Edinburgh

**Our June novel is: *The Eights* by Joanna Miller** **This month’s novel is set during World War I. It’s a 20th-century historical fiction story about friendship and war, with coming-of-age elements and a slightly haunted tone. The book is 384 pages in print and 10 hours and 9 minutes on audiobook.** Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its one-thousand-year history, Oxford University officially admits female students. Burning with dreams of equality, four young women move into neighboring rooms in Corridor 8. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto—collectively known as The Eights—come from all walks of life, each driven by their own motives, each holding tight to their secrets, and are thrown into an unlikely, unshakable friendship. Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed. Among the historic spires, and in the long shadow of the Great War, the four women must navigate and support one another in a turbulent world in which misogyny is rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War don’t always remain dead.

Join us for a great 2 mile hike through Blendon Woods Metro Park, hiking the Sugarbush Trail. This is a largely wooded hike on a flat dirt trail with some tree roots and rocks. Please meet us at the start of the trail in the Nature Center parking lot.

The Forge does have a full bar and kitchen. There is no cover charge but they do request all attendees to purchase a minimum of ~20 per person. Soft drink refills are 1 each. Please support our hosts so we can continue to provide great events for the group! The Forge has a large library of games available for us to enjoy. Hosts and regulars will also provide numerous popular games but please bring any games you would like to teach and/or play. Doors open at 6, and we expect gaming to be rolling by around 630. Please promptly end your games and clear out the space at 10pm when the bar closes. We encourage socializing but do not permit disruptive behavior of any kind. Thank you for your continued commitment to providing a fun and welcoming space to veteran, newbie, and rookie gamers in the Columbus area. Parking can sometimes fill esrly. There is additional parking lot behind the neighboring Mexican restaurant that is free and easy to walk from but it's a bit hidden.

**✅ Salsa Wednesdays with Todd Smith!** **👉 Beginner Salsa Class** **$15 In Advance / $20 At the Door** 7:00 pm – 7:15 pm … Registration 7:15 pm – 8:15 pm … Beginner Class **👉 Intermediate Salsa Class** **= $15 In Advance / $20 At the Door** 8:15 pm – 8:30 pm Registration 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm Intermediate Class **👉 If You Take Both Salsa Classes** **= $25 In Advance / $35 At the Door** **👉 Buy Advance Tickets Now at:** https://columbussalsadancing.com/salsa-wednesdays-dance-class-tickets/ **👉 Questions? Text Todd @ (614) 774-8146**

Let's grab some coffee/food and share a morning chat! The East Market has an ample parking lot and outdoor and indoor seating. Grab a cup of coffee from Winston's Coffee & Waffles or on your way to East Market and meet us on the second floor - table behind or east of the elevator. Per what this group is about: "Everyone is welcome! International transplants to Columbus who want to improve language skills, Columbus residents who enjoy talking to people from other countries, and those who would like to discuss international travel and culture, and who enjoy getting together for good conversations."

Whether you've never done improv before, or you've done it for so long you were quoted in *Truth in Comedy*, or anywhere in between, come join us! Swing by *Gresso's* for the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup**! The idea behind improvised comedy is to create entire scenes from scratch. A suggestion is taken from the audience and laughter is built on the spot. This can be done in game form, like *Whose Line Is It Anyway, Make Some Noise,* or *Wild 'n Out*; it can also be done in a longer way, to tell a complicated story, like *TJ & Dave*. Our meetup, which is central Ohio's longest running (and FREE!) weekly comedy event, brings the games for you to play in a safe, supportive, and compassionate environment. Afterward, many members will hang out in *Gresso's* itself and get to know each other. Not only is this a lot of fun, but you get to work on thinking faster on your feet, your public speaking, plus it's an excellent way to meet new people and build relationships that will last a lifetime, and you do that while laughing your butt off! Ask yourself if you want to join the **Columbus Improv Comedy Meetup**, and say "*Yes, And*" that you'll have a blast!

🔥 OVER 50 HAPPY HOUR at PBR EASTON! 🔥 Looking to meet new people, enjoy great music, dance, laugh, and have an unforgettable night out? Then grab your friends and join us for one of the most exciting Over 50 social events in Columbus! 📍 PBR Cowboy Bar + Smokehouse – Easton 📅 Thursday, June 18th ⏰ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (and the fun keeps going!) This is NOT your typical quiet happy hour… this is a high-energy, country-meets-nightlife experience designed for fun-loving singles and couples over 50 who still enjoy getting out, socializing, and making memories! ✨ What’s Happening: 🎵 Live Music from 6:30–8:30 PM 🐂 Mechanical Bull Riding starting at 8:30 PM 💃 Line Dancing with Instructor from 9–10 PM 🎧 DJ & Dancing starting at 9 PM 🍹 Drink Specials All Night: $3, $4 & $5 specials! Whether you want to relax with a drink, hit the dance floor, try the mechanical bull, or just meet a great group of people in a fun atmosphere — this event has something for everyone. 👉 IMPORTANT: When you arrive, CHECK IN with the host under: “Doug / Meetup” to receive your wristband. 🚗 FREE Parking available across from the venue and at the Easton West Garage. Come when you can, leave when you want… but don’t be surprised if you stay all night! Let’s make Thursday night FUN again! 🎉

