Penultimate Watering Holes

I am in need of cowboy nights.

A cowboy night is a night where you go out of your door, not really set on a destination, but travel by your lonesome to a various locale. The primary reason for doing this is to meet new people, become enveloped within different groups, live life a little.

Last night I said goodbye to my director at the Vegas Lounge, a dive bar featuring karaoke just down the block from my house. I was recording Patch, so I got there a little late. The group pretty much left right away, leaving me to drink my drink by myself with some random people I had never met before.

I had a blast.

I sang "Twentieth Century Boy" by T-Rex, no one knew the song apparently, yet some of the women I met came up and were go-go dancers and were singing backup even though they didn't know the song. We did backup to other people's karaoke jaunts. I was told that I looked like a young Mick Jagger by one of these people to many handshakes and "Well, thanks, I guess," on my part.

Some random lady came up to me, pretty sloshed, and said "You see that guy? He's hot."

I replied "Yeah, he's cute."

"You need to see if he's single. Can you talk to him for me?"

I had to get into her psyche, find out who she was, what she wanted . . . I fell into a deeper connection with a stranger than what I was normally affixed to.

I went on by saying "If you had the nerve to talk to me you have the nerve to talk to that guy. You're asking a complete stranger to be a matchmaker for you. We've just developed a relationship within the space of five minutes, moreso than you'll probably develop with that other guy in the entire night."

She then gave me a hug, a peck on the cheek, and said "Can you talk to him for me?"

Jesus . . .

I was thinking in the shower, "Where would be my ideal hangout? I know people have their watering holes, places they go to without a posse. They know the staff personally, the locale fits their personality. Where's my place?"

I would want to pick a place that would be most optimal to meet people just like myself, of course. Too Much Love is too general, the crowd too mixed. Where are the people who are on the verge of vegetarianism but haven't gathered enough stamina to cut meat out from their diet? Where are the artists who love art but feel there's way too much pretension throughout the entire complex of public art forums? Where are the people who are super hyper and positive about life but can settle down and have a depressing conversation about the economy and pop culture sludge?

I thought my ideal posse would be formed out of fast food restaurants. My household now still visits Taco Bell, Wendy's, Arby's, McDonald's on occasion. We don't go every week, and we sometimes go without visiting a fast food joint for months at a time. But we find ourselves at a location from time to time.

These new people would be eating by themselves. They would be eating with slight guilt, ashamed of the meat in front of them. Yet they haven't found the stamina to cut it. They are healthy, meaning they don't come to these locales often. But there's something pertaining to vice surrounding these places. They're little treats for lazy nights or quick stops in between errands.

There should be a Taco Tuesday Ladies Drink Free at Taco Bell every month. Free soda. The people who would frequent this probably wouldn't be unhealthy. They would probably make an event out of it because they are healthy, they're going to have a treat. It would be the ideal locale for me right now. Happy events, vices, and guilt.

Going to classes pertaining to a positive way of life, such as Yoga and meditation, is another place for the ideal person. People are trying to find out about themselves, they're tapped into their brains, their bodies, their souls. Maybe I should start taking up meditation at the center down the street in April.

But for nights out -- where? The place where I'd find the clone of me . . . Artsy bars, I s'pose. Rock venues. A lot of douchy people flock to those places, though . . . where would the ideal crowd be?

Happy places tend to be book stores, bakeries, restaurants. It's hard to just meet the ideal crowd at those places.

Where?

Debates. Lecture debates sponsored by the University. Or movie fests, where you talk to people afterward about the preceeding events.

Lectures and events relating to a discussion of some sort.

Hmmm . . . I'll look into this . . .

Creedence Clearwater Revival -- "Run Through the Jungle"