It's official, I'm Old.

I don't know when it happened, but it happened.  I became a grown up.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad.  I get to partake in some really neat stuff, like voting and having a 401K, but I also get to look back and compare the old me to the current me.  Sometimes I'm impressed, sometimes I'm depressed.  It's a rollercoaster of emotions, really.

What brought about all this self examination?  I think it probably has something to do with my participation in the Crawl for Cancer.  This is an event where 10 people, wearing matching shirts, parade around an area of Kansas City called Westport, in the hopes that somehow drinking copious amounts of beer will help find a cure for Cancer.  I hate to ruin the ending for you, we don't find it.  This event used to be a thing of such great anticipation for me.  I participated in it every year before I left KC for the east coast.  Some of the most fun/best times I can (sorta) remember are from the Crawl. 

Fast forward 5 years and I hate to admit it, I probably would have enjoyed a marathon of the O.C. or the Golden Girls more.

Okay, so maybe it had a little something to do with the fact that I'm not drinking much (or at all) lately.  Being one of the drunken idiots is one thing. Babysitting/Witnessing all the idiocy is entirely another.  There's something truly heinous about the weird things I witnessed on Saturday.  I think it was made all the more horrifying because all of it happened before the sun actually set.  Some bars are just not meant to be seen in the light of day.  It's like seeing the characters at Disney World taking their smoke break in their costumes...it really ruins the fantasy, ya know?

I hate to say it, but I almost wish I hadn't gone this year.  I would have preferred to remember the old me's version of that event.  Now I have to deal with the current me's attitude towards it and it makes me feel downright old.  Next thing you know, I'll be a crotchety old woman referring to "kids these days" or "these whippersnappers."  Ack.  At least if I hadn't gone, I could remain delusional and convince myself that I'd still totally enjoy watching people stumble around in ridiculous balloon hats at 2pm on a Saturday, drunk of their asses, or watch 3 young adults rolling around giggling on the ground at the Beaumont Club.  P.S. The floor at the Beaumont Club could probably be studied for the next industrial strength glue.  It's really that gross and sticky.

In the meantime, I'm going to start re-evaluating my idea of "Fun".  I don't think it includes the things it used to.  I don't think I'll be off the booze forever, but I do however, think that my days of binge drinking are over. 

Just so you can be as horrified as I was, here's a list of strange things I saw:

1. Goth people making out on the balcony of Ernie Biggs. at 3pm. In broad daylight.
2. 3 girls rolling around giggling on the ground. In broad daylight.  It truly was like one of the episodes of True Blood Season 2...with Maryanne and the crazy eyes and the orgies.
3. A man with a mullet wig, wearing full on scuba gear.  Don't worry, he hit on one of my friends.
4. A Ron Blagoyavich look-alike.  Don't worry, he also hit on one of my friends.
5. A kid who could barely stand or keep from slurring like a maniac smoked half a cigarette with the wrong end lit.  Seriously, who does that???