I don’t go the Jake’s very often, but when I do go I always have a good time. They have the “back room”, which is a huge room with a stage where they have concerts. It’s never very expensive to get in, and it’s a really good room for concerts. When they don’t have concerts, you can go back into the room and they have extra seating and another bar than the main one. When Texas Tech plays on TV, it’s a good place to go because there are a lot of TVs and projections. They have pretty good drink specials, depending on what night you go. Every night they have a happy hour from 7 to 8 pm where you get $1.75 drafts, $2 bottles and $2 well drinks. Some of my favorite nightly specials are Monday nights are 2 dollar margaritas, Tuesdays are two dollars drafts and bottles and cherry vodka sours, and Fridays are ten dollars buckets. They also have poker tournaments on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesday at 7 and 9 pm. They have lots of seating room in the front room, a back room that has several pool tables, and then the “Back Room”, where they have stages and more seating. It’s a good place to have a large group of friends because they have a lot more seating, but it’s also fun to just go with a date and sit at the bar or at a table alone and have some drinks.

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I walked outside intending to sit in front row because I am a sibling of the bride. Apparently people do not understand that concept and someone had to move this rude and obnoxious lady out of my mother’s seat. Seriously that is the mother of the bride’s seat and you want to sit there? Sometimes I wonder were someone gets their manners. I was upset not to sit in front row at my sister’s wedding although I wasn’t in the wedding I thought it was right to sit in front row. So I looked for something on the second row that would accommodate me, my husband, and daughter. NOTHING on the second row.  My cousin and his friends sat there. Ok so now I’m getting just a little peeved at the situation, and I do not want to make a scene. Not that a scene would matter because everyone was drunk.  Finally I find a seat in the last row where I cannot 

see my sister get married and cannot hear anything that they are saying to each other. I felt like I had been shoved back and no one even noticed. I seriously began to wonder if I can’t hear or see the wedding then what the point of actually being there was.  My husband of course had several things to say about the situation and all I could say was it will be over soon and we can leave. Since I couldn’t hear the wedding the only way I could tell the wedding was over was when my sister walked past me hand in hand with her new groom. I looked at my husband appalled that I had missed the whole thing. No sooner than they got down the aisle the drinking was even worse. I couldn’t believe that the wedding was turning out this way.  Needless to say I traveled the whole way to sit for twenty minutes and watch a wedding that I couldn’t enjoy and had to yank my child and niece up before everyone became belligerent. It’s a really good thing she only gets married once because I couldn’t handle another one like this.

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So Saturday night I went to a beer fest wedding and had the unhappiest time of my life. I love my sister to death but honestly I didn’t feel as though she received the fairy tale wedding she had dreamed of as a kid. No one ever receives that fairytale wedding like they dream of but seriously a beer party for a wedding? So I pull up to a place in the absolute middle of nowhere at an actually really pretty ranch and I look around and find everyone including the groom outside enjoying a beer. I’m thinking ok no problem this is a western wedding and the guys are going to drink no problem. I get closer and am listening to what they say and they are all pretty well toasted and have been since the night before. Thankfully I kept my sister’s daughter the night before and she didn’t have to be passed around through everyone all the time because I was afraid of her being dropped. In the midst of all of the chaos I’m trying to keep up with my own daughter and she wants to run around with everyone else. As I’m rounding up kids I notice that the brides wedding party is standing on the porch and everyone is so hysterical it’s hard to figure out what in the world is going on and at that point I notice that the brides maids are staggering around. I am appalled and began to make my way up the porch.I thought that I would be nice and take my niece up to see her mom and by the time I get to the top of the stairs the wedding party is scattering back inside to finish getting ready. My mom is on her way into the room with my sister of course who is the bride, to give her the present of her life. Well my niece isn’t saying hello to mommy any time soon. So we walk in for a heartfelt family moment and there are more people in this room than I could imagine. What in hell is wrong with everyone I keep thinking to myself? Then I remember oh yeah everyone is drunk. My mom hands my sister her gift that is intended to be just a family thing at that moment, in a crowd of people and when my sister opens it she starts to cry uncontrollably. Amongst the gift wrap is the only picture that was taken of my dad holding my sister before he died. It was the most heartfelt moment at the whole thing. I don’t know whether she was overly drunk or just that happy. After all of that ended it was time to re-powder the brides face and finish getting ready to walk down the aisle. At last my niece finally gets to see her mom for about two minutes before someone starts screaming for her again. At this point I’m getting ready to take my place outside.

