((Hey guys, this rant first appeared over at Everything I Hate. I'm lazy and didn't feel like coming up with something new so I decided to post it here too. Enjoy.))

I’m tired. I think I’m just getting old or some shit, but I just can’t stay up as late as I used to. Or maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t gotten a really good nights sleep in a few weeks now. Regardless of my sleeping habits I don’t go out very much anymore. I find that most of the time I can keep myself just as easily amused at home reading, working on stuff, watching crap on the tube, jerkin’ it, playing videogames, etc, etc. If I go out on the town the odds are I’ll just wind up sitting some bar watching the cool people trying to pick up on the other cool people. This gets pretty old pretty quick. Now don’t get me wrong, the site of a fake-and-bake-tan-having-hipster trying to throw the mack on a group of girls who think less of him than I do is pretty funny. But you can only see it so often before it just gets old. It kind of amazes me at how many people you see in bars are out for only one reason: to get laid. It’s this constant search for companionship. Fuck, it’s an amazing thing to watch, like a nature show. You see how the males and females react with each other, how they act alone, and how they act in packs. The group of male homosapiensjockus keep a vigilant eye on the lounging group of female homosapienshottyus. In a bold maneuver brought on by alcohol one member of the male group approaches the hotties in an attempt at communication. His mating call of “Hey ladies, wassssup!” is met with snickers and the narrowing of the eyes that signifies disinterest in the male, and the lone male returns to his group where his companions further belittle him. And the hunt continues.

I love to people watch. It’s great fun.  And the great thing is it’s not just a nature show focusing on one particular predator and prey, it’s a nature show that covers the entire spectrum of Humans aged 21 and up, plus those who manage to score fake ID’s decent enough to get them into bars. Fresh meat trying to keep up with the hardened drunks, hipsters trying to keep up with each others hip-ness, aging office workers trying to hook up with the soccer-moms, hot chicks with only one goal: scam free drinks off of guys trying desperately to go home with them, just off work busboys and servers and washers and cooks all trying to relax while other busboys and servers and washers and cooks serve them. Love, hate, fear, joy, passivity, aggression, sex, drugs, and rock & roll all at the same time. If drunkards weren’t so damn annoying and loud I’d probably never want to leave the bars. I always get these conflicting feelings when I’m out and abouts. I enjoy the never-ending stream of people to watch and observe. It’s life, it goes on and on. That’s friggin’ cool! Buuut at the same time it can be amazingly depressing. You reach a point where it’s all the same. The faces change, the bars change, but it’s all the same. The same types of people doing the same types of things in the same types of places. Depressing. And you get to see some of the most pathetic dregs of our society: the pear shaped middle-aged women dancing with each other because the men won’t, the drunks who do nothing but drink and work to support their drinking, the strung out crack whore twitching at the corner of the bar hoping to get a fix, the desperate clinging desire for companionship that exists in everyone brought out to their most extreme levels by only a few ounces of alcohol. And the mullets and fringe. When one is spotted the other can’t be far behind. It’s depressing to see these people, and wonder what made them who they are today.

You meet a lot of interesting people though, some good, some truly bad. You meet creative friendly freaks, scary tattooed drunks, bartenders who happily hook you up with good drinks and excellent service, bartenders who happily screw you to continue macking on the drunk girl they’re working on, shy guys trying to find a girl and failing because they’re not assholes, and scary single fathers who talk about women, alleys, and hammers all in the same sentence. Yessiree, a night on the town can be mighty entertaining.