I admire people who drink without, (apparently,) getting drunk.
As a skinny, lightweight, drinker, the edge of drunk and too-drunk has always been a knife’s edge for me.
Not only that, but there are just some people who approach drinking differently than others.
A lot of people drink as part of a social interaction: go out to the bar, hang out with friends, drink some pints, chat, play darts, etc.
Have several drinks over the course of hours, pacing themselves, without apparent danger of disturbing the rules of the social contract or becoming out of sorts.
On the other hand, some people like to be drunk.
I’m one of those people, the ones who sometimes like to get a little too drunk.
Different people go different ways, when a little too drunk.
Most of the time, I am OK. Pleasant enough, smiling, if quiet, and somewhat mischievous. Fine.
On the other hand, sometimes drinking a little too much, is a descent into the yawning chasm of self-pity, insecurity, and anger which sits at the center of my being.
Again, as a skinny person, it is a knife’s edge, one drink this way or that, between pleasantly too-drunk, and unpleasantly too drunk.
And sometimes, it just seems to be mood, or my perception of the situation in which I find myself.
“Evil Erik,” my wife calls these bad trips. Mostly I just tend to leave, walk away from the situation in which I can clearly, drunkenly, see I am not wanted, or interested in participating with.
Some people believe that drinking, or other drugs, can make you a different person.
For the most part, I disagree.
I believe that whatever aspects you show when altered, are there with you, to a larger or smaller degree, all the time, perhaps sublimated under your restraint and respect for the rules of the social situations in which you are participating.
As a sober participant in social interactions, I can usually perceive that walking away from the people I am talking to, or ignoring their words, (words, so many words,) is something I should not do. I sublimate my fear, anger, and insecurity beneath my respect for the social contract.
However, this is something I had to teach myself to do, and have to sometimes consciously make an effort at. Let’s just say I have my Asberger tendencies.
When I was younger and I was bored with my friends, or felt like they weren’t interested me, I would simply walk away. Go inside the house and read, even if it was in the middle of a game or conversation.
I guess drinking too much turns me back into an 8 year old brat.