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Another bar that I think is really cute is called Gas Light in Lubbock. A lot of the bars here aren’t really pretty on the eyes, and the people in charge of this one have really taken the time to make sure it’s comfortable and looks really nice. They have a few areas where you can sit on big leather couches, so it’s very comfortable to relax after a day of work and have a drink. They also have a selection of cigars for sale in the bar, so if you like to sit down and relax and smoke a cigar this is a nice place to go. Their drinks can be pretty pricey, and most of the specials just cut a dollar off certain drinks on certain nights. They often have life music, and small bands will perform in the front room or single people will sing and play the guitar. They have a big front room, with all the couches and a lot of tables, and then they have a separate back room. They also have a beautiful patio area, that looks over a lake. There is another bar outside that serves drinks for when you are out on the patio. One of the best parts of this bar is that they have waitresses. You don’t have to get up and wait at a crowded bar in line to get a drink, you an just order from your waitress and she can take care of it for you. I like going here, but only when I don’t mind spending a little more on drinking. I think this is a good place to take a date, it’s very dim and romantic and they serve small appetizers if you just want to take someone out for a drink and maybe have a snack.

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On 19th Street close to Memphis there is a little restaurant called Jazz. Before I was 21, a few of my friends and I went here to eat dinner. One of my friends was taking a class called The History of Jazz, and she was required to go there once a month and watch a jazz band play. We decided to make an evening out of it, and all go together and eat some dinner. I absolutely love the food there. They call themselves a “Louisiana kitchen”, and they serve food that is Cajun. The atmosphere is what makes this place one of my favorites. It just has an older feel to it, all made of wood and really small and close together. I love bars that have little original things they do, and here people sign their names on dollar bills and then hang them around the restaurant, so you can look around and see peoples’ names that have been there or the pictures they drew on the money. Every week they have a live band play really good jazz music, so you can go in there and eat dinner and get a live show at the same time. They are getting more popular and have opened up a few new stores, but Lubbock is where it started. When I turned 21, we would go in there and eat and they have a good selection of bottled beers and a few selections on draft. Their happy hour is Monday through Friday, 3 pm to 6 pm. I would say this is a good place for a group to go and hang out, and also a good place to take a date.

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I’ve always been one to switch around on my drink of preference. When I first started to drink alcohol, I was usually drinking liquor mixers because they tasted the best to me. I had beer quite often, but I preferred to drink liquor mixed with something sweet, like a cherry vodka sour or an amaretto sour, and White Russians were a favorite of mine for a long time. Then, I switched it up and really started to get into drinking beer. And I acquired a taste and love for dark beers. My favorite alcoholic drink of all time is a Priest’s Collar, which is a flavored cider, usually Wood Chuck, with a Guinness floated top. Guinness is one of my favorite beers, but since it fills me up so fast I like to mix it with a cider so I can still drink it with out feeling like I ate a buffet. For a bit I had a wine fetish, and that always comes back around the holidays because that’s what we drink when the entire family gets together. Now, I think I’ve got it all mixed up. Depending on what I’m doing or who I’m with, I’ll want one drink as opposed to the other. When I’m at home and want to chill out and calm down, I usually have a glass of wine. When I go out to the bars, it’s always beer, but when I go to the clubs, it’s always cocktails. I can’t drink the sweet cocktails anymore though, so my preferred mixed drink of choice is a Vodka Tonic with lime. So now I have the best of all of them, I have what ever I feel like having when ever I want.

