Bar Fly? Debatable....

Sigh...

As a concession to the huge lobby of my friends who think I'm a complete alcoholic, I admit that I have been known to go to bars on my own.

In defence of this trend, I'd like to explain how I got comfortable with the idea, as I am aware that this is not a normal thing to do. In fact, it is only through my own brutal punctuality that I became aware that "normal folks" do not consider this acceptable behaviour.

Really, it all came about starting with Ritual. On Friday afternoons, Ritual was an unquestioned destination for anyone that didn't have surgery or an exam. Classes were routinely skipped, assignments handed in incomplete (at best), and other appointments blown off. But more importantly, there was always someone there. Always. Even in fourth year. Maybe it was close friends, maybe it was some people from class, maybe it was bandsies, but regardless, there would always be someone to talk to. I'm not sure I actually went to Ritual "with" anyone after second year. It was just a kind of meeting place that everyone made it to (eventually) every week. The symbolic start to the weekend, if you will.

With Clark being a comfortable solo destination, it eventually grew. By fourth year, there was also QP. My typical route home would be to head through the JDUC to see if Justin or Jon (a.k.a. Cliff and Norm) were there. If they were, I'd stop. If they weren't... well...... I might slip in for one... you know, just to see if they were coming by. My thesis partner (Brian) being QP staff didn't exactly help my likelihood of walking by without at least sticking my head in.

Now, I have two bars in Toronto that I feel comfortable enough to frequent on my own, but they are also the two places where I know much of the staff by name, and they also know me by name. And drink.

Okay, maybe it's not that debatable.............