A friend of mine recently wrote an essay for a class in which he had to go to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and observe. Well, he knew me and my friends fairly well, however, it suffices to say he is still a "duck out of water." Anyways, today I read what he was done of his essay. He chose to change the names of me and the others, and I was quite pleased at the way he percieved us.
Every saturday night, my friends and I, along with a few strays every now and then, hang out at either mine and my roommates house, or The Guys' house. The cocktail of people include myself, my roommate, my cousin (also my roommates girlfriend), and The Guys- my boyfriend, my best friend, and one other guy who is more than complicated to explain the relationship we have(we hate/love/befriend each other- in a nutshell). We have all been friends now for years, some of us longer and closer than others, with the exception of my cousin. She has only been hanging out with us for about 2 or 3 months.
Anyways, something I have semi noticed before, but not really paid immense attention to is the way we interact with each other. This is one thing my friend's essay brought to my attention. In lack of a better descriptive vocabulary, it is like a fucked up ballet. We all know each other well enough to know understand and distinguish each other's mannerisms, what they might be thinking, what their next drink will be, so on and so forth. We all smoke cigarettes, and like any true smoker will tell you, when one lights up, others must. (Its hell when you're with a chain-smoker.) So, my friend explained how throughout the night, there would be a constant, but unspoken, exchange of things. I would pass one lit cigarette to someone who would pass someone else a beer, who would pass a glass of wine, who would pass another lit cigarette, who would pass a shot, who would pass the bag of bread to me- that sort of situation. There are certain songs which send all of us jumping and gesturing about ("Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" or the Duets version of "Try a Little Tenderness" for instence), in which we all move about and interlock with screaming and throwing drinks in the air, or in some cases, standing on objects which maybe should not be stood upon. At the end of the night, when we are all firmly planted in one seat or another, and no longer have the strength to do much of anything, we all smoke our "goodnight cigarette." We all light up simultaneously, and sit semi quietly, either listening to the last song of the night, or discussing some event of the evening- connecting being the point. Then when we all finish, usually within one puff of each other, we all together throw the butt into the ash bucket, slide out our chairs, and exchange hand slaps (or in my case, hugs- I am a girl) sending everyone of us to our beds. What is even funnier is to catch us on a night of drinking games...beer pong mostly. The same thing, but exaggerated and competitive in a very loving (although serious for some...) sort of way. It is just interesting, I think. Realizing that you watch people all the time who move together as if they know what the next two moves for everyone else is going to be before they know their next move, which is actually known by everyone else, and you realize you are watching yourself.
My friend refered to it in his essay as, like a machine.