I hear people make the same complaint all the time, “There’s nothing to do in Ames; it’s so boring!” I could never understand it, as I’ve always figured if you have three friends and Super Smash Brothers: Melee, then you have a party on your hands. However, I also realized that this complaint might have some merit, and that it was my duty to find out. Perhaps they meant that there were fun things to do in Ames, but so few of them that when repeated over and over they weren’t fun anymore. So I decided to go out of town and add a little variety to my life. I decided to do something different. I decided to go way outside my comfort zone. I decided to go to Energy Nightclub. The club was sort of symbolic to me; I could never envision myself being there and enjoying it. I remember when there were flyers in the parking lot a couple of years ago proclaiming it to be “Des Moines Hottest Under 21 Nightclub,” and laughing at the people in the pictures. I decided to research more and found out at www.energydm.com that it’s located sort of near Valley West Mall and the site advertises that plenty of “hotties” are there. So I grabbed some friends, donned a collared shirt, sprayed on some Axe, gelled my hair, popped my collar, and I was ready to go. My friends and I stopped at Macaroni Grill to get the full Des Moines feel before entering the club at around nine. The building itself was pretty good for a nightclub: there was a stage with two dance cages as well as a general dance floor nearby. Outside of that there were tables and a bar with energy (get it?) drinks and free popcorn. However, it seemed like all my preconceptions had come true: it was kind of lame. Not a lot of people were there and those there were didn’t seem all that excited. Fortunately, more people came and the atmosphere soon picked up. The people there were generally pretty nice. They were simply there to have fun and engage in a clothes-on simulation of “doggy style” sexual intercourse, also known as “grinding” or sometimes even “dancing.” The club had most things you would expect: plenty of recognizable rap songs (baaaallllllliiiiiinnnnn!!) as well as some extremely generic techno. Glow stick necklaces and beads were periodically thrown into the crowd as well. Some of the other draws of the club included a soapy foam-like substance that fell from the ceiling, replicating snow. However, the amount of it falling that night was nothing compared to the “f***ing blizzard” that would ensue next week, as some guy with a microphone repeatedly exclaimed. Finally, there was a bikini contest where about 6 girls competed, the judge of their dancing skills being the loudness of the crowd. Now it’s time to admit it: I had a lot of fun. I may not have even gotten the full experience since I didn’t partake in the grinding, as I generally just danced in a group with my friends, but I did get in the cage and certainly had a good laugh when my friends were in it. So are the people that say there’s nothing to do in Ames right? Did I have fun because I went to a dance club, something that Ames doesn’t have? Did I have fun simply because I was doing something different, with Ames lacking the variety to provide this? Yes and no. I realized that these people have a pretty good argument, but there was something else that made that night so much fun: my friends. Having some variety was certainly a promising way to have fun, but without my friends it wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable. It may be corny, but what I’m going to remember about that night isn’t the club or the music, but the people I went with, their expressions, the jokes. Whatever you decide to do, whether it’s in Ames or not, enjoy the times you have with your friends; these four years fly by.