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Speeds is a pool bar in Lubbock. The tables are alright, they might not be the nicest but they are cheaper than competitor pool halls in Lubbock. They have some pretty good specials during the week for drinks and pool games and they have karaoke on the weekends. I used to work here, so the people that come are pretty regular and you get to know them. They have a college night, with cheap pitchers and free bowling for those students who bring in their college ID. These nights were always really fun, it’s nice to find some place where you can drink and you can do something fun for that cheap. I haven’t heard of anyone going in there in a long time. I stopped working there back in 2007 and have only been back a few times since. It kind of seems like they haven’t been taking care of the place, they need to do a lot of renevations but just don’t take the time to do that. But, fi you’re just looking for a good time and something cheap and you don’t care what it looks like (haha) then Speeds is a good place to hang out for those who are tight on the budget. They even have foosball!

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The first bar that I ever went to in Lubbock was Bashes. There are two of them here now, but when iw wen there was only the one that is on Main street. I was only 19, and I went there for a poker tournament. They used to have them pretty often, and I assume they got into trouble for letting underage kids come in there and play for a cash prize. I did really well in the tournament, and that being so many years ago I don’t even remember what I thought of the bar at the time. But now, it’s a pretty cool place. It’s using that whole “old and shitty” motif to it’s advantage. There are a few different rooms in it, the front room is always the most crowded and has the main bar, then a little middle dark room, a game room, and the back room that has another bar. They have some decent sized screens and always show the UFC fights. They have 2 cent pint night on Mondays with a small cover from 9 to 11, which is probably the cheapest you can drink in Lubbock. They also have an “Around the world” beer club, with a pretty good selection of hard to find beers. I was in it, but you have to finish it in three months or they make you start over, so when I went in there and found out I had to start over I gave up. A few downfalls to the bar for me are that it’s incredibly smokey and sometimes it’s hard to sit where you can see a TV clearly. I am usually fine with smoke, but for some reason this place just holds it in like there’s a lit cigarette in your face at all times. And, the TV thing is bad when there’s something intersting going on, so you have to get there early to get a seat, and even if you do someone might just stand right in front of you. Fun, cheap, with a few downfalls, I enjoying going to the Original Bashes.

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I like Buffalo Wild Wings. There’s usually somewhere to sit unless something really big is going on on TV, they have tons of TVs to watch so no matter where you’re sitting you can still see what’s going on, and they have really good food. They have drink “specials”, but I still consider drinking there to be pretty expensive when compared to a lot of the places here in Lubbock. It’s a good place to have a large group together, you can sit in the non-smoking room if you don’t like to be around smoke or go into the bar area if you smoke, and, well, the food. It’s fun to be at a bar and have really good bar food right there that isn’t too expensive. I love their naked tenders wrap, but I also love getting wings. There are two here in Lubbock now, so it’s not as crowded when you go like it used to be. They are both located away from most of the popular bars in town, too, so depending on what’s going on it can be a good way to avoid large crowds and get to sit down and watch the game. It’s not my first choice when I want to go out and eat dinner and have a drink, but I do like to go here when I want to watch a game because I’ll definitely get to see the TV. So, I might not go here all the time, but I don’t hate it when I do. So, Buffalo Wild Wings, you’re alright.

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Favorite spot in Lubbock for me personally: Blue Light. Not only because it’s Blue Light, but because it’s connected to another bar that I love, Tom’s Daiquiri, that I’ll write about later. Blue light has it all. You sit inside and watch awesome bands play, you sit outside in the front and can drink on the sidewalk or walk right into Tom’s with your drink, or you go outside in the back and they have a seating area and sometimes a band out there too. Their drinks are never expensive, and if you go early they have really good specials. They have a staff that never changes, so you actually get to know the door people and the bartenders because they are always the same. That just says that these people have a really sweet job and never want to leave it. The crowd is always good, it never seems shady, and everyone just wants to have fun. There’s a small dance floor right in front of the stage so you can dance to the live music. It’s just one of those bars I feel comfortable in, like I feel at home when I go there. And, being able to enjoy two completely different bars legally with the same drink is a lot of fun too. So, this one definitely gets my approval, because it is one of my very favorite places to go to. So, good job Blue Light, you win.

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