The need to go out:

Every weekend--for a some of us it starts on Thursday and ends on Monday morning by the way--6th Street is engulfed by young adults. They come singularly and by the dozen. All searching for the trendy place to get toasted, meet old and new friends, and perhaps get high or get laid. We are all trying to find a good time and perhaps make connections. I go out because I love listening and dancing to late eighties music, like Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, alternative music, et... I also enjoy watching others dance--to learn a few dance moves. I won't lie to ya; I also go for the alcohol and women--the chase, the game. My good buddies Berry(26 year old Caucasian), Andrew(23 year old Caucasian), Gabe(22 year old Hispanic), and Randy(32 year old African American) all admit to being womanizers. They go to get toasted and to meet and score as many times they go there. Others like Amy(21 year old Caucasian), Chelsy(23 year old Caucasian), Chi(24 year old Asian American), and Sam(22 year old Muslim) go to dance, enjoy each others' company, and watch others dance and socialize. And each weekend it seems like the same crowd over and over.

Clubs are full of hyperactive angsted teens. They go out to get drunk, get high, or have sex. The clubs are full of bad people who will try to get you on drugs to hook you if they are not all addicts themselves. All the club people have sexually transmitted diseases. I don't want you going to those ugly places. Does this sound familiar? This is the attitude that my parents have for these places. They say clubs have changed from what it was back then.

What they find out there:

They find themselves with groups of many likes out there and perhaps trying to find their own groups. They find refuge in the darkness of the clubs--the smoke filled arena, the dark, private corners, and the ability to indulge themselves. Many who go out for the "Chase/Game"--finding stiff competition while trying to make some connections. They perhaps unknowingly find themselves with notable reputations. Andrew has a reputation for being a "player" in the clubs. Chi is the "long-haired Asian that can really move."

Those that go out dance the night off sometimes find themselves competing for space. Often, even large clubs become over crowded. It doesn't help when clubs are deliberately squeezing people in like sardines. Often, this dissuades what were regulars from coming back, leaving them to find a new hang-out.

Drugs are a fact at most clubs. You can occasionally sense the stench of pot in the restrooms or as you roam the club. I have been asked to buy drugs and if I had drugs, such as Ecstacy or Acid or Shrooms, from complete strangers before. I know people who have occasionally been on drugs while they are at the clubs. I have even danced with some that were X-ing or Shrooming(not fun, not cool). All this is not a normal occurrence though. Andrew is a former user and distributor of such drugs, and Berry has also experimented with pot and X. But some of us, like myself, don't even smoke. Chi doesn't even drink, he is their just to socialize and dance. In all this, there is one common factor--we all enjoy the load, hypnotic music that we dance the night away to. Another common factor, not encouraging though, is the amount of smoke in each club seems the same.

Something I think we all know or might not want to admit to is the fact that the way you dance determines the way they percieve you in bed. It didn't really matter which gender or who I talked to at the clubs, they all basically say the same. But this has not discouraged many at all from taking their moves out to the dance floor.