Another Saturday Night

There was a time, not long ago, that I felt such immense pressure to find something to do on Friday and especially Saturday nights. It was a wasted evening if I wasn't at dinner or a movie or a bar or (God forbid it came to this) a club with my friends. And if I didn't have anything planned for the weekend, I drove home to California and found something to do there!

Now, Friday and Saturday nights have quite the opposite effect on me. I don't want to do ANYTHING. Tonight, for example, I was invited to MIX with a friend of mine. I've never been there, it's supposed to be nice, and yet, it had no appeal to me at all. I fondly wished my friend a fabulous time without me. And the last time I saw Cherry Hill, all I could think of was how I missed Murphy's Pub because you could pull up a table and chat with friends while watching the band instead of being crammed like sardines into a standing-room only bar.

I thought it might be my age -- but no, there are plenty of 27 yr olds who still love the nightlife scene, especially here in Vegas. Then again, it never had the same fun element to me because I don't drink. I couldn't just turn on the insta-party with a few shots; I was usually the designated driver and always the babysitter. Which I didn't mind, don't get me wrong -- if I'm not going to drink then at least I could make sure my friends were safe. But maybe because of it, the novelty of nights out like that just wore off faster.

I don't miss getting in at 4 a.m., or the smoke in my hair and on my pillow, or walking a mile from the parking garage to the far side of the MGM Grand in high heels and a mini-skirt in December. I do miss dancing with Amanda, and going to see the band with all of my ticket office people, and deciding to drive home for Easter from the bar at 3:30 a.m., and having to take drunk Amanda to the Del Taco drive-thru at 3 a.m. for her standard order of tacos & french fries. But do I want to re-live it all? No.

It's Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. And there is no place like home. JDM