shot of sass, served on (n)ice

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

I Blame Russians. And Potatoes.

Since I've already divulged the drinking story that ended with me throwing up in the bushes outside of a hole-in-the-wall bar in Nowhere, South Carolina, I'm forced to consider other drinking stories of merit. And I have to say...there really aren't many. Not because I've stayed away from the sauce, but because I tend to get sauced in a controlled environment. And really, I'm actually quite contained when drunk. Just a bit more friendly. A bit more touchy. A bit inclined to talk and sing loudly. And a bit more prone to throw up than the average bear. Like...

...the time my first year of grad school that I had been dumped (on Christmas Eve, y'all), made a comeback from the depths of the longest, drunkest February ever, and returned to some degree of equilibrium in March until the week-long series of parties that accompanied the readings of many famous writers. A party - every. single. night.

On the very last night, when it seemed that everyone began the night roughly three to four drinks in from the alcohol still coursing through her system from the night before, there was a happy hour before the reading where I drank wine. And then we left the happy hour and went to the reading...where I drank more wine. But then, I decided that instead of drinking white wine by the tumbler-full at the party that I would try something different. Enter the six-pack of Smirnoff Ice.

Perhaps if I'd have had just one, I would've been okay. But in a very short time span, I drank five of them. Five - and I was carrying less poundage to absorb those babies. So by the time we headed from the party to the bar for a last-call night cap, I was swaying dreamily and talking to loud and flirting too much. Which is why I let a boy buy me a Heineken.

I think I finished the beer. I don't know. I can't remember. I do remember that we were in the upstairs of the bar when I told Kim I didn't feel well. And I sort of half remember going down the stairs and standing by the pool table and waiting for...someone? But I do remember stumbling into the ladies' room, bursting through the middle stall - the only one open - and proceeding to empty all 60 oz. of Smirnoff Ice from my body into one overflowing toilet.

God bless Kim. She had the compassion to grab my hair and literally hold me a hairsbreadth from God only knows what. I remember seeing that swirl of toilet paper lapping against the brim and heaving all over again and thinking, This is the grossest moment of my life.

9 tips left at the bar:

kristin said...

Oh, the BEST friends are the ones that hold your hair. :-)

penelope said...

And that, ladies and gentleman, is why parties every night of Writers Week were promptly abolished. (That week was horrible!!)

I know it wasn't funny at the time, but hearing it again just makes me laugh. Ah, grad school. Good (sort of) times.

Anonymous said...

ooh. I feel your pain. Mixing alcoholic beverages is never a good idea! Wine to malt beverage to beer?! ick! Not to mention the nasty toilet disaster. Thank goodness for great friends!

Anonymous said...

I hate getting "sick" drunk. I love to get happy drunk because then I want to kiss everyone. Hmm, I did that one time back home in England....

mendacious said...

oof!

sort of sad, sortof glad i had no stories such as these to speak of in my oeuvre.

Anonymous said...

LMAO Oh vomiting in public is oh so fab. I felt I was at least classy and stealth this past weekend with my little escapade. Yeah right. At the time I felt like that anyway. Sick.

Ruby said...

Oh geez, this makes me alternately feel sick and laugh. Hair-holder friends are the best, that's for damn sure!

tempe & chris said...

Wowza. Yeah, those sweet drinks will get ya every time, as you'll read from my post today.

Kim said...

Dude, I'm sorry, but that was the BEST PARTY EVER. And I have like four hundred black and white photographs to prove it. Why did I have black and white film, do you remember? I guess I shouldn't question why, as the film at least served to make that week APPEAR more classy.