Some people talk about this or that club as being the best place to party, but I know better. The best places to party are either car dealerships or 24-Hour Fitness gyms. 

I’ve never been in either one of them that isn’t throwing a party.  Balloons. Streamers.  Large, swirling graffiti lettering that shouts “Sign Up Your Friends and Family during our Hawaii Fiesta!” Or “2006 Models Must Go, and We’re Going Crazy!” It revs you up.  It gets you excited.  It makes you think “Now’s a good day to party.”

I know exactly who runs these places.  They’re the party people from high school.  I remember Chet and Brad and Angela and Jessica.  Their houses were always the party spots.  They always had the kegs, and their parents were always out of town. Or they passed out cryptic invitations containing maps to deserted beaches where they’d build a bonfire, hand out beer, and party all night long--or until the cops came and closed them down.  These are the people now running car dealerships and gyms.  I often expect to meet them whenever I’m there, but I know that they’re not necessarily at my local dealership or gym.

In many ways I envy them.  There’s a cliché that’s also one of the genuine secrets of life, which is “Find what you love and do it for a living.” And I think that these people have, for the most part.  They get up every day and party.  They hang up streamers and blow up balloons. This is what they’re good at, and this is what they get to do.

But I also know that there’s a dark side.  Because if you party as much as gyms and car dealerships do, doesn’t that mean that the thrill eventually fades?  And aren’t the people who run them sort of like addicts, constantly seeking to uncover the same rush that they felt in high school?  And I worry that when they get up in the morning, feeling the throb of a hangover scrape against the back of their eyelids, they press their fingers to their temples and think to themselves: “Today’s the day that I really party like I did when I was 18.  Today’s the day it’ll be just like I remember.  It’ll be a total rager. Everyone will be rocking and rolling. I’ll call it my ‘Toyotathon,’ and every sale will come with a completely free set of floor mats.”