I like bars. I like beer. I like eating pub food, drinking a little too much, talking loudly and making friends with strangers. That said, toward last call, when there are a couple of drunk girls kissing everyone goodbye before stumbling home, I remember that meeting people through online dating personals is probably a far better idea than hoping you’ll hit it off with someone in a bar.

I might like hanging out at the pub a little too much. Sometimes, after a particularly rowdy Friday night, I’ll think about the things I could do with the money I spent. I could save up and travel, for example. Except, I think about what I’d do in some far-off place and it would probably involve finding a pub, having a drink and chatting with the locals.

I believe in pub culture. I know that sounds like an absurd phrase, but I believe there is such a thing. It’s not like the club scene or just about having a place to drink, but having a neighborhood pub seems to be the only way to feel like you actually have a neighborhood in a city that actually has some kind of community.

You can have a beer in your living room but stopping in for a drink at your local pub on the way home from work really adds something to life. You can catch up on the latest news, watch the hockey game, hear a local band that you would otherwise never hear about… It lets you share a little good cheer with people that might otherwise be strangers and take the pulse, so to speak, off the place in which you live.

Now, for all I enjoy making new friends over a beer, it just doesn’t seem to be a good way to find romance. You’ll meet some cool people, every once in a while there might be drunk girls kissing you on the cheek to say goodbye at the end of the night with plans to meet up again soon, but it really just doesn’t seem like these things lead anywhere.

I’ve had a lot more success meeting people online. Don’t get me wrong, I think drinking on a date is fine, I just don’t think one should kick off a relationship while intoxicated. We’ve all heard tales of drunk dialing, just to give you one example of how acting on emotions when you’re intoxicated can be a problem. That usually involves the end of a relationship, but it’s equally important to have your mind working properly when you decided to act on your attractions. Just my theory.

(original article)