Tough Guy Book Club does not meet in January.
This is not a fun tradition with a cool backstory like so many other things in our club. It’s simply because our traditional meeting slot, the first Wednesday of the month, would fall a couple of days into the New Year, when Goons are recovering from celebrations, or away on Christmas holidays, or generally too busy to think. So, we skip that night and take the opportunity to pick an extra-chunky book to read over the course of two months, December to February.
There’s no meeting in January, but that’s no reason not to see each other.
If you haven’t noticed by now, Tough Guy Book Club is more than just a book club. It’s a place to read more, talk more, and have more friends. We’re conscious of the fact that, as much as the New Year period can be way too busy, for some people it can be way too quiet, and that also sucks. Whether you’re having a hard time or you just read a great book at Christmas and need to gush about it, we’re here to help. January is a perfect opportunity for one of our patented TGBC Extra Curricular Activities.
Because it’s not an official meeting we say January is a perfect time to invite the family –partner, kids, dogs, cats, squirrels, whatever. The ‘Men Only’ and ‘Meet at the Pub’ rules are not in effect, which means you can go wherever you want and do whatever you like. Head outdoors! Get some sunshine! Why not join up with a neighbouring chapter and meet some brand new Goons? Alright, we take it back, maybe this is another one of our fun traditions with a cool backstory.
Well done to those who went for the simplest option – a drink at their venue or a similar pub/brewery/restaurant. It must have been nice to talk about something other than books for a change.
Extra credit to those who made it out for a barbecue – Pakenham, Ringwood, Croydon, St Kilda, Footscray, Ascot Vale, Yarraville, Northcote, Alphington (okay enough VIC chapters now), Summer Hill NSW, Canberra ACT. Mayfield and surrounding Newcastle NSW chapters had a bicycle-drawn pizza oven, believe it or not.
But the name of the game with the January catchups is to make them weird and extra-curricular. Take a lesson from the goons of Boston MA and go axe throwing. Enjoy a few rounds of barefoot lawn bowls like the goons from Fortitude Valley and Brisbane QLD. Play some golf of the miniature variety like they did in Lower Hutt NZ, or a full virtual round like the Goons from Long Island NY. Penrith NSW braved six innings of an extremely damp baseball game before being washed out completely. And the grand prize has to go to Lake Macquarie NSW for their birdwatching expedition with the help of the Hunter Bird Observers Club.
Remember, January catchups aren’t just for January. You can do them whenever you want! Invite one of your fellow goons out for a cup of coffee. Or step up and organise an outing for the whole chapter, something you can bond over or bring the family. Who knows, if you do something wacky enough to might even get shouted out in a news article on the website, which I know you all dream of.
Support networks get bigger and better when you join them up with other support networks, so enjoy your Extra Curriculars. And also, come first Wednesday at 7pm, it’ll be back to the serious business of TGBC – talking books.
See you then.
By Sam Barclay
