rebeccmeister | Cookout and slouch buddies

I like bringing together eclectic groups of people.

sytharin woman'd the grill again, which was great. It is not an especially high-heat homemade firepit, but it got the job done. It's good to have people hang out in the backyard, although I think we need even slightly more table space to make it easier for people to access the copious amounts of tasty food.

Two friends who live in the area but who I haven't had a chance to catch up with yet both managed to come by. One was a college roommate of mine and is a fellow ex-president of the Monty Python Society (although I still stand by my title as Dictator-in-Chief for my term of duty). Catching up with him was great in the "old slouching buddy" sense. Another was a grad student wrapping up her degree when I arrived in Arizona, who helped introduce me to both the local rowing scene and the Tempe ceramics program. She subsequently moved to Tucson for a postdoc, then switched into a nursing program and is now an oncology nurse. It's good to have these kinds of connections in this area, with people who know what it's like to have lived in other parts of the country.

At times, it's frustrating how long it can take to get together and connect with friends in this area. I think I'm most content if I have a couple of slouch buddies. A more extensive friendship network takes a lot of energy to maintain.