the fun police

I would like to get the following rant off my chest:

There are people out there who are the martyrs of fun. They insist on ensuring that everyone is having a great time. I call these people the fun police.

The thing about the fun police, is that they're pushing their values & ideas on others. "fun" pushers.

What is fun? Well gee...that's a loaded question. What's fun for me can very well be totally not fun for the next person.

What say you? An activity deemed "fun" may not actually be universally so?

Yes, that's what I'm saying, dear fun police.

My classic interaction with the fun police usually occurs in situations where drinking is involved.

I'm not a big drinker, and I would go so far to say that drinking is a boring, default activity. But I digress.

Often at these drinking occasions I'll quietly abstain, or at least don't take it to the level of pirate drunkenness that so many people REGULARLY enjoy. That's a 'special occasion' activity for me. And when it happens it's usually fun.

My point is that invariably, there will be someone there asking me why I'm not drinking....worrying that I won't have fun. "She's not drinking? Surely she can't be having any fun".

Or, like the other night when I was at Blues on Whyte sitting at a table by myself at 2am in the morning..having strangers and acquaintances alike coming up to me insisting that I come back to the dance floor . "Come on, now. Have some fun."

Annoying.

First off, at that point in the night- when my main friends of the evening were off smoking and hooking up in the corner, and the dance floor had exhausted itself as an option, sitting at a table by myself and staring into space was actually a fun option. Also, I had my iPhone keeping me company, texting my favorites that were in other locations that eve.

There I sat, quite content to do nothing, which actually wasn't nothing at all.

But apparently to onlookers this isn't fun. More over, they would have nothing of it.

"This girl MUST have fun. I'm committing the next five minutes of my life to insisting that she have fun".

Secondly, as a strong promoter of personal responsibility, I believe that everyone is in charge of their own fun. I know how to have fun. I'm great at it. And sometimes my 'fun' looks rather dull and boring. But I insist that in that moment I'm having more fun doing what I'm doing, than I'd have doing what someone else thinks I should be doing. Also, when I see others sitting on the side lines minding their own business, I respect that this is out of choice.

Thirdly, since when is forced fun...fun? If I had no interest in dancing in that moment...and someone begrudgingly pulls me onto the dance floor, and I fake it till the song is over - what's the point? Is THAT fun? Are you kidding me?

And finally - how is it that drinking automatically equals fun? In the same vein as "it's not funny if you have to explain it", I dare to say it's not fun if you have to drink to enjoy it.

There. I said it.

And as for the fun police, please refer to the image above for directions.

Happy New Year!!