This isn't my first time drinking, by any stretch. Back at home I've been drinking since I was a wee lad, thanks to my mother's Irish family, insisting I be acquainted with alcohol since a ripe young age. But tonight I've had a little more to drink than I've had in a while.
For the sake of moderation, I've not had more than three or four drinks at home. It keeps me from getting hangovers or involved in regrettable affairs. But tonight was special; I was celebrating with my cast and crew. Our show launches in two weeks, and for the occasion we all got plastered. This is, to be honest, my first time really drinking socially (outside of family gatherings and my roommates chilling on the porch), and I'll have to admit, it's fun.
If you know me well, you know that I'm always thirsty, so if I don't think about it, which I wasn't, this kind of affects my pacing. I ended up having all of my drinks in about an hour and a half and didn't start feeling drunk until right after I finished. For being clumsy and loopy, I'll give myself credit for having enough sense to at least stop when I knew if I had any more I would probably black out or at least do something incredibly stupid. I was still drunk enough not to have any awareness. For what it's worth, I still followed all the rules they tell you; drink lots of water between drinks, eat, count your drinks, all that good stuff. A little rundown of what I had:
- 2 shots vodka (it was that weird lemon-flavored stuff for cocktails so it tasted like cleaning fluid)
- 1 glass Champagne (toasting the show)
- 3 glasses Merlot
- 1 Fat Tire (our director Patrick at one point declared it was too hipster and started drinking PBR)
- 1 Sam Adam's Oktoberfest (tasted nothing like October as far as I could tell)
- 1 Pabst Blue Ribbon
Lethargy (BAC = 0.09 to 0.25%)
I remember taking a nap on the couch during the party so I'm sure I was pretty lethargic.
- Sedation
- Impaired memory and comprehension
- Delayed reactions
- Ataxia; balance difficulty; unbalanced walk
- Blurred vision; other senses may be impaired
It was still a lot of fun, whether or not I was entirely there. I remember it all fairly well, considering it all. I talked to people a lot more than I would have otherwise, including our assistant stage manager Anna who looks just like Anne Hathaway. I don't know if I was being loud or if I was just trying to talk over the music, but I'm pretty sure I mumbled a helluva lot less, even if I did stumble over a few words ("I think you look like Anne Hathaway even when you're sober. I mean when you're sober. I'm sober. Not right now, but when I am"), and I distinctly remember picking up an absurd British accent for a while. Patrick claimed I didn't sound drunk, bless his inebriated soul. He's a really awesome director, I'll give him his due credit for picking a group that really gets along well and for personally being a cool guy.
He definitely had a way of making me feel good about myself last night. I was saying something about not being able to act, and he turned it around and gave me some confidence. Now, I still don't think I can act, and he didn't convince me I could even then; all I can do is react, and honestly I can't feign emotion, I just have to trick myself into feeling it. Anyway, he told me I had a "movie aesthetic", and that my only problem was projection. It was stupid and meaningless, but I still appreciated the honest drunken thought.
Apparently this is just the first of three crew parties for the production. Next time I'll try to pace myself a bit better, eat more, and for goodness sake dress better. It was more fun than expected. Hopefully I didn't do anything stupid, and next time I'll be sure I don't.
