Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Getting Drunk on New Years Eve

First step is to go to a bottle shop for supplies. I'm not much of a drinker so I had my handy friend (who is younger than me) as a guide to what I might theoretically enjoy. I wish I could remember the name of the place we went to. It was this big place devoted to discount alcohol. You could get $3 wine. It was like the IGA of alcohol.

Next step is pausing to go for a swim because it's summer. The water was warm. None of that refreshingly cool getting in step by step because it's so cold sort of nonsense here. Nah, the water is just a little bit cooler than the air so is technically an improvement. My left ear got blocked up because of this. Spoilers: this is relevant to the story later on. Read on excitedly to find out how! (Then be disappointed when it isn't too amazing).

Then... onwards! To the middle of nowhere where the roads don't have curbs and just kinda fall apart into rough edges that turn into gravel or dirt and there's no street lights to show you the way if you were driving in the dark. Yep, we went into the country to get drunk. There were tents to sleep in! More on that later.

This property was huge. We explored barely a fraction of it. There was considerable space for parking near some rusted old greenhouses (well, I think they were greenhouses. They could've been sheds with the sides fallen off) that overlooked a bunch of trees that went off into the distance. Nearby was a room with flashing lights bound to cause seizures in anyone with epilepsy for the sake of dancing in. A path was paved through a garden, lit with christmassy lights and fibre optic lights, that led to the open area outside the back of the house where a karaoke machine stood playing nostalgic music from a decade ago, and some less nostalgic music from only a few years back too...

Then there was the tent area near the pool (a drink is to be taken every time the host said "no glass in the pool area", though I don't think anyone bothered with this drinking game). The odd thing was the grass squished beneath my feet, like the ground beneath it wasn't compacted at all. It was uncomfortably soft.

"It sinks when I step on it! IT MAKES ME FEEL FAT!" I yell out to whoever I was talking to at the time.

Later on, with alcohol in me, uneven ground that sinks when you step on it, and a problem with my left ear, I noticed that balancing was a gauntlet I had not prepared for! But I did not fall over. I got used to it eventually.

I didn't get as drunk as I expected myself to get. I'd brought a ridiculous amount of alcohol (vodka, red wine, white wine, margaritas, and some premixed cocktail stuff in a box because I'm classy like that) that I did not expect to get through. I think I did surprisingly well when it came to good decision making while drunk. I deliberately made sure I stopped talking to people I wasn't sure would be comfortable around me while drunk (and it's not like drunk me would pick up on that so safe bet is to let them be with closer friends), whenever I was approaching a small group of people I'd inquire if they were having a private conversation first to know if I should come join or walk away, I didn't make out with my friend who was strangely eager to do so, etc...  so good work drunk me for not being obnoxious or doing anything regrettable! Yeah!

We counted down to new years and then there were hugs constantly given to anyone nearby for the next 5 minutes.

Long story short (...er, it's been going on for 9 paragraphs so far) I didn't end up sleeping in the same tent I had originally planned. I had to find an alternative tent to sleep in, which ended up being Alex's. Thankfully wasn't too awkward sharing a tent with him and his girlfriend, though I wish I'd thought about bringing a pillow... I had brought a sleeping bag, but it was too hot to put it on, so I was sleeping on it with a bit of it scrunched up like a pillow but it was subpar. Everyone else was still awake and being noise so despite it being 4am, I was still awake.

It started becoming light and I realised I was still awake. I watched the sun rise on a new year...

Then collapsed and tried to freaking sleep. JUST SLEEP DAMN IT. The flies got into the tent and irritated my feet. Damn it. Sleep. Want sleep. So when it was 7am and I had woken up I wasn't sure if I felt worse because of the alcohol or the lack of sleep...

I feel good about this new year. Sure, it'll have the same problems and troubles as the last one probably, but it'll be better because I've learned a little from last time... Even though I don't believe in New Years Resolutions I know I'll find some way to try and improve myself.

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