Really been doing a lot of social activities the past few weeks. I mean, not a lot a lot, but a lot for a dad with two still relatively young children. I went to a party at a friend's house last Friday. It was his birthday, but the invitation didn't say it was his birthday. He said it was a Bastille Day celebration, but I came to find that that was just kinda cover to throw himself a birthday party. It was pretty fun -- low-key. He's gay so there were a lot of other gay guys there, and it was nice to hang out with people who aren't super kid focused. There were a few other parents there, of course, but kids! wasn't the main topic of every conversation in the room, like it is at most events I attend these days.
My friend is my age, give or take a few years, but there was a younger cohort who showed up there for Stop 1 of the night. They left before me, and told me they were going to go out to the clubs, and it reminded me of my days cavorting about in the DC gayborhoods. That's not a joke. I had a group of gay guys I used to hang out with somewhat frequently, and no matter where the night began, if we hung out late enough, we ended up at a sweaty, crowded, loud gay club. My joke was always to pronounce upon entrance, "Where all the women at?" It made me laugh, anyway.
Actually, I found that gay bars were not a terrible place for a straight man to meet a straight woman. There were generally a few het chicks around, and I immediately had something in common with them to talk about. Sometimes I'd get denied, because they were at a gay bar to specifically not be hit on, but other times they'd at least hear me out, which is all you can ask for. I mean, I wouldn't say I had resounding success meeting women in gay bars, but I didn't get totally shut out either. But I'm sure the whole scene now is totally different, anyway. It doesn't seem all that long ago in my mind, but were talking legit 15-20 years ago. It's like somebody when I first turned 21 in the mid-90s talking about the scene in 1979. Uh, yeah, cool story, old man... You know, a lot of people bag on Smashmouth, but they did get one thing right: The years start coming and they don't stop coming.
Anyway, I also had a much more standard, kid-centric social event last week. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I thought it was great -- just a fun, exciting action film. I heard it's not doing very good in the theaters, which is... I dunno... bad, I guess? Movies in general aren't having a great summer, and I don't know what to think about it. On the one hand, I love seeing movies in the theater and don't like how so much is moving to streaming now; on the other hand, I typically hate the type of movies that are in theaters. It feels like it's 90% superhero movies, and I just don't want to watch another superhero movie.* (I didn't really want to watch one in the first place.) But if the movies I don't like do poorly, does that mean there will be more of the movies I do like, or does that mean the entire industry will just collapse? Probably the latter. And there might not be any movies anymore, anyway, if this writers/actors strike doesn't get resolved soon.
*I know, I know, Indiana Jones is like first cousins with a superhero movie, but it's still different -- or maybe it's not, and it's just the exception.
Alright, running out of time, gotta finish this post lightning-round style.
- I went to "dad's drinks" on Thursday at a dad-friend's house. One of the dads is moving away (the host, actually), and another one is getting divorced, so it wasn't exactly the makings of a joyous occasion, but there was a lot of bourbon flowing, so people still seemed to be having a good time.
- I just stick with beer. I can't hang with the hard liquor. I can barely hang with the beer anymore, truthfully. I always bring two beers and two waters -- that's my won't-have-a-headache-the-next-day limit.
- Although, I did go up to three beers last night for a dinner party we had at our house. It was a special occasion, I actually planned something. The ratio of "events we've had at our house planned by S" and "events we've had at our house planned by me" use to be 20-to-1, and now it's more like 15-to-1.
Until next time...
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