Several rites of passage, all involving alcohol.
This evening, Matt B. and I took Christian C. out for a minimalistic Bachelor party, as he’s getting married tomorrow and he already had a 3-day Bachelor LAN Party. We hit up Big Al’s Bowling (and more), where we sped through $30 beating Time Crisis 4, and $25 on one game of bowling. I should say, though, that it was worth it. The three of us have had little time to hang out, and Big Al’s is quite a spectacle to behold. From a design perspective, it’s really, really intriguing, and it would be fun to just go and observe all of the little things that they’re doing both right and wrong. However, that’ll happen later; the bowling and gaming tonight was fun. And, I lost entirely at bowling (bowled an 81, I think… no thanks to Wii Sports!), but Christian won.
As for the rites of passage. Before this evening, I had yet to visit a Bar. I’ve tried drinks, been to places like Applebee’s and McMenamins, but never to an actual, 21-and-older, tab-keeping, pool-playing Tavern. (I actually could have with Matt Lohkamp last week for his birthday, but my schedule conflicted, sorry Matt.)
It was interesting, to say the least. I missed the social aspect, as we stayed to ourselves, but I’m not one to be social with strangers, so I rather appreciated that. We started off with some Billiards, but I wasn’t too keen on playing, so Matt and Chris played several games. I also designated myself the DD, as I’d never been one (officially). Granted, all they had was a round of Rum & Coke, but still… And I got to put it on a tab, which I left open; we didn’t get anything else, but that wasn’t the point. Surprisingly, it was only $3.50 per drink, which was rather nice. It must have been happy hour.
The night ended on a fairly good note. They ended up coercing me into playing a round of Cutthroat Pool, which, I’m happy to report, I won. We played again, and Matt won, but it was still fun.
All in all, the bar we visited (Charlie’s Tavern, in Vancouver) was nice enough, and it reminded me very much of the Bar frequented in the TV series Scrubs. Granted, I’ll never drink like Dr. Cox, but it may be fun to actually get a drink; that drink would probably be closer to an Appletini, light on the Tini, than Scotch on the rocks. But the fact that I want to go back, shoot pool, and get a drink is very, very surprising to me.
There are indeed some alcoholic beverages (which, being a law abiding citizen, I never tried until recently) that are quite tasty – which I’ve always thought is the only good reason for consuming anything in the first place. Probably why I wouldn’t make a good alcoholic. If you ever want to get some drinks and play some pool, I’m up for that…
I believe there are some tasty alcoholic beverages out there, but I’ve tried many, and haven’t found too much, which is actually a little sad. I’m not one to force things upon myself for no good reason (I’ll learn ASP.NET for a job, I won’t learn to like Brussels Sprouts for the heck of it), and an enhanced social life is not a good enough reason for me to force the bitter taste of a beer or the burning of a shot. I stress: for me. However, I’m happy with just a Coke and hanging out with friends, assuming no one calls me a girl for it (no offense to women in any way). The Pool was fun, and It’d be fun to barhop around Portland with friends from school, we could even drag Tyler along!
perhaps to celebrate certain classmates graduating? And I agree – I can’t see how beer could be anything but an acquired taste, and there are some nasty tasting shots out there. But there are also sweet smooth tasting liquors that end up being closer to candy then alcohol… mmm. There’s no way I would even consider finishing off a six pack of beer by myself, but I could guzzle Kahlua alllllll niiiiight looooong.