The PSU philosophy club has a meeting tonight (it’s actually in 15 minutes). Though I’ve decided not to go. It’s too bad because although the campus philosophy club usually ends up being pretty painful I still like to go. Each meeting is a new dose of hope that this time it’ll be good fun. I guess I’m a half-full kinda guy.

But they sent out their notice this past Monday and I’ve already made plans for tonight. Tonight I go to my other philosophy group (the meetup). In fact tonight’s topic is “Humility”. Take a guess what side of that argument I’m going to be on.

Oh, and I still wanna tell you guys about opening night of the Olympics… (do you capitalize that?) and hopefully I’ll get a chance to this weekend before it becomes too stale to tell.

So I popped my meetup.com cherry a couple nights back, and I must say I’m really glad I did.

The meeting of the Portland Philosophy Group was held at a recreation center in way-south Portland. South enough that, to me, it wasn’t really Portland anymore. I walked in the rec. center and aside from the front desk two room were in immediate view. One was an exercise room with treadmills and stair-climbers and such, the other was a room with people jump roping, hitting punching bags, and doing other Rocky-esque stuff. It was so stereotypical that if felt as if I had walked onto a Hollywood set. I liked it.

The lady at the counter directed me up to the hall and to my right, room 10. It was about five past seven as I entered the room for the meet-up that started at 7:00. My honest-to-god first thought as I walked in was “sausage fest.” Nothing but dudes in the room. I admit to being a tad bit disappointed, but I was really there for the philosophy so no big deal.

My second thought? Fight Club. The room had brown chalkboards running the entire length of one of the side walls, the other side displayed windows from front to back. At the front of the room another solitary brown chalkboard took it’s place in the spotlight of the wall’s center, wearing a pull-down projection screen as it’s crown. Light-brown metal folder chairs were arranged in a circle, most of which were already filled by bodies. Much like my first impression of the rec. center, the room was such a classically stereotypical scene that it almost seemed fake. I thought of the movie Fight Club where Ed Norton’s character goes to self-help groups. My little philosophy group could have just as easily been an AA meeting, or a “Survivors of Testicular Cancer” meeting. Ahh Hollywood, how you have screwed with my brain.

The meeting then started; it’s preface being a few quick announcements. I quickly learned that this was not the normal meeting place for the group, as their normal place (I believe it’s a library) was fully booked. Several people also commented on the lack of women which obviously leads me to believe that normally I can expect to find at least a small dose of estrogen in this group. At that point we actually go to talking.

The format was a 20 minute (or so) presentation on the evening’s topic, “stoicism” in this case. After the floor was opened up for discussion. The next 90 minutes were a lot of fun. We really go to to talking and sharing ideas & perspectives. I found myself enjoying it more and more as the group conversation dug itself deeper. I even felt as if I had learned a little something, and more importantly found another topic I’d like to spend more time reading about.

In my first few minutes with the group (which are always the most superficial) I found myself questioning whether or not I really wanted to be here. By the end however, I was happy that I had gone. We had to be out of the room we were using by 9:00, and so began wrapping things up at 10 till. Then about half of the group, myself included, hit up a nearby bar. We shared a few beers and some more discussion.

The group’s ages had quite a range. The youngest looking like mid-20’s and the oldest I would guess somewhere in their 60’s. The idea behind the meetup groups are three-fold for me: 1) enjoy the evening, 2) make friends and 3) meet women. Obviously #3 wasn’t going to happen, but #1 definitely did. Number 2 will take a little more time, if at all. I definitely plan on going to more of these meetings, maybe in time I’ll be hanging out with some of these people outside of the group. Maybe not.

So that was my adventure spawned from meetup.com. I’m sure there will be more coming soon.

A couple of years ago my sister introduced me to meetup.com, a website listing a bunch of meet-up groups by locale. At the time I added to my “Portland – After the move” folder of my Firefox shortcuts. This past weekend I revisited the sight and reminded myself of my new try new things mantra.

I have since joined three meet-up groups. Hopefully this will be a fun way of expanding my social circle and allow me to meet people who have some similar interests as I do. I’ve so far joined The Portland Philosophy Group, the Portland New In Town Meetup Group and the modestly titled Intellectual Cafe.

