This is a summary of most useful information about the game nights and other events.
One hard rule: plant-based food only. Summary: by invitation, dressy casual, leave your shoes on, sit separately, bring your favorite drinks and easy to handle snacks, near Oceanside airport, easy street parking.
Rules, or How it Goes
The events are by invitation only, sent via text (SMS) or email. Please tell me within 3 days whether you are coming and whether you want to bring someone. This way, in case you RSVP "no," I have a chance to invite someone who may live further away or is less familiar with the crowd. Please send me a note if you would like to attend, but I have not messaged you for some reason.
The dress code is dressy casual, creative outfits or refined simplicity are welcome, leave your shoes on. For a picknick, please have sun, wind, and cold protection.
People who come together sit separately, it is an old tradition that helps to concentrate on individuality. For games, we usually sit in a circle around a table. If we are under 8, we can sit in armchairs. When over 12, around two tables pulled close.
Please bring your favorite drinks and easy to handle plant-based snacks, it is usually a light potluck. The finger food should be ready to serve and share. Please avoid strong aroma and single use plastics. We will have simple refreshments. Most of the time, I make floral and herbal infusion (with many fresh ingredients).
Place
We meet in Oceanside, California, the Airport neighborhood, North of 76 and Benet or Foussat, on a hill behind a small river. The house is on the right, close to the round end of the short destination street.
You should find easy street parking, there is a big streetlight on the right side of the house, the front door is to the left of the garage, the narrow path to it should be automatically lit, the ring bell is to the left from the door.
The events are usually inside with an option to step out into the garden, apart from picknicks and some fruitlucks. Caution: in the garden, step only on the white stones. For a picknick, please have sun, wind, and cold temperature protection.
We gather in one large room with hard floor. Often, windows are open for air circulation. The room has a big table with 12 soft chairs, and a smaller table with additional sitting options. The coffee table area has 8 armchairs with head support.
The open kitchen is to the South, to the right from the entry. Filtered water is from the top refrigerator dispenser (push activated). All glasses and plates are in a glass shelf by the bigger kitchen window. All silverware is in a big drawer to the right of the refrigerator. Please take what you need.
The plant-based finger food is usually served Swedish style (cold buffet), most often on the big table. All drinks we keep on the counter.
The guest bathroom is in front of the main entry, diagonally to the left (North). I keep there additional individual hand towels, toothpicks, etc. Find some hygienic items you might need in the wall mirror cabinet.
Hope to see you here soon!
Why I Organize Anything
I have only one weekend a month to plan anything, and we are trying to see friends often.
As for discussing serious topics and question games, the current format arose from a mix of experiences with secular gatherings, fun parties, fruit sharing, and local intellectual discussion groups. Despite not having qualities for being a good host, I have organized events for friends, humanists, filmmakers, fruitarians, vegans, artists, and a couple of times for a local conversational group. I am not an entertainer by nature, I just think that letting people experience each other in a free informal setting is worth my time.
I enjoy a good conversation and love bringing people I like together. I grew up in a subculture where people visited each other regularly in small and bigger groups and had candid conversations. My parent's friends' children and I were largely nurtured by the ideas from the ongoing philosophical debates, with all paradoxes and character knowledge they tend to reveal.
Please share your view of the world, influence the flow of conversations, and, if needed, adjust it to your moral convictions with persuasion, but stay concise and ready for an opposing argument. When free-minded personalities interact, "magic" happens, so co-create our reality. Ask me anything you need to feel good at the gathering!
