I've fallen out of love with nightlife: Part II

A few months back, I wrote this about the current state of late-night partying.

It inspired some interesting conversations between friends, which inspired me to do a follow-up post on something else that's been bugging me lately: the obscenely high cost of going out these days.

In these tough economic times, you'd think bar owners—and nightlife promoters—would give us a break. But it seems like it just keeps getting more and more expensive.

Just today, I received a press release about the $2,500 NV Martini with a 2.3 carat emerald pendant, being offered by NV Penthouse Lounge. Now, while I understand that it's considered a "luxury" lounge, this new cocktail is way too extravagant during a period when people are more intrigued by half-price cocktail night.

More power to them if they can get someone to drop $2,500 on one effing drink, but think about it. That's more than the average person pays for a mortgage or rent.

And another thing: What is really going on with the bottle service?! It's to a point now that you cannot sit in a downtown-area nightclub without dropping several hundred dollars on drinks (even more on weekends!). Who are these people who can afford to go out every weekend and order bottle service like they're Bill Gates?!

I just feel sorry for the average guy when it's not enough to buy a lady a drink. If he doesn't have a table locked down with at least a couple of bottles of premium hooch, then he can just forget about getting those digits.

It's like the whole idea of going out to genuinely meet new and interesting people is no longer a priority. What happened to those fun nights when we had just enough cocktails in our system to carry a nice buzz, danced all night to various tunes, and worked the party from one end of the room to the other?!

Let's bring that back. Now.