There are quite a few other groups that I’m on the fence about. I’ve listed them below as much as a reminder for myself as for you guys.

• Westside Poker Club – Sounds like lots of fun, but I maybe not in the proper financial position for this right now.
• Walk for Life Portland – My interest here is purely selfish. I’m not super interested in raising money for a bunch of nonprofits, really I’m just considering this one as a way to promote my own fitness. (selfish prick, huh?)
• PDX Singles Gathering for Friendships and Relationships – You know, I am single, and I would like to date more, but I’ve never really done any sort of singles anything. I guess I’d like to meet someone who has more in common with me than just being single. Additionally, I generally don’t try to date, I like when it happens a little more naturally. But maybe I’ll change my mind…
• The Portland Web Design Meetup Group – If I ever do start freelancing, this might be a good way to network.
• Portland Scrabble and Boggle – The opening line in this groups description reads, “I decided to start this group because I felt that I needed more Scrabble and Boggle in my life,” and really when you stop and think about it, who doesn’t need more scrabble & boggle in their life?? I actually enjoy playing board games and this is pseudo-intellectual. It could be interesting, though it could also end up being paint-drying boring. Maybe.
• Kiwis in Portland – OK, you got me. I’m not from New Zealand. But maybe I can just fake and accent if see if they catch on.
• CFI Portland – This is a secular humanist group, and while I don’t consider myself a secular humanist per se, I do agree with a good deal of their philosophies and outlook on the world. As a social group however, I’m thinking might be a case of preaching to the choir which makes me shy away from joining this one.

So tonight is my first attendance of a meet-up and I’ll be interested to see how it goes. I’ll be hanging out with the Portland Philosophy Group and I’m kind of excited at the opportunity for some meaty conversation. Having eaten solid food for lunch I’m feeling fairly safe that last night’s shenanigans are over with. So hopefully the only things I’ll be spewing out tonight will be thought-provoking (or at least anger-inducing) comments. Yeah… I know, we didn’t need that; but too late, it’s there.

So in 30 minutes or so I’ll head out. I’ll tell you all about it soon.

Probably about a year or so ago one of the buzz phrases in the blogosphere was “lifestyle design.” The basic idea of lifestyle design is, as the name implies, taking the time and consideration to actually design your life and lifestyle.

When you stop and think about the notion of lifestyle design, it seems like a common-sense idea but how many of us actually take the time to think about what we really want out of our lives? Better yet, how many of us have actually taken action towards living the sort of life we want to be living? I’m sure for some people active design might not be necessary, however I’m not one of those people. It was only a couple of days ago when I was conceding that I’m a horrible student, that I manage my time poorly, and that, historically, I have definitely been a life stumbler.

Well I’ve decided that, as much as I can, I’m going to try an live these next few years with a few major themes being the primary focus. Life mottos if you will. This post is about my first motto: “try new things.” As much as I can I’m going to try to push myself to do things I haven’t done before. Maybe even do things I’ll expect not to like and give myself opportunities to be surprised.

It’s along those lines that I’ve been going to school clubs and events and all that good stuff. For example, when I fenced that one night. I’ve actually been telling myself to go to a fencing club meeting and give it a full 2-hour try. It hasn’t happened yet, but I am still planning on doing that.

Another thing I’ve tried was the PSU Philosophy Club. About 3 weeks ago they had their first meeting and I attended. We introduced ourselves and then spent over an hour discussing some notions of philosophy. I, as expected, managed to push some buttons as the debate got just a tad heated. Obviously, I’m looking forward to the next meeting. I’ve decided to give the club at least three tries before I make up my mind. If it’s a place where I can truly get into some stimulating debates with people who can push back, I’m sure I’ll be hooked.

So that’s my first motto. “Try new things.” Expect to see more posts on this topics (a couple in the very near future). Feel free to comment and share some new things you’re doing with your life. Because when you stop and think about it, living is really the main thing going on in your life… shouldn’t we all take a more active roll in that?