Personal Narrative: Passing The Bar

Passing the Bar

Our social environments often change depending on the stage of our life. From arcades in the mall as children to bars in the area as mid twenties college students. We often find ourselves always looking for a zone of familiarity. Bar culture is one that becomes a large staple of millions of people each year. During the economic recession of the Bush era administration of America.
Barswere one of the few places of businesses that didn 't face rocky investments or failing business to the degree others did. Even myself, a working full time employee and student felt myself taking one day out a week to unwind with friends. This act of recreation is so common, but does it have it 's own culture?

Teams stayed for 2 hour working for a cash prize of fifty dollars, and all the while members drank and ate more than they expected for a chance at "free money". This was a lucky break for me for two reasons. The first allowed me observe a change in social dynamics of the bar. The second, it allowed me to join teams and be social with the customers. Each night
I went into the bar precisely at 7:30 and asked short teams if I could enter their trivia teams.
Most people were relatively friendly, and I successfully managed to get on a team each week.
This allowed me to interact with a more diverse number of bar residents who also would prove to be regulars over the rest of my series of data logging. Trivia itself became a ritual, for most of them. Several groups were loose collections of friends, fellow co-workers, or sometimes meet ups for LGBT or gamer groups. On top of this collection I frequently chatted with the trivia host Katherine. Katherine essentially was my contact for kind getting a pulse on the situation and the regulars. With her help I was able to steer clear of the more hostile groups, as well as win over the occasionally grumpy bartender. With my observational points set up, I began

They were pretty friendly and offered me drinks, and were very candid with our conversations. I informed them I was there for a student project, and they asked me for more information. The one I talked to the most with was Mark. Mark and I ended up playing on the same team several times throughout the rest of the project. Having a friend in a social environment is always helpful, and having one in a new environment is invaluable for my own mental health. As social as we humans are, first contact and interactions are always stressful. Breaking into trivia teams was simple enough, all you had to do was ask and if they weren 't full they 'd generally say yes. After all, it helps their chances of winning the prize. I felt like an outsider before meeting and befriending Mark. He offered me some stability in a new region. We talked and had drinks occasionally long after the trivia was over, and offered if he could help any further. I declined his offer, since I didn 't want anyone elses views on the project other than my own. As an introvert, I often avoid being social after work and school drain me of my energy. The recharge of a bar is something more appealing to extroverts who get their energy