Party up

I find that there are two types of parties: social gatherings, and free-for-alls.  Social gatherings are typically smaller, like a picnic or a birthday party sleepover that you had with your friends in 5th grade.  Free-for-alls are college parties at someone's house, with beer, or a dance that goes late into the night.  They are larger in size and more dangerous in nature.  The natural person wants an equal balance of both: they want to hob-nob and excercise their brains and just get to know people, but they also just want to have fun and party, even if it is at some risk, it will later make a good story.

The party I just got back from was a small social gathering for a young man's 16th birthday.  I stopped having parties at about 12, and when I went to this one, it felt like that typical sleepover.  I felt a little bit of nostalgia, but the people surrounding me were my age.  It was a very surreal experience.  It was all guys, although one woman showed for a while, but then left.   I was surrounded by people my age and younger, and I could just tell: I'm too old for this.  I'm literally eighteen and  grown up.  And I felt a pang of regret that I didn't have more fun.