It is ok to say no.

When I passed out the invitations to my July 4th gathering last week, a few people made comments like, "it is too soon to know my schedule." Which seems like a very polite way of saying, "I want to wait and see if something more important comes along before I commit to you."

In my opinion, scheduling has everything to do with it, which is why I was asking them to plan on attending my event a week in advance. Despite all of the nonsense, I decided to take a leap of faith and prepare a fourth of July Vegan Picnic for 10 on the rooftop garden. Only two people showed up, and the neighbor who convinced me to do it in the first place never attended either. I later saw a pizza man making a delivery to his apartment, so he was home all day. I should have known better.

Now I have a giant pot of California Chili with Edamame and fake meat, 14 Grilled Tofu Steaks topped with greek spices and sauteed spinach and onions and Tahini, Cole Slaw with Peanut Ginger Scallion dressing, and my famous Trashy BBQ Potatoes in the fridge. I will be eating this stuff for the next week. Even my roommate changed his mind at the last minute and decided to go to the gym instead of hang out with the two people who actually did show up today. If nobody was interested they could have at least said no when I asked them the first time.

One of the two people was Janusz, and it was nice to see him.