I’m going to make a bold statement here and suggest that excess consumption of alcohol, particularly in the middle of the afternoon and on an empty stomach, is not good for you.
I had fun at yesterday’s office holiday party, but, if I’m being honest, I also had a little too much to drink. There was food, much better and more plentiful than at last year’s party, but I almost certainly had more whiskey in me than anything else. I remember everything that happened, the content of the conversations I had, et cetera. It’s not as if I embarrassed myself — although there was a moment, at the bar afterward, when a co-worker (who I genuinely would have like to have talked to) tried to ask me a question, and I simply could not make my brain and ears understand what she was asking me. (This was all the more disappointing because I think it’s the first time we’ve ever really talked, and I couldn’t muster more than “What? I’m sorry, I can’t — what?” I didn’t even see her again on my way out.)
I didn’t join the group at the second of the two after-parties, probably recognizing that four mixed drinks and a beer in as many hours was probably already pushing things for me, but rather stumbled out and got the subway back to Penn Station. I’d like to view this as a victory of good judgment over pickled brain cells…except that, at Penn Station, I decided to have KFC for dinner. So, clearly, I was still not thinking clearly.
I got home sometime after 8 o’clock, and spent most of the next twelve hours asleep. I don’t know that I’m fully recovered, but rest and re-hydration have seriously helped.
I am not, as I have probably mentioned here before, much of a drinker, and only ever drink socially, rarely, usually much more sensibly. I’m keenly aware of the dangers of overdoing it, and of alcoholism, above and beyond the hangover I’m still dealing with today. I mean, let’s be honest here: KFC is pretty darn terrible.
Well, I don’t plan on drinking again anytime soon. (This morning, even the thought of whiskey puts my stomach into knots.) I’m off from work for the next almost three weeks, a nice extended holiday vacation, and I managed to get everything and more than I expected to done before I left to become inebriated at noon on Friday. I have a lot of work waiting for me when I get back — or, I’m hoping not, lots of e-mailing instructors to ask why they haven’t sent me their reviews so I can work on them when I get back — but for now it’s just movies and TV and hangover recovery and, eventually, when my brain’s a little better, reading and writing.
I think overdoing it a little once a year (I think the last Christmas party was similar?) is probably nothing to worry too much about, except for the whole KFC thing. I mean, really. KFC?
Teasing, there. Seriously – even your tweets were sensible. Maybe just make a note in your calendar for next year’s party to have a big lunch first. Hope you are feeling better as the day goes on.