Twas another drunken St. Patty's Day. I went out in the city with Rachael, Eli, some of his friends, Sarah, and some of her friends. We took the train down to Wrigleyville and hit up some bars. Our night began around 9 or so. We went to 2 smaller, non-Irish bars before ending up at an Irish pub...I don't remember the full name of the bar, just that it had an O' in the name.

Here my take on going to a bar on a busy night such as St. Patrick's Day. I tend to have the least fun at a bar during the first 15-30 minutes there. Think about it. You walk in the door and instantly have to squeeze your way through the crowd. Your immediate objective is to get a drink. But there is a wall of people between you and the bar 20 feet thick. When you finally get to the bar, you have to wait a while to get served. Once you finally get your drink, you can't just stay next the the bar, because there's a line of people pushing forward trying to get a drink as well. So now you have to make your way back through the crowd and stake out an area in the bar to stand. The options are usually slim pickin's so you get a crappy location like right in front of the door so you get hit with the inbound and outbound bar traffic, as well as the freezing cold breeze every time the door opens. The bigger your group, the harder it is to find a good location. As the night goes on, people leave, and then you can take over their spot. If you're lucky, you'll secure a chair so at least you'll have somewhere to hang your coat. If you're REALLY lucky, you'll get an entire table.

When bar-hopping, you finally stake out a good location and get comfortable at one bar. Then when you leave to go to another bar, you have to start the process all over again.

All in all, last night was pretty fun. And nothing complements a night of nine beers like some tacos from Garcia's on the way home. Mmmmm.