I've always been a bit nervous about meetups - meeting a group of strangers, being a good host, hoping that none of them are the handful of wildly violent trolls peppering the bottom of my comment threads.  After the past couple weeks, however, they've become one of my new favorite pastimes.

Last weekend, I gave a small-scale meetup a shot, inviting a handful of fans over to my apartment to help me polish off the Ultimeatum - it was so much fun that I decided, right away, to schedule a much larger meetup in Central Park.  I was admittedly nervous as I ascended the steps up to the Great Hill, but those nerves were quickly abated by a group of warm, dynamic people.  About 35-40 all told (not a bad turnout for an RSVP of 50), some traveling here from far-off lands like Philly, Delaware, and DC.  Everyone brought something delicious to sample, some stories to tell, some selfies to take - I'm grateful for and enlivened by the whole experience.  I was also excited to get some initial impressions of my book which, against all odds, was not stained with guacamole.  At some points I'd look around and see circles of complete strangers laughing like old friends - and as we left the park in clusters, I like to think that some new ones were forged.

A huge thanks to everyone that came out/cooked/chilled on Saturday!  And, a huge thanks for bearing with me as I toyed with my drone: