...and don't forget the salt for the lemons!

I just thought of an old TV commercial that had a little girl singing a song that went something like this:

"drugs and alcohol are both the same they make soup out of your brain. I don't wanna be pea soup! I don't wanna be a potato! I don't wanna be chicken soup! I just wanna be me!"

Tonight I went to Abacus with my brothers, their respective girlfriends, a couple of friends and our alter egos (Loretta, Tabatha, Black Mamba, and Miho) after having gone to Steakhouse Cafe for happy hour. Our fun today involved large amounts of alcohol.

This isn't the first time that I have gone out drinking and it isn't the first time that I have seen someone get drunk (obviously I am not speaking about myself in this case). It was, however, the first time that I saw someone I like a lot get drunk and I found myself unable to recognize the person they had become.

For the first time in my life, I didn't like someone I like- if that even makes sense.

We were having tons of fun. Actually, our fun never really stopped. We talked, we danced, we planned for tomorrow (we are making sushi), all the while plenty of vodka was downed. Next thing I knew, this eloquent witty person had become a blubbering idiot. I asked this person if they were drunk and they were like "not at all!" and yet it was like talking to somebody else.

Apparently though this is a regular occurrance: They drink and they make an ass out of themselves.

I was embarrassed for them.

I think back on the times when I have been drunk, including the day I got alcohol poisoning (3 drinks!) and I can't think of one time when I wasn't concerned of what people would think of me or a time when I wasn't the first one to want to go to bed. Maybe that's just me though.

I am judging and comapring and I shouldn't be. But I am worried and I am sad.

It's really unfortunate that the impression that this person worked so hard to make would pretty much go to shit just because they couldn't say "I'm done for the night". It's very sad to see people who truly care about this person try to explain something they can't even understand. It's extremely worrysome to consider the possibility that this person may be at risk for a serious problem such as alcoholism and they don't realize it.

Drinking really does make people stupid if you don't know when to stop. And then to add insult to injury, it will leave you with a hangover from hell.

At times like these I wish our culture were okay with things like weed smoking per se, which doesn't cause nearly as much of a personality change. I am not advocating drug use; I just wish that things were different and that I (or any of us really) didn't have to bear witness to a good person at one of their lower points just because they couldn't see that they were too drunk.