Monday, May 29, 2006

Must learn from my mistakes

Went away with Sanctus1 this weekend. It was a brilliant weekend - some interesting discussions around parables and lots of spending time with my friends, plus Lucy and I risking our lives trying to get to the sea, only to find it was brown and horrible and full of jellyfish. Myn, Rob abd Richard came up with a fantastic treasure hunt in which teams had to take photos of a variety of things. Very funny. We didn't win but I bet we had the most fun.

Last year I drank too much and had to be carried to bed pretty much unconcious. Which made me appreciate me friends. This year I planned not to do that but unfortunately surpassed myself, not only having to be carried to bed but also being violently sick all over the bathroom door and falling asleep with my head in the toilet bowl. I feel very privileged to have friends who take care of me after I do that, clean up vile-smelling sick, put up with me telling them how much I love them or, alternatively, that they're shit (sorry Stephen. I really didn't mean it), and not seeming to mind too much or judging me for it - even finding it funny, I think. Lev, Lucy, Eyan, Tony, Janet, thank you. I'm glad I have friends I feel safe with and trust to look after me.

Here's what I've learnt. Once I get to a certain point, my good intentions about not getting drunk go out of the window and I proceed to drink as much as I can until I fall off the sofa. So next year I have to decide how much I'm going to drink and stick to it, get my friends to help me, drink slowly and not just alcohol, and above all, not get to the point where I drink recklessly. Yesterday I had a monster hangover and today I still feel wretched. I think my liver is angry with me.

8 comments:

Ruth said...

This made me giggle.

Regarding:

"Here's what I've learnt. Once I get to a certain point, my good intentions about not getting drunk go out of the window and I proceed to drink as much as I can until I fall off the sofa."

I call it "the point of no return". With me it's about 4 - 6 units of alcohol.

And regarding:

"So next year I have to decide how much I'm going to drink and stick to it,"

You won't!

"... get my friends to help me, drink slowly and not just alcohol,"

They might, but you won't!!

"...and above all, not get to the point where I drink recklessly."

You will!!!

"...Yesterday I had a monster hangover and today I still feel wretched."

Warning: hangovers last longer the older you get - mine can go on for 3 days now.


"I think my liver is angry with me."

I'm sure it'll forgive you this once!

It seems to me that there are 2 types of people: those who can go for a night out and after two glasses can revert to apple juice and/ or tap water. And those who after two glasses, have another two (knowing they shouldn't but being totally unable to stop themselves), and then another two and then another two and then.... where's the loo.

I fall into the second category. I've had some fantastic nights out with fellow "idiots" but I've also done one or two silly things under the affluence of incahol.

On balance I _do_ prefer a night out with a category 2 drinker!!

Fat Roland said...

My point of no return was my 21st birthday... sigh...

I don't agree with Ruth's assertion that you get worse hangovers as you get older. Now I'm in my 30s, I can drink loads and loads more and have very mild hangovers, whereas in my 20s I suffered a lot.

This is a very worrying development but I'm too pissed to worry about it.

I have been sick several times but only *properly* sick twice. I mean, big spew, paint the town sweetcorn kind of sick.

The most recent involved vodka, a bit like your shennanigans, Sarah. I'd only had four vodkas but I got some kind of reaction. I remember being force fed breakfast cereal to get the sick to come up. Cornflakes, I seem to remember.

Anyhoo, before that I was sick after drinking lager (half a crate), bitter, vodka, red wine, baileys, whiskey and a random pint of "let's throw all these leftover drinks together" gunk.

One thing I am not is a cheap date.

Ruth said...

I envy you the sickness (because it stops you from further drinking). I never chuck-up. I just get hungry. "Chips, I want chips" - and I always have to call in at this rat-infested (seriously) take-away place near my local tube station that I'd never go near when sober.

I must look so attractive, swaggering down the road drunk, scoffing chips as I go.

Sarah said...

Eyan, I will never enter into drinking competitions with you then.

And if I do, I won't offer to pay.

Honestly, I have felt so horrible all week. I did have fun on Saturday night but I can't imagine that I would have had much less fun if I'd drunk much less. What I'm trying to say is that I think the fun/hangover ratio is... something. That there comes a point where the amount of hangover you pay for your fun isn't good value. And also that possibly the evening would have been even more fun if I'd been sober enough to win at poker or not so drunk that I fell off the sofa and passed out.

I saw a boy eating a kebab once when I was on a bus and it made me feel so sick that I've never been able to eat one again. I'm not sure if this is related to drinking because I can't remember if I had been. but it's to do with take-away so mildly relevant.

Fat Roland said...

um...

http://fat-roland.livejournal.com/

Especially for you.

Sarah said...

Thank you. I have never had a cartoon for me. I have stuck it on my wall. I considered putting it on my diary for next year, but then thought I might like to take that to places with people I might not want to see it. Hmmm, dilemmas, dilemmas.

Louise said...

My friend has been known to have to leave me hugging the toilet and lock herself out on the way home, sending her hubby to leave a bottle of coke on the doorstep for the recovery.

Not all that long ago.

In fact, six months ago.

Ruth is sooo right, the hangovers definitely last longer with age, but I think we might all make frighteningly good drinking buddies!

Anonymous said...

Hangovers are natures way of telling you to start drinking again.