Day 53 - Age, Eating and Friendship

It's not a secret that eating is a social activity.  It's seems like every time people get together it's around food.  During this challenge it's been both a blessing and a curse.  Getting together with friends at a BBQ tends to be a cost savings as everyone brings a dish, and you usually get more than you contributed individually.  On the other hand, because not everyone wants to make the effort to coordinate a sharing event, and many people just want to meet up at a restaurant (ie not cheap).  So while effort has been made to suggest coming over for dinner, as opposed to going out - it's not always feasible.  Also, I have had the opportunity to meet people via this blog and it's fun making new potential friends, but sucks having to turn down certain activities.

Of course some frugal rhetoric would suggest I should only make friends with people who want to eat economically, but I think this is easier said than done.  I also think my age here is a factor - I'm in my mid-twenties and going out to eat is a major social convention for this age group.  Also, Friends are a difficult thing to be choosy about.  I mean you can only be so choosy, before you are out of people to be friends with.  It's seems like there are plenty of things to make friendships challenging without additional challenges - for instance: availability of time, geographic location, amount of similar interests and so forth. 

Don't worry, I know I won't be friendless if I choose not to go out to eat.  Also, I don't think frantically going out to eat will make me the world's finest socialite.  However, I'm different sort of person, and while I take pride that, I still need friends.  (Oh and by the way - I think we all do).  So like in any relational pursuit, sometimes compromise is necessary. 

Anyway, today we compromised on the challenged.  We spent our "entertainment money" on going to Grand Old Day, a 1 day once a year event.  Granted this is glorified cheating, but we skipped the booze so that was at least a $20 savings alone (can you believe?).  We also saw many of our friends and one family member (who is also a friend - Hi M!).  Another win was Huzbun ended up trying Falafel and liking it, so that could be an excellent option for future vegetarian dinners - which are sometimes difficult to coax Huzbun into.  Perhaps it will pay dividends elsewhere.