The BFD with GFs

Recently, activities with friends have had to be scheduled around separate activities with those friends' girlfriends. What follows isn't really a complaint, but more of an observation.

In the old days (not the good old days or the bad old days, but more like the late high school and early college old days), my free time was filled by hanging out with friends. Some of those friends had girlfriends, but we didn't necessarily hang out with said girlfriends during "friends time." There was often a girlfriend around here or there, but they usually spent their time with us watching their boyfriends play video games (which sounds extremely dull to me when compared with the actual experience of playing video games).

My point is that "girlfriend time" and "friends time" were rather separate entities. How is this different than today? Well, it's not, except that those separate entities of time were rather equal and balanced before, or sometimes the "hang with friends" impulse would win out and claim a larger chunk of time from the continuum.

Maybe I've been spoiled by the fact that some girlfriends were away at their own colleges, hundreds of miles from here, not even visible upon the distant horizon. For many girlfriends, their absence had left their boyfriends exclusive time to hang with buddies, guys, and pals. However, as more girlfriends now return home like the swallows to Capistrano, more boyfriends are being pulled away.

There is really nothing left for this spoiled kid to do except accept the fact that we are growing older. As couples spend more time together and strengthen their bonds, they'll proceed to the next stages in life, sometimes moving in together, getting married, or even knocking themselves up to produce beautiful little, time-consuming children. Over the course of the next couple of years, "friends time" will diminish from open summers to weekend events, continuing to shrink even further, all the way down to once-a-year gatherings for Superbowl parties. My friends don't even watch the Superbowl, so when the heck am I supposed to see 'em?

So one of the last questions to remain is whether or not to hang up the goofy webcomic shirts, put away the xbox controllers, and throw out those cool Captain Crunch bestfriends secret decoder rings, and succumb to the fate that has befallen so many of my nerdy brethren.

Is such a fate so bad? Of course not. From what I hear, the sex is much more consistent and reliable. Still, I can't shake the feeling that I am just a little boy cursed to possess the body of a fat man. The world still sparkles sometimes with wonderful surprises dug in like gemstones, and I still get a curious thrill at the thought of what evils lurk in the dark. If I survive past the age of 30, then maybe I will be experienced and ready enough for the stability that comes with a long, deep relationship. Until then, I hope I always enjoy playing on a children's swingset at midnight, even when sober.

Off to the movies, I guess...

-WJ

Posted by Whiskey Johnson on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 8:13 PM
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