July 4, 2010

  • 29 Ideas and One Tip

    Guide for Meeting People/Getting Out of the House When You Don't Know Many People

    1. Public library
    2. Universities for free events, lectures, activities such as runs/walks, shows, musical guests
    3. University/Community college/continuing education courses
    4. Book clubs
    5. Nearby concert halls, concert venues, event spaces, comedy clubs, TV taping venues
    6. Eventful, eventbrite, meetup, localist, upcoming, yelp.com/events
    7. Craiglist – activities – volunteers – nonprofits
    8. Touristy stuff: TripAdvisor, use google, yelp
    9. Yelp for new restaurants, places of interests, events
    10. Community/neighborhood assn's: archery, neighborhood councils, networking business associations, toastmasters
    11. Parks: community soccer teams, baseball leagues, basketball games, events/festivals, just to walk around, enjoy nature, walk barefeet in the grass
    12. See neighborhood newspaper for culture festivals, block parties, community events free to the public, flea markets, book sales, grand opening celebrations, fundraisers, gardening workshops, community gardens, street fairs
    13. Local gym, YMCA, community center
    14. Attend movie nights, sports nights, birthday celebrations, graduation parties
    15. Historic parks or sites of interest or museums
    16. Nature walks
    17. Sporting events
    18. Also twitter the orgs you are interested in, see who they are following, who follows them
    19. Movie theatres, indie movie theatres, outdoor/fancy malls, or malls
    20. Sign up for Groupon or LivingSocial coupons in your area
    21. Meet your neighbors
    22. Amateur sports
    23. Religious groups
    24. http://findlocal.latimes.com/ or your local newspaper for events
    25. Sites like mydailyfind for SFV stuff
      Added 1/10/11:
    26. Classes with recreation centers like https://raponline.lacity.org/larap/
    27. Firing ranges
    28. Racetracks
    29. Free museum admission evenings/days
    30. Meetup.com (deserves a separate listing)
    31. Did I mention Yelp?
    32. Ice skating rinks

    Volunteering

    1. Nearby orgs: to help developmentally disabled, therapeutic horseriding, for autistic children, hospice care for seniors, for military overseas/veterans, for homeless children/families/adults, food banks/rescue missions/clothing banks, hospitals, animal shelters
    2. Idealist, volunteer match, google
    3. In SFV: TreePeople, Environmental Relief Foundation, Chatsworth Community Garden, The Village Gardeners
    4. Op Gratitude, HFH, United Way, LAPL Adult Literacy Tutor, AARP Tax Aide Volunteer

    Tip from eHow:
    Make three lists: Things I Love to Do, Issues I Care About, Things I'd Like to Learn with quantity as the goal. Try to match one item on each list, even if you don't stay with all of them at least one will be a keeper.
     

    What item(s) would you add to this list?