Where Everybody Knows Your Avatar

So I started hanging out at this place right by my house, some nights after work, because let's face it I am too lazy to cook these days, the food there is delicious and the drinks are convivial. When a parallel suddenly struck me:

It's this:

You know, hanging out at a bar, as a regular at a neighborhood spot, is a lot like the internet.

I'll elaborate. It's because there's this sort of artificial community, of people who are not really your friends, but they all show up there just because it's borderline social, but really you know everybody's in there for some other primary reason. Be it alcohol, be it to maybe pick someone up, be it porn.

Less the last one, probably. At least for the neighborhood bar scene. At least, I don't see a lot of that going on in this place.

This place is kind of more high-class than that. Yeah, they serve sloppy joe's, but you can also get like a house smoked salmon on greens with wasabi aioli and bread. But get the sloppy joe, though. That was the best damn - no exaggeration! - the best damn sloppy joe I ever had in my life, and I am Joe.

So what that let you know.

Thinking about it, that's one big area where my whole comparison falls down. Because you can't get a damn sloppy joe like that on the internet! No sir.