It’s college, all over again:
Seriously? Am I really drinking a Coors????????????
Why, yes. Yes I am. On the sidelines of an ultimate game, no less. I believe I was screaming, “IT’S THE WEEKEND! AND I’M HAVING FUN!” That was at Potlatch, by the way, the tournament for which Asa and I created this.
But frisbee hasn’t turned me into a total lush. Here’s me actually playing, and I’m sober:
Then again, here’s me, with teammates, about to take a sip from the world’s largest cocktail:
Although if it’s any consolation, I was voted an MVP of that game and the drink was my reward. So at least I earned it. (And I only took a sip. The team drank the rest.)
I was wasted in the above photo. Very, very wasted. The kind of wasted that can only be created with a combo that includes way too much beer, one Red Bull vodka and two unidentiable self-created mega-cocktails. But I was not passed out, nor were Asa and my friend on the end of the couch. We were participating in the “sloth” portion of a friend’s “Seven Deadly Sins” party on Saturday (7/07/07). The evening involved a group nap time.
But when I woke up extremely hungover yesterday, it occurred to me that I’ve somehow lost sight of my goal of drinking less (a resolution I made on January 1 after spending the good part of the day with my head in the toilet). I’m okay with having one or two beers a week, but in the last month I’ve really upped the ante a bit and it reminds me of my college days, when I used to stock Pabst in the cupboard in case I ran out of seltzer. Almost every weekend then was a big blowout—an out-of-control, I-wonder-how-I-got-home-last-night partying sesh that made every Sunday awful.
I don’t think that I have a drinking problem, but I do think that I often forget to stop drinking and sometimes I gulp down beers more out of thirst or boredom or just because it’s something to do while talking to people at parties. Or while standing on the frisbee sidelines. So, I’m saying this publicly so that I am accountable to someone: I hereby impose a two-drink per week maximum. And no Coors. No Red Bull vodkas. I am only allowed to drink beverages that taste good, otherwise I’ll be drinking them for the wrong reason.
As my Aunt Barbara always said: Life is too short to drink cheap wine.
12 responses so far ↓
1 thinlizzy // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Nobody should drink Red Bull and vodka. I can see to an exception for cheap beer, though. Once in a while you just need a cheap crappy beer.
2 TimsHead // Jul 9, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Oh my dear Laura. Coors? I hear the Beer Snob Police are looking for you.
That skirt is absolutely fabulous. Was there a wardrobe component to MVP voting?
Asa’s hair also looks really, really long right now.
If I had a buck for every time I swore off drinking hard … well, that would buy my own brewpub.
ryc: I thought of your Santa Fe observations when I wrote that lawn thing. People watering lawns in a desert has always seemed the ultimate in wasteful vanity. And besides … water is meant for more important things, like a chaser for beer.
3 michael5000 // Jul 9, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Wow, MDIC, this is a whole side of you that doesn’t show when you’re all, like, volunteering to help refugees. Awesome.
~Love~ the Seven Deadly Sins Party concept, but am wondering about the details. It seems like “Wrath” would really kill the buzz.
Congratulations on your MVP. Stud.
4 Laura // Jul 9, 2007 at 11:26 pm
My fortune cookie today: Know When To Stop. Perhaps it was meant for you.
When I was not-quite dating the Brit, I noticed how much more most people my age drink… like 3-4 cocktails + beers in a casual evening, then drive home, because we’re adults in LA. For so many, a fun social time means drinking heavily. Though I participated in this for my final year of graduate school, I HAVE had quite enough. All it took though was a social situation and a handsome bloke to careen me back into the 3-drink minimum phase of life. It happens to the best of us, and there is hope that you will become an adult eventually who can still enjoy the occasional overindulgent evening + hangover.
5 rubyblue123 // Jul 10, 2007 at 4:07 am
A two drink minimum seems awfully small. I mean, two drinks per day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday seems fair. And if you don’t drink your two on a given day they should roll over, no? I don’t make a very good support system for people with vices.
I don’t really drink much since I had the wee ones, I’m just jealous. Although I don’t miss riding the porcelain bus.
6 Kathryn // Jul 10, 2007 at 7:12 am
a Coors? Seriously woman, have you no shame??
7 Lori // Jul 10, 2007 at 9:23 am
First, I want to know the details about the guy playing frisbee in a pink skirt? Hmmmm.
I agree with rubyblue. Make that a two drink a DAY minimum and use your roll-over drinks on the weekends!
I don’t think I could stop at two drinks when I start drinking.
Coors, huh? Could be worse…could be Bush Lite.
8 Fern // Jul 10, 2007 at 10:46 am
i used to drink 40′s of Coors when i was too young to buy them for myself. and hey – there were times when i sought PBR. it is the best pilsner beer.
the frisbee action shot is outstanding. i love the guy in the pink skirt and you look like you’re performing some move that my body likely won’t do.
i’m not a good advice-giver on drinking because i don’t drink anymore. it makes me feel like dog shit and there are, for me, oh so many nights when it is ultra easy to say, fuck it! i’ll have another!
do the drink max if you want to. Only ever drink beverages that taste good! aunt barbara is SO right!!!!
whatever you decide, don’t be hard on yourself, MVP. you’re most valuable! in so many ways it makes me want to sing a song.
{v}
9 Brandy // Jul 10, 2007 at 12:35 pm
hottest. picture. ever.
at least there is no beer bong in the photo…
10 Natalie B // Jul 10, 2007 at 4:30 pm
a noble ambition. but, seriously, good luck with that! I love the communal nap time (horay for kindergarden!)… and I need to ask, is it an ultimate thing for the players to wear skirts? I think they should start incorporating that into soccer as well! FYI it’s friggin 33 degrees (celcius) at 530 in the evening here in Victoria, and there’s no way in heck I’m going to soccer tonight! (and you’re the only one I telling!)
11 Truly // Jul 11, 2007 at 10:41 am
Ha! You are hillarious and I LOVE the picture and your zebra loin cloth.
Anyhow, do what you need to in order to feel purged, but I read once that most woman’s livers can healthfully handle 1-3 units a day (and no-I don’t think you can “carry unused drinks over.” Ha!). The trick is remembering what a unit is. since you drink crap beer, the alchol lever is low (what, like 1.2% or something?), so 1 can is like, bearly 1 unit. Nice beers like timshead drinks, with nice alcohol content (4-8%), are probably more along the lines of 2 units per 12 oz drink. Why do I know this? Scotland is full of alcos and there are TONNES of public service announcements about how much is too much. Which is weird. But good in that it teaches you an alternative between Puritain and Frat Boy. You might already know this stuff, but the term “moderation” never was concretely defined to me before moving here. I just did it by guess work. Plus, we were so hillariously poor in Chicago that we just didn’t have money to buy booze most of the time.
Anyway, since booze is high calorie ( beer, wine), I try to limit the nights I drink it to 3 a week, remembering my healthy liver units, so I don’t get fat like my very fat dad. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just sayin. Can’t be arsed to go buy a new wardrobe.
12 Raining Heart // Jul 11, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I’ve felt that way lately…drinking too much for the wrong reasons. So in order to drink alcohol, I have to completely drink my “recommended water allowance” for the day first.
We used to call cheap bear CBA…cheapest bear available…or we’d say we were buying for, “quantity not quality!”
I used to have a sweatshirt from Grand Forks, BC that said in Russian, “Life is too short for cheap vodka.”