Observations

So tonight I went out to 6th Street here in Austin and I did what I normally do...observe. Personally I find it fascinating that thousands of people walk down to a certain strip of bars and then leave a few hours later. I like noting the behavior of people, and I think if I were into environmental study I would study the environment of so-called social scenes. Because here's how things usually go.

A group of people gets together and decides that they want to go out. First they go to one bar, that one is always slightly empty. So they go around in a circle, no real reason, just a general circle. Some comment is made about the bar. Guys talk about the hot girls (or lack thereof) that they want to &^#$ and the girls talk about...whatever it is that girls talk about. Everybody buys one drink, they drink it, feel silly and move on to the next bar.

Second bar, the cycle is repeated: go in, look around, comment to friends, get drink, stand around a bit longer, then leave.

Third bar people stay a bit longer, spend less time talking to one another, more time surveying. If you're a guy in the bar you begin to scope for who you are going to pick up (aka harass). If you're a girl, you do the same thing, just more subtly.

Finally, you try to find somebody in the third bar to go dancing with you, and if that doesn't work, then you just find a small group of people while walking down the street. Keep in mind they can't be too creepy or sober. The final stop is the 'club' where the dancing is done. This is where any real 'production' is done. Really all you have to do to get a girl is be the last person she dances with. All you have to do to get a guy is...be a girl and hope you're cute enough. Then everybody begins to practice humping, the music gets intense for a while, you notice the place begins to clear out, you decide whether or not they are worth going home with (probably aren't) so you then go home with your friends...the same group you went out with.

In the course of one night you really don't meet anybody, everybody is in their own circle of friends and very little is accomplished, but it's okay, cause the alcohol will make you forget how pointless the endeavor is and you'll most likely repeat it the next day/weekend.