T.G.I. Philosophical ramblings! Er, Phriday!

Well, Friday is finally here. I would say something along the lines of "finally! What a taxing work week!", because usually that's how I feel. However, I kind of had two weekends last weekend, entertaining an out-of-town guest from Wednesday night through Sunday, so I'm not all that prepared for another weekend of debauchery. I know what you're thinking. Well why don't I just take it easy this weekend? Clearly you've never met me. I have little to no will power once someone asks if I'd be interested in hitting the town. Although, stranger things have happened.

Went for beers last night with a friend. A nice little place called Barfly. Well, no, it's not a "nice little place" at all. The place is a dump. It's one of those "off the beaten path," run-down, fouling-smelling shit nests that have been adopted by hipsters, so now it's become a perfectly acceptable place to not only have a beer, but also bring your mother (as I saw last night)! One of the benefits of Barfly's crappiness is the outdoor area, which is nothing more than a tented in, fenced-off section of the parking lot. But there are picnic tables, which is conducive to meeting new people. We were joined by a trio of girls who (after a few beers) engaged us in their drinking games. That's right. I'm playing drinking games on a Thursday night. And I'm 27 years old. And I wonder why I'm still single. We played a variety of the old college standards (circle of death!) and one where we had to guess how many thumbs everyone would stick up on the count of three. Obviously, I'm a little dumber today as a result. But I was able to crawl into bed at a somewhat reasonable hour, considering we left the bar despite the fact that it was peaking in terms of people and fun. Better to leave a little early than a little late, I suppose.

We had a nice long, existential (and beer-induced, obviously) discussion about motivation and satisfaction. We talked about how generations before ours felt satisfied simply by providing for their family. Since our generation doesn't have to face anything even approaching a fight for survival, we're left to find satisfaction elsewhere. It's a luxury, but we get restless nevertheless. So what is motivating people? Sure, some people are content to start a family and provide for them, and slowly move up the social ladder, but that's not for everyone. Basically what we wondered was this: if you're not motivated to climb the corporate ladder and be the guy in the corner office, and you're not particularly motivated by money, and you don't particularly have any designs on becoming a successful musician/writer/actor/etc, and you're not interested in a family just yet...well, then what the hell is left? I'm sure those people are out there. Are they depressed? Are they aimless? Hell, I'm aimless, but I have my delusions of rockstardom and/or literary fame, and they help me sleep at night.

I guess Robert circa 2004 could fit into that category. I was just out of college, I didn't know what I wanted to do, I didn't particuarly think I had any chance of finding success doing something I actually enjoyed (music, writing - not that I really do now, but hey, it could happen) and I didn't particularly care. I enjoyed going out with my friends and trying to meet girls. I was apathetic. Wait, I'm not re-hashing one of the old "why is generation X so disinterested?" discussions, am I? God, you could probably find the entire contents of the last two paragraphs in a 1993 issue of Esquire. You know what, forget it. Sometimes people float until they find what they want. There's an entire class of people out there made up completely of Peter Gibbonses. I don't know what my point is. I've gone and talked myself in knots, and now I'm confused. I think I'm looking for validation? That it's okay to not really want a family or a career right now, as long as I have my sights set on something else?