Recently in Immersion Category

I've moved around a lot in the last few years, so finding new people and places has been challenging. My medicine is a meetup, taken as needed.

What is a "meetup" you ask? Meetups are special interest activity groups where membership is free and there is no commitment. Perfect for busy people.

Meetups are an automatic way to find like-interested compadres. You don't have to know anyone to be received as a new friend. People extend their hand and introduce themselves immediately. Everyone is in the fold.

Leaders set the tone. A leader is a crazy and selfless person who is willing to put all these activities into the calendars of the disenfranchised. They are the go-to people at an event.

From what I understand, meetups are intended to be social clubs. There is a de facto "no meat market" law. In fact, sometimes groups get a slap on the wrist for treating as such. I wouldn't rule out meeting a romantic partner, but that's not what they're about.

Meetups www.meetup.com

MY FAVORITES
Florida
Outdoor Adventurers Klub (OAK) -- adventurers.meetup/94
Blues of South Florida Meetup -- blues.meetup.com/87
Coffee & Creative Minds -- coffee.meetup.com/300
Prime Timers Social Club -- www.friends.meetup.com/514
South Florida Kayaking Meetup -- kayaking.meetup.com/130
Film, Theater, Culture -- theater.meetup.com/108

Boston
Boston/Cambridge Ethnic Food Meetup Group -- diningout.meetup.com/364
Women Sports Meetup -- womensports.meetup.com/30

I've always heard about high tea but never attended one. It sounded part hokey, part lovely. Now that I've been to one I can tell you that it is both. It was at Carriage Light Tea Parlor & Gifts in Parkland, FL.
 We were seated at a table with fabulous authentic hats on the seats - each different (that's the hokey part). But I gotta say it was really fun searching for THE ONE. Some of us looked for the least embarrassing while others embodied the glamour. I was a convert who started as the former but then moved sheepishly to the ladder.

We ordered 2 kinds of tea for the 7 of us. Going with the flow I accepted the 2 desserty types - caramel crème brulee and mocha kiss - not exactly my cup of tea. Later someone ordered a South African one with depth - kind of musky, kind of spicy. I preferred it. My friend Mary thought it tasted like medicine though. Each to her own.

Carriage Light Tea Parlor & Gifts www.thecarriagelight.com

I've spent a lot of time living experientially and not knowing it. Friends and family have had to convince me! Dictionaries have lame definitions of "experiential". But when I tried to define it I began to believe it -- deriving pleasure, pain and/or wisdom from your immediate surroundings. If this is experiential, I have lived it. Thankfully I've rarely taken it for granted. I have gawked at life in 40 US states and 20 countries on 3 continents (having lived in 7 states and 2 countries).

To start this blog I have articulated 5 experiential necessities: Pursuit; Moment; Humanity; Reality; Resourcefulness. I plan to explore them as they happen (mostly in Florida these days) to me and other fascinating "regular" people around.