Space Invaders and the Mating Ritual

This was my first weekend in quite some time where I was not traveling. I actually got to stay in the same place and do some exploring.

Saturday I went to the air and space museum. I really enjoy learning about space - especially about the possibility of other life out there (see Eureka, Europa!). But for some reason I just started to feel really crazed. We don't even know what's out there, and it's simply amazing that with all the crap floating around out there a meteor hasn't completely pulverized us yet.

When some people look up at the night sky, seeing the millions of twinkling stars and bright planets, they feel at ease. They believe that they are not alone. They are comforted by the many unknown things that may or may not exist there; it gives them some hope believing that we can't be alone, or that there must be some greater meaning to it all, or that our problems are so insignificant in the grand scheme of it all, or that all we really have and all we know is right in front of us - and it's love, compassion, and kindness.

In the past I have agreed with that stance. Yet on Saturday something just felt different. I felt intimidated by everything out there that I don't know now and will probably never know, lost amidst all the other things that are bigger, brighter, and vastly more important than my little life, uncertainty about how quickly it can all end and how if a meteor was to crash into us we probably wouldn't be able to stop it, discomfort about how my college major (liberal arts) is so worthless towards accomplishing anything real - what would I do to a meteor racing towards us, talk it to death?, loneliness, hopelessness that nothing in my life or anyone's life really matters, and of course, a little fear about death.

I'm not sure if I still feel that way now, or if it was just a fleeting spasm of discomfort. It's always interesting when you spend so much time nurturing yourself, and then you suddenly look up and realize the presence of everything else in the room. It's good not to be too much inside oneself, I think.

I had another odd human experience Saturday night. It was someone's birthday, so a bunch of people went to dinner and then a bar. I guess it was the first time that I've been to a bar that didn't consist mostly of college or graduate students.

My boyfriend went to the bathroom at one point, and a guy came up to the table where I was standing with some people. He didn't say anything, he just started dancing. It was like the discovery channel when the male bird sticks out his chest to reveal colorful feathers and does a mating dance or bird call (see From Poop to Riches?). Just like that. I don't think I'd ever seen such blatant 'shopping' for women.

Obviously, I don't get out much.

At dinner some people were talking about playing Cranium instead of going to bars. My heart skipped a few beats. I love to drink, but I'll pick Cranium over bars anyday. Drinking-Cranium would be a nice blend. I enjoy drinking games, and I miss pre-parties. I miss sitting around in someone's apartment drinking, playing the Wild Zero drinking game, Kings (by the way, I love that the rules are on Wikipedia), and Chug for Chug/Sip for Sip. Just give me my damn Hurricane and I can amuse myself for hours; it always tasted good to me! I like to start drinking at 8pm and be in bed by midnight.

So why oh why do we need to go to bars. BARS... it's like standing in line at the sausage store. And, one Hurricane for $1.50 drank quickly will give you a good four hours of intoxicated glory; one Miller Lite at a bar will set you back at least $4 and give you no glory at all. Playing Cranium at someone's apartment while doing a little preparty drinking means places to sit, good conversation, good laughs, not screaming to be heard, no obnoxious drunkards slobbering all over (well, if there are some, then at least they're your friends), and no forking over your entire wallet. At bars, no one really ever even looks like they're having that good of a time (unless they're smashed, and at that point they don't really know much of anything)!

When I move into my new apartment, there will be a festive little gathering. There will be refreshments and board games, and people will forget why they ever went to wallet-stealing, std-melting-pots like bars anyway!