent and foreign films and documentaries, and I waited and waited for someone to start a group for movies in this area, and it didn't happen, so I made it happen.

It's at http://www.meetup.com/Rhinebeck-Upstate-Fans/. Check it out.

Meetup.com will send out an announcement of the formation of the group on Friday to everyone nearby who expressed an interest in the topics I listed (indie, movies, documentaries, and so on), but even though it hasn't been promoted yet, we already have six members.

Next we have to select a movie and a time/date. "Olga" lives near the theater and had encouraged me to start the group. She has agreed to be in charge of scheduling. I should have something up by tomorrow evening.

I had been going to movies with meetup groups in Albany. One of the groups meets in the lobby, goes in, comes out, and everybody waves goodbye without even looking at anyone else and goes home. Kind of a "thud". That guy doesn't get a lot of people signing up, usually two other people, and often none, and is dropping the group as of January. Another group, Maria's, meets in the lobby, watches the movie, and then goes out for burgers and booze afterward. She regularly gets groups ranging from 6 to 20, and the dinner conversation is always good, BUT no one ever mentions the movie, which disappoints me.

So I want to get together after the movie, too, so there's not that feeling of aloneness, and I want to get people talking about the movie, a little bit, anyway. Upstate's selections are usually more thoughtful than the usual more commercial fare, so I hope it will be easy.
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