Day 13: October 31, 2004

My 21st birthday was great…my Blockbuster family took me to this place downtown called Have A Nice Day Café, and they proceeded to pass drinks in front of me as if they were on a conveyor belt. I drank A LOT. It’s funny, when we first got there, I went to the bathroom while I was still sober, and I wouldn’t touch the seat, I did the tough-to-do-girl-peeing-standing-up thing. By the end of the night, Margaret’s husband Cesar had to come into the women’s restroom to help me out to the car: and I was sitting on the N-A-S-T-Y floor, with my head in a toilet puking. That’s how drunk I was, I wasn’t even concerned about how gross everything was. My cousin Trish drove me home, where she didn’t bother to tell me I shouldn’t puke out of a window when driving down the highway. I had drank several (disgusting) Royal F**ks that night, so I was covered in that oh-so-lovely red color by the time we got home. It was 3 in the morning. Now, Trish is a dwarf, and there was no way she was going to help me into the house. When I opened the car door, I literally fell out onto the grass…where I promptly puked again. She had to call Robert, who was 17 at the time, and he grabbed my shirt at the shoulder with two fingers and guided me into the house to settle me in the bathroom. He took off my shoes and socks, and came back with pajamas. I left my dirty clothes on the floor, which he took care of, and when he led me into my room, he had covered my bed with towels and set out a couple of trashcans. He then told me I owed him one and that I was an idiot, and went back to bed. He was so sweet. =)

I learned a lesson that night: do not drink a lot, it’s absolutely awful during and LONG after. I have only faltered two times since then, one of which has caused me to not ever drink that much again. I don’t like the effects of drinking, so I don’t do it very often. I'm glad I had that experience because I learned early-on that drinking to get drunk isn't a good idea pretty much 100% of the time. I was lucky enough to have a ride home that night. Anytime I start to feel buzzed when I’m (rarely) drinking, I have a flashback of that night six and a half years ago, and I try to slow it down, eat something, or drink some water. Lesson learned. =)