This Meditation is cancelled!! All levels of Meditators or welcome. In person or on Facebook Live! There will be instructions and inspiration for new inexperienced meditators. The hosts, meditators and Kriya Yoga initiates for over 50 years, are direct disciples of Yogacharya J. Oliver Black one of Paramahansa Yogananda's most advanced male disciples. He is the founder of Golden Lotus, Inc., which owns & operates 'Song of the Morning' an 800 acre Yoga Retreat Northest of Gaylord, MI on the Pigeon River. Paramahansa Yogananda founded Self Realization Fellowship, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA and is the author of the Spritual Classic, 'Autobiography of a Yogi.'

We are bringing Microsoft Build sessions to Columbus Ohio! The Central Ohio Azure Meetup and Central Ohio .NET Developer's Group (CONDG) are coming together to bring some of the labs and breakouts from Microsoft Build to your backyard. In this free, 1 day event, you are going to Build stuff with us! And yes, there will be free food. Please RSVP via [Microsoft Build //localhost:columbus | Microsoft Reactor](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/events/27247/).

Join us for our Sunday Meditation Service - 'God's Nature in the Father!' Or join us on Facebook Live! Our Facebook Page is Golden Lotus Yoga for Spiritual Awareness

Let’s meet and wander the galleries! General admission on Sundays is free.

**🌹 Speed Dating Night for St. Petersburg Singles — On Zoom** Spend an evening meeting St. Petersburg singles face to face on Zoom, matched by age and personality before you arrive. **What to expect:** - Register and take a short personality quiz - Jump on Zoom when the event starts - Meet singles in guided one-on-one rounds - Get your mutual matches by email afterward **Find your bracket and grab a seat:** → **Ages 18-32** — [Register here](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=573&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=St.%20Petersburg&groupurlname=local-singles-seeking-genuine-connection-brunch-club&ar=18-32&face_v=6.0) → **Ages 30-46** — [Register here](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=573&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=St.%20Petersburg&groupurlname=local-singles-seeking-genuine-connection-brunch-club&ar=30-46&face_v=6.0) → **Ages 40-58** — [Register here](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=573&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=St.%20Petersburg&groupurlname=local-singles-seeking-genuine-connection-brunch-club&ar=40-58&face_v=6.0) → **Ages 55+** — [Register here](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=573&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=St.%20Petersburg&groupurlname=local-singles-seeking-genuine-connection-brunch-club&ar=55+&face_v=6.0) > Note: clicking RSVP alone won't get you in. Register via your age group and take the quiz. Places fill up. See you on Zoom, St. Petersburg. 🌷

Join us for our Sunday Meditation Service - !' Or join us on Facebook Live! Our Facebook Page is Golden Lotus Yoga for Spiritual Awareness

Let’s try the newly resurrected Worthington Inn which is being run by Wolf’s Ridge. Check out the menu: https://www.worthingtoninn.com/ Reservation is under Suzie Rao

# 🌃 Zoom Speed Dating: Indianapolis Singles, One Night _Skip the swiping. Tonight it's live Zoom one-on-ones with Indianapolis singles chosen with you in mind._ **How it all works:** 1. Sign up and answer a few quick personality questions 2. Hop onto Zoom right as we kick off 3. Chat one-on-one through guided rounds 4. Wake up to your mutual matches in your inbox --- **Spot your age, claim your seat:** 💘 **Ages 18-32** → [Grab your spot](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=574&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Indianapolis&groupurlname=cityscape-navigators-park-orienteering-team&ar=18-32&face_v=9.0) 💘 **Ages 30-46** → [Grab your spot](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=574&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Indianapolis&groupurlname=cityscape-navigators-park-orienteering-team&ar=30-46&face_v=9.0) 💘 **Ages 40-58** → [Grab your spot](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=574&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Indianapolis&groupurlname=cityscape-navigators-park-orienteering-team&ar=40-58&face_v=9.0) 💘 **Ages 55+** → [Grab your spot](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=574&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Indianapolis&groupurlname=cityscape-navigators-park-orienteering-team&ar=55+&face_v=9.0) > ⚠️ Quick note — RSVP ≠ registered. Tap your age link below, complete the quiz, and your spot is locked. Capacity is capped. **Tap in, settle back, and let the night surprise you. 🕯️**

