Friends for different seasons

Today, Helen and I hosted the fifth annual Laroche Oktoberfest at our apartment. We cook wurst (usually from Dittmers, but Dittmers had a fire in January and still isn't open!), provide beer, and ask people to bring their favorite German themed food. This year, I provided an Oktoberfest homebrewed beer as well - my first homebrewed lager!

One of my friends mentioned "I made a faux pas - I asked [former coworker] if he was coming today - and he didn't know about it." The former coworker is an awesome guy, someone I like talking to and seeing in situations like this. But I know a lot of people - I would have loved to invite about 20 people today - and then there's Helen's invitees too! But there's two problems with inviting everyone I want: First, I like events at about 6-12 people. It's enough to have 1-2 conversations going on, give everyone a chance to speak, and get to know each other. And second, I try to pick groups of people who I think will match well to the event - there's grill guys and German food guys. There's loud folk and contemplative folk - and I want a different type of friend at different events.

It's hard to avoid hurting feelings, though - I want to put things on Twitter and Facebook, but I don't want people hurt that I didn't invite them, especially if I invited them last year.

One solution: host more events!