This Used to Be My Playground

About a week and a half ago I paid a visit to my youth. My friends wanted to go to Tigerheat, the lipgloss, bubblegum pop gay club famous for the 18-21 crowd. I hadn't been there in three years (minus the two visits I had to make for the Mr. Gay LA contest, I was being sponsored by them so I had to go those two times) and lest to say not much has changed. There were still the twink fairies who are overdosing on fierceness and the swarms of straight girls who go with their gay boys. The overpriced drinks were still there and I could have sworn I would have been able to score some E from one of the cracked out looking gogo dancers. I felt a bit bad for some of the girls who came with their gay friends because the gay boys wanted to be backing it up the whole night and the girls had to be the tops (or men) that night to their gay bottom friends. I felt bad, but laughed aloud because it was funny.
On the way to the bathroom I was almost bowled over by two drugged out sunglasses wearing 18 year olds not to mention on the dancefloor it was a gay version of a mosh pit when anything pop-rock came on. I mean, how gay can a mosh pit get other than seeing who can jump the highest with the biggest smile and posing your arms just the right way so the photographer can post that picture up on the website.
It's odd that I noticed these things because at one point I fit right in. I started going to Tigherheat when I was 17 and went for a pretty consistent couple of years. I was a regular on their website and their dance boxes, as well as a familiar face to the crowd that frequented there. Not unlike the kids that were there that night I went, I used to drink in the car beforehand since I wasn't old enough to buy from the bar, and dance all night non stop sweating like Whitney Houston in a sauna. Ironically, my friends and I drank in the car prior to walking in to Tigerheat; we did it for economic purposes and if it helped us fit in, so be it.
As I was staring at these kids and trying to avoid getting knocked over, I remembered that I was once like them. When a kick ass song would come on, I would pretend I was on tour with Britney Spears or act like I was Justin Timberlake's choreographer. I would be rolling on the floor or dancing like a stripper. In my head I was the hottest thing since popcorn but according to Tony I was a mess. But I didn't care, I thought I looked good and was awesome.
I see where these kids are though. I can't judge because I was once one of them. So to those kids who are 18, 19 and 20, rock on. However, I am extremely free to judge the 21 plus crowd that still goes there. It's like having that one guy who graduated high school already still hanging out with the high school kids. Those guys are the ones to mentally slap around for having no aspiration. I am not hating, I just feel that as we grow up we leave certain things behind. I no longer tie bandanas around my leg like I did when I was 18, I grew out of that.
Tigerheat is part of my past. I accept it. I was there for all three location changes. I was there for the overpriced drinks, the aura of fierceness, and then crotch grabbing on the dancefloor. When you're 18, that's a good time (only one of those constitutes a good time at my age), and now I'm off to have a good time as a 23 year old. I'm sure that soon I'll grow out of my jug of wine and move on to something else. But in the meantime, cheers.