We will be going to Jenny's Tex Mex after our English Chat at East Market. Whether you're a language learner, ESL student, or simply passionate about exploring new cultures, this event is perfect for anyone looking to immerse themselves in a diverse and welcoming community. Come join us for an enlightening afternoon of language, culture, food, of course, and connections! (Everyone will choose individually from the menu and pay for their meal.) I was told about this place and told that the food was great. We haven't been there yet so don't exactly know where we will meet there. We will try to find tables for everyone and put ESL signs on the tables. See you there!!

Welcome to Drunken Philosophy, a casual, curious, social discussion club. Come grab a drink and a seat at The Oracle. **Optional topic for this meetup: Where is everybody?** In 1950 the physicist Enrico Fermi was talking about aliens over lunch and asked a question that still has not gone away: if the universe is so vast and so old, and even a fraction of those billions of stars have planets, where is everyone? By the numbers the galaxy should be crowded with civilizations. Instead we look up and hear silence. That gap between "they should be everywhere" and "we see no one" is the Fermi Paradox. One of the most unsettling answers is the idea of a **Great Filter**: somewhere on the road from dead chemistry to a galaxy-spanning civilization, there is at least one step that is almost impossible to get past. Maybe the filter is behind us. Maybe life starting at all, or simple cells becoming complex, or intelligence ever evolving, is the freak accident, and we already cleared the hard part. Or maybe the filter is ahead of us, and advanced civilizations reliably wipe themselves out before they spread. Here is the part that messes with people. If we ever found life somewhere else, even pond scum on Mars, most people would call it the greatest discovery in history. But it might be the worst possible news. It would mean life is common, the early steps are easy, and the hard step is still in front of us. So the eerie silence overhead might actually be the best sign we could ask for. **Questions to wrestle with:** * Is it better to be alone? Would you rather we find alien life and learn we are not special, or find nothing and quietly improve our odds of surviving? * Where do you bet the filter sits, behind us or ahead of us, and why? * If it is ahead of us, what is it? Nuclear war, climate collapse, AI, something we cannot even picture yet? And can we do anything about a filter we cannot see coming? * Two principles pull opposite ways here. The principle of mediocrity (the Copernican principle, Sagan's "no privileged place in the universe") says we are ordinary, so what happened on Earth probably happened everywhere, which makes the silence scream louder. The anthropic principle says of course we find ourselves somewhere life was possible, since we could not observe anything else, so our being here may say almost nothing about how common life is. Which lens do you trust, and does the silence still demand an answer once you account for observer selection? * And if we did confirm life out there and had to accept we are not special, what would that do to belief in a higher power, and would shedding (or keeping) that belief help or hurt our odds of pulling together as one species? * Does any of this change how you live, or how humanity should be spending its time and money right now? As always the prompt is optional. Come for the conversation, stay for the drinks, and bring your own questions.

Now in its 26th year, [The Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival](https://www.creeksidebluesandjazz.com/), in Gahanna, gathers world famous groups and performers at a single place for you to enjoy the best Blues & Jazz in Ohio. *SATURDAY NIGHT features: The Urban Jazz Coalition with Special Guest Brian Simpson, North Mississippi Allstars, The Deal Breakers & More.* The three-day cultural celebration features musicians on 3 stages, local food trucks and beverage stations, treats, artisans, and more. **Tickets are $15 for adults online.** Link to purchase tickets: [Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival Tickets](https://tickets.creeksidebluesandjazz.com/e/2026-creekside-blues-jazz-festival). $20 at the door. Military are free. WHAT: Here's the festival [EVENT MAP](https://www.creeksidebluesandjazz.com/Event-Map/). Also, here's the [SCHEDULE](https://www.creeksidebluesandjazz.com/Schedule/) map to help you determine who to see. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* **Parking -** The Creekside Parking Garage will be open throughout the festival weekend. Entrance is located near the intersection of Mill and North Streets; accessible only by traveling south on Mill Street. **Event parking rate is $5 and collected at entrance to garage. Cash ONLY is accepted at garage entrance for parking.** Although off street parking in the Creekside District is permitted, it is very limited and not recommended. **Shuttle Service** pickup will be at the following location: [AEP Ohio 700 Morrison Rd., Gahanna, OH](https://goo.gl/maps/K9GgvgEdxCHaXsKDA) **Shuttle Service Hours:** Saturday: 1 PM - 12 AM **BRING**: *Be sure to bring a **chair** since there is limited available seating. Also $ or paycard for food and drink.*