Gatherings, friends and parties

A small but significant tradition that my friends and I just got going is the man meal. Started because V, a seafood enthusiast, wanted us to eat at Mary's Fish Camp, it's quickly become one of my favorite events and one of those things that seem to me a marker of maturity of some sort. We've done it about four times now, a different person picking the location each time and paying for the meal. They're not exorbitant meals although they are pretty much as expensive as any of us can reasonably manage at this point in our careers. We did the restaurant I work at once, Freeman's and Sammy's Roumanian steak house, where we joined the employees of a jewelry company for their end of year party. That was fun. Lots of attractive girls dancing to mid 60's hits and drawing us away from our meal to join them. Unusual, but certainly not unwelcome.

In the last year or so, I've definitely moved firmly to an appreciation of small gatherings over crazy nightclubs. My favorite night the entire year was an evening when a group of about six of seven of us gathered at an underground wine bar in Soho and got completely blitzed on Italian reds while sharing some of the best and most amusing conversation I've had in a long time. The wine bar/restaurant we were at is probably my favorite New York hang out spot right now. Ironically, I was introduced to it by crazy girl from hell on my very worst date ever. Silver linings people, keep an eye out for them.

I've been doing my games nights as well, semi regular things where I gather a bunch of people at my place to get drunk and play board games. I think they might have run their course now, but they were really fun for a while. And though I've missed the last few gatherings, tea with the perverts was definitely one of the regular highlights of the year's socializing. Must make time for some of this year's events or push for them to be held on days when I don't work.

My birthday is coming up later this month and I've got to come up with some event organized similarly around small groups. I did the nightclub thing intensely in college and on my arrival to New York, and much as I love to dance, I'm very much over that scene. Say no to snotty bouncers, ridiculous cover charges, mediocre music and overcrowded dance floors. Say yes to good people, real conversations, great music, intimacy and experiences worth remembering. Hit me up if you've got any ideas for a worthy quarter century celebration that doesn't include a boring lounge or crowded night club, or if you'd like to come to one of these gatherings. I'd like to set about meeting more good people, and I've had luck with bloggers thus far. I do think I need to develop some of those relationships further as well. Sometimes it's less about meeting new people than cultivating those you've already met.