Typical conversations between me and some people I care about go like this (conversations with those I don’t care about involve nearly zero interaction from me):

A Friend: So, what do you guys think we should do tonight?
Steelbuddha: (realizing that my crowd is not much for bars) I don’t know, really. You have any ideas?
F: Not really.
S: Well, if we get desperate, there’s Landmark which has bowling, pool tables, and an arcade. Plus, if people want to get drinks, that’s easy enough. Everyone should be suitably stimulated, even the pedarasts.
F: …
S: I suppose it is a little smoky for people’s tastes, but it’s an option if we can’t think of anything else and we want to DO something.
F: What if we just saw a movie?
S: Is there anything out that you want to see?
F: That new movie with The Rock is out.
S: But, is there anything out that you *want* to see?
F: Well, it’s something to do.
S: There are so many things that fall into that category.
F: Well, what do you want to do?
S: Fuck it, let’s just play Soulcalibur 2.
F: (merrily) OK!

OR

Steelbuddha: (excited) Hey, do you want to go to the Friday Night Freak Show tonight? It’s “Neverending Story.”
A Friend: What’s the Friday Night Freak Show?
S: College kids shouting drunken comments at a theater screen, thinking they’re MST3K. It’s a good time. What else you got to do tonight?
F: Nothing really.
S: So, let’s go.
F: Hold on, let me ask the girlfriend/boyfriend.
S: K.
F: It says it can’t. It’s got to study/work on some project it will never finish/throw up from some severe illness/any other excuse to avoid something new.
S: OK, well I’m not attached to those plans. Is there anything that it wants to do?
F: Anything inside, I guess. And cheap is good.
S: OK, any suggestions?
F: Um, it says we could get together over here and play Soulcalibur, or maybe hit iColiseum and play LAN games. Oh, or that new movie with the Rock is playing!

See what happened there? It’s insidious. And it’s not just the obvious things you see, either. For one, did you notice that the person outside of the conversation is up for things, just not the things I’m suggesting?

So, you say, you’re a loser and you have loser friends. My reply is then ignored while you tense, tiger-like, shifting your muscles into a pouncing position so that the instant my voice stops you can launch into your tirade of the anti-socialist tendencies of those who game as a hobby.

Well, you’d be right, of course, but the problem is deeper here and much more petty. With my perfect approach to both scenarios, I still end up playing video games. Don’t get me wrong; it’s kind of a win-win for me, but occasionally I’d like to do something that I couldn’t (or shouldn’t) do alone.

It’s kind of the way that masturbation is swell, but every once in a while you just want 40 virgins. They’re both good, but one is sort of a substitute for the other.