Intoxicated
The last alcoholic drink I had was a glass of bucks fizz on Christmas Day. For many people this low alcohol consumption seems impossibly low. I also refuse to give any money for people doing 'Dry January' on the basis that if I'm doing it without even trying, it can't really be that hard.
Of course, I used to drink. It's part of life when you are growing up when you are in your teens and early twenties. You want to hear some of my drunken antics? OK, I'll indulge you.
The reason I know it was quite the spectacle is that my kind and not quite so drunk friends filmed the whole thing. They gleefully watched the footage when I'd eventually emerged the next day and was feeling somewhat less confident of my performing skills. Just for good measure the video included me climbing into a recycling bin and ending up falling over, for reasons I have never fathomed. This may or may not have been the same night I fell down concrete steps outside my house ending up with bad grazes on both palms and both knees. It's a miracle I didn't knock myself out.
2011, Bath university halls, 8AM.
I was visiting my friend at uni and we'd visited a nightclub which was in some sort of basement. It was separated into lots of smaller rooms which felt a lot like caves. Most of my memories of that night are of wandering round and round the club trying to find my friend and the people we'd come out with but just getting more and more disorientated.
Somehow we'd made it back to his student halls and had eventually fallen asleep. Around 8AM though I woke up and proceeded to throw up violently. I really don't know what I had that night but I've never been so sick before or since. I woke up most of his housemates through my chundering and then faced a really awful train journey back home where I had to stand by the doors so I could get as much cool air as possible at every station.
Most things make me throw up, it's my bodies default reaction to anything. When I was a child even ear infections would lead to sickness. It doesn't take that much alcohol for my body decide it needs to expunge it very violently.
2013, Pitcher and Piano, Winchester.
It was a friend's birthday party and I'd been forced to go to pre-drinks so as to not spoil the surprise a table and other things had been organised for his birthday. This inevitably led to be drinking more than I'd intended but at least this time I wasn't the only one. I found myself kissing a girl who was essentially a stranger. Eventually she got bored or sobered up enough to conclude I wasn't as attractive as the alcohol made me seem.
I realise this is hardly extreme behaviour but it was so unlike me and feels even more alien to me now. I later found out the girl was a regular church-goer and an even more unlikely person to be kissing strangers than I was.
There are several good reasons not to drink right there. All three of those events caused me extreme embarrassment which lasted far longer than the effect of the alcohol. There were plenty more. I've also mentioned how awful alcohol makes me feel the next day, usually resulting in sickness. For me there's also the practical consideration that I due to where I live I have to drive to go to most places and therefore I cannot drink.
Many people have a small quantity of alcohol every night which feels really odd to me. I recently read the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley where the people of this future society take the drug soma. It's taken to suppress negative emotions and apparently has no side effects. It seems to be addictive though with most people desperate to have it and unable to cope without it. It's a lot like this form of drinking alcohol to achieve a similar effect. Brave New World helped to explain why I find it odd- it suppresses real thought and emotion rather than letting you live through it.
I'm not totally against alcohol and I will happily have a few drinks given the right occasion. But the days of drinking a large amount in a night are something I could never go back to and the idea of drinking throughout the week is also unappealing.
Of course, I used to drink. It's part of life when you are growing up when you are in your teens and early twenties. You want to hear some of my drunken antics? OK, I'll indulge you.
2010, my university halls.
We'd all been out somewhere, probably the student union or the nearby pub. Either way, much alcohol had been consumed, particularly by yours truly. Naturally someone had put some music on and when Shania Twain's classic Don't Impress Me Much came on I gave an impromptu song and dance performance of the song. I can't sing or dance that well at the best of times but given the amount of alcohol that was involved it was quite the spectacle.The reason I know it was quite the spectacle is that my kind and not quite so drunk friends filmed the whole thing. They gleefully watched the footage when I'd eventually emerged the next day and was feeling somewhat less confident of my performing skills. Just for good measure the video included me climbing into a recycling bin and ending up falling over, for reasons I have never fathomed. This may or may not have been the same night I fell down concrete steps outside my house ending up with bad grazes on both palms and both knees. It's a miracle I didn't knock myself out.
2011, Bath university halls, 8AM.
I was visiting my friend at uni and we'd visited a nightclub which was in some sort of basement. It was separated into lots of smaller rooms which felt a lot like caves. Most of my memories of that night are of wandering round and round the club trying to find my friend and the people we'd come out with but just getting more and more disorientated.
Somehow we'd made it back to his student halls and had eventually fallen asleep. Around 8AM though I woke up and proceeded to throw up violently. I really don't know what I had that night but I've never been so sick before or since. I woke up most of his housemates through my chundering and then faced a really awful train journey back home where I had to stand by the doors so I could get as much cool air as possible at every station.
Most things make me throw up, it's my bodies default reaction to anything. When I was a child even ear infections would lead to sickness. It doesn't take that much alcohol for my body decide it needs to expunge it very violently.
2013, Pitcher and Piano, Winchester.
It was a friend's birthday party and I'd been forced to go to pre-drinks so as to not spoil the surprise a table and other things had been organised for his birthday. This inevitably led to be drinking more than I'd intended but at least this time I wasn't the only one. I found myself kissing a girl who was essentially a stranger. Eventually she got bored or sobered up enough to conclude I wasn't as attractive as the alcohol made me seem.
I realise this is hardly extreme behaviour but it was so unlike me and feels even more alien to me now. I later found out the girl was a regular church-goer and an even more unlikely person to be kissing strangers than I was.
There are several good reasons not to drink right there. All three of those events caused me extreme embarrassment which lasted far longer than the effect of the alcohol. There were plenty more. I've also mentioned how awful alcohol makes me feel the next day, usually resulting in sickness. For me there's also the practical consideration that I due to where I live I have to drive to go to most places and therefore I cannot drink.
Many people have a small quantity of alcohol every night which feels really odd to me. I recently read the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley where the people of this future society take the drug soma. It's taken to suppress negative emotions and apparently has no side effects. It seems to be addictive though with most people desperate to have it and unable to cope without it. It's a lot like this form of drinking alcohol to achieve a similar effect. Brave New World helped to explain why I find it odd- it suppresses real thought and emotion rather than letting you live through it.
I'm not totally against alcohol and I will happily have a few drinks given the right occasion. But the days of drinking a large amount in a night are something I could never go back to and the idea of drinking throughout the week is also unappealing.
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