Okay, previously I have told most that know me, that I got drunk for the first time a little over a year ago. This first time was when I was at Linton, and was 1 or 2 days after I had stepped down as manager of the Photo Lab there. I was at a little get together with a couple of girls from the lab I had worked with, and some other guy who was one of their friends. Normally, everyone who knows me understands that if it tastes like alcohol, I am not going to enjoy it. I have tried multiple things and it always ends up being fairly nasty. When at this get together though, they had me try some Southern Comfort. As usual, I assumed I would hate it, and that would be the end. However, due to wanting one of the girls to like me, and my normal “try it once” stance on drinks, I gave it a try. I took a shot, having a Sprite handy to wash away the nasty if need be. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t bad, and I kind of liked it. It burnt like all of hell going down, and my eyes watered but all in all it was okay. Fast forward 5 shots later in about 45 minutes to an hour, and I was slightly drunk for the first time in my life. I thought nothing of it, and was fairly surprised that I wasn’t more drunk, seeing as how I should have very little tolerance for alcohol. Since then, Southern Comfort has been my alcohol of choice if I am going to do any drinking, and has only happened on a handful of social occasions since then. I never did get drunk after that first night, until LAST Friday night.
While over at Evan’s house, he and Kade decided they were going to drink a bit that night so we went to Big Red Liquors in Bloomington. Kade bought some vanilla vodka stuff, and a 4–pack of some chocolate beer crap. Out of impulse, I decided since I wouldn’t be driving anywhere, I would get in on the fun so I bought a bottle of Southern Comfort. Later that night, the drinking began… and I kept with the idea that 6 shots generally would get me to the drunk point. So I took my first shot, and the usual warmth began. About 2 minutes later, I went for my second shot and about 2 minutes later I was feeling somewhat like I did after the fourth or fifth shot when in Linton. I got kind of intrigued at that point, but was going to do at least my 6 shot limit just out of principle. By the sixth shot, I was well into drunkeness… but still had my mind about me, but was doing my normal laughing at nothing thing, and so on and so forth. I kept wanting to push it further, however so I went for shot 7. Evan and Kade kept telling me to slow down, and for the most part I listened but kept wanting to do another shot… so I kept bugging them waiting to do more. I did my eighth shot and then my ninth in about a 15 minute span, at which point they decided that should be it for me. I pretty much was good for being done at that point too, since I remember what happened after that, but it was definitely not normal Damien behavior. I know I continued my laughing fits, I helped Kade get a ringtone to his phone, I was on the floor rolling around laughing for a bit, I fell over the couch onto my head and almost flipped over, and I am sure quite a few other funny things as well. After the fact, I believe I drank about 3/4 of the Southern Comfort bottle by myself, in about the span of 2–2 1/2 hours. I did not feel sick in the least, but was getting tired, so I decided to fall asleep on the couch. Evan and Kade suggested I drink some water before sleep, to keep me hydrated, and to sleep on my side in case of sleep-vomiting or some such thing. I did both of those things, and was fairly confident I would be okay in the morning. Yeah.
Fast forward to the morning, after a fairly decent sleep (as decent as I can sleep on a couch with no cover or real pillows.) I wake up at about 8:00am or so, and am feeling pretty good… no headache or anything, or nausea. I do have to go the bathroom pretty bad, so I go in there and do the business, but otherwise am fine. Kade and Amanda get up shortly after I get out of the bathroom, and we stay up for a few hours, but since Evan and his Amanda haven’t gotten up, end up falling back asleep around 10:00am or so. I do notice during the time I am awake that I am feeling somewhat odd, but still nothing really bad. When I lay back down around 10 to fall back asleep, I start getting a slight headache, and when I close my eyes, everything feels like it is spinning. I remember Kade saying something about it the night before, as being a sign that you are going to throw up. I am really hoping it isn’t going to happen, and try to fall asleep. About 1/2 hour later, Evan gets up, and I wake up enough to realize that YES, I am going to throw up. I tell Evan this, and go outside, but he says he would rather have me do it in the bathroom. I rush in there, and sure enough… the little bit of White Castle, and some Diet Coke that I sipped on that morning comes up. The rest of the day, until we ate I was feeling nauseous off and on, and even now as I am writing this, I am still feeling a LITTLE of it.
Moral of THIS story. I don’t think I will EVER drink that much again. The brief bit of fun being that drunk, really doesn’t seem as worth it in comparison for the HORRIBLE day I had afterwards. If I do drink anywhere near that again, I believe I am going to stay at my 6 shot limit, and be done with it. I seriously can’t believe that I drank that much, and had to deal with a hangover like that. The thing that makes me wonder is that some people do this on a daily basis. I don’t know if you just get used to the hangover crap or what, but how can it ever be worth it to get THAT drunk THAT often? Oi. Anyway, I just had to get this down so I can have a record of it… I am going to bed now, in my OWN bed, and I hope that I will have a good night of sleep and wake up feeling actually good in the morning.
