January 8, 2009

• The last time I got sick from drinking

  It has been ages since I got sick from drinking.  If my brain cells are still functioning properly, it happened during my first year at work.  A couple of guys were getting together for drinks and I joined them.  We started off with beers.  It was one of those hot and humid summer evenings.  I haven’t had dinner yet but I was very thirsty.  So I downed a couple of cold beers very quickly (mistake #1).  We then headed out for dinner.  I switched to rum and cokes to accompany my meal (mistake #2).  Everything was going fine although I knew I was getting a healthy buzz. 

  After dinner, we went back to the guy’s apartment and resumed our beer drinking.  The guys I was with seemed to have an endless capacity for drinking.  I drank enough at university so I knew what my limit was.  I just sipped one… and then another (mistake #3) before calling it a night.  I took a cab home and I knew something wasn’t right. 

  By the time I got in the door, my stomach was trying to remind me what I had for dinner.  My parent’s house has only 1 bathroom and although it was late at night, someone was inside.  I ducked into the kitchen and waited.  It was a long wait.  I hope dad wasn’t reading the New York Times.  Or worse, maybe my brother fell asleep in the can again. 

  As luck would have it, my stomach started to heave and I just clenched my jaw tight to keep everything down.  I started to look around the kitchen.  I saw the backdoor and thought about doing it outside.  Maybe some raccoon will get the blame.  Option 2 was one of the pots.  Well, that would gross.  I never got to option 3 – I just did it right on the sink.  The problem was, it didn’t go down the drain because of the stopper. I stared at the mess.

  Mom came out of the bathroom and stopped at the kitchen door.  She saw me standing by the sink.  I had my back to the sink and she asked if everything was fine.  I smiled like a little angel and said yes.  I was lucky she didn’t come inside the kitchen to get a drink.  She went back to her room.   

  I turned my attention back to the sink.  I reached down into the mess, took out the stopper and everything slowly flowed down.  I rinsed the sink clean.  I don’t think anyone ever noticed.  Since then, I have been very careful when I'm out drinking. 

  • 1:26 AM
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