JPL Week 6

I think we just played our 6th game last night. If you are not familiar with the Jakarta Pool League, you can check out the website here. We took on Aphrodite Black last night, and as you can see from the results, they are one of the best teams in the entire league, not just our conference. Most of our boys were out of town so I only just managed to scrape together 6 players for the game. All of them were above average but I was also on the roster and I am by far the least talented player on the team. Up until last night I had played only 4 games and lost them all. I can not perform under pressure at all so in my mind the out come looked pretty bleak.

Apart from being one of the finest teams in the league, Aphrodite Black are also a fun bunch of people. We are all well acquainted and whenever we link up there is usually a whole lot of alcohol involved. We got the game underway and as you can see from the score sheet below, we managed to keep a pretty balanced game. In the end we lost 5-7 when Marcello won both games against our Munna Bhai. Munna is a fuckin awesome player but dude, Marcello was phenomenal. He was on a different level so in retrospect, we played one of our best games last night. The girls lost 1-3 but the competition was stiff so they can’t be blamed either.

Fully loaded and worked up, a few of us headed to Dragon Fly. In case you are out of the loop, this is a relatively new club on Gatot Subroto. Actually it has been open for a while now but it has suddenly become one of the trendiest spots. Personally I have never liked the place because it is a bit too 30 something’s. Now the crowd is younger but it is so damn packed in with people. Last night the line was streaming out of the building and people were fighting to get in. Fortunately, Avi knows people who know people so we did not have to stand in that bastard line. Thanks Richerreee and P Dizzle.

The décor of the joint is decent and the layout is well spread but there were just too many people. The staff was overwhelmed and weather you want to order a bottle of whiskey or just a glass of beer; it was impossible to get served. The women there were fuckin mind blowing though. Most of them were models and even the guys they were hanging with were pretty attractive, not that I am into men but it is only fair to mention for the female readers. All the beautiful people were hanging out together and no one was getting served. There was hardly any place to stand without getting shoved by a passer by every 30 seconds, let alone finding a spot to dance or carry on a half decent conversation. The music was very mediocre and I heard nothing original coming from the DJ booth.

I enjoy a good party as much as the next guy but the only reason I can guess for people struggling to get into this place is to see and be seen, and that is so not my scene (check out the word play). I enjoy looking at the lovely women and every now and then I will run into some person I know and say what’s up, but honestly, what is the fucking point? I had a good time for a while because I was with friends but then it just got really boring. Society generally irks me and in my mind set at the time all I could see were the aspects of it that do. People drinking wine and champagne because it is supposedly the ‘classy’ thing to do, carrying on conversations with people they don’t really like about things they care less about.

It is not really fair for me to judge what people are doing in clubs or bars, or their reasons for climbing social ladders, but standing there in the bar last night, the world, the stars, the planets, and the universe, all moving around me, I came to a realization. I just don’t fit in. I feel like a square peg in a round hole. And one can not be expected to go through their entire lives chipping away at their corners and edges just so they can slip in. I feel like all my life I have had to compromise on my beliefs just to avoid conflict and although I do not wish to continue on that way I do not think I really have a choice.

As human beings living in any society our ideas and beliefs tend to conform to the people around us. It is not very easy to find people with the same perspectives as your own and who the fuck would want to any ways. We need to be challenged in order to keep our opinions in check but day by day they will be altered and not necessarily in a positive way. You might start using the word fagot or jovially calling a friend gay when there was a time you regarded that as derogatory. Or in your heart and mind, although you know that all people are the same and it does not matter what race you marry into, you still limit your romantic interests to people of your race, religion, or color. Not necessarily because you have changed your beliefs but rather to avoid conflict with family and society. One day you wake up and you will be putting the same limitations on your children.

What does one thing have to do with another here? I think what it boils down to is conforming in order to gain acceptance. I just hope in my efforts to be a functional member of society, I do not end up loosing the essence of my being. So, in the immortal word of Elvis, “You know someone said that the world's a stage, and each must play a part. Then they bring the curtain down”.

I don’t know why I had all these revelations standing in the middle of a crowded club, but it could have something to do with that funny tobacco that was going around. By the way, these pictures are not from Dragonfly but were taken at Bedroom last December. I particularly like the one with the blue lights because it just happened to capture that moment when both the blue lights were shining down on Inny. All natural. Typical isn’t it Ash!