US rapper T-pain’s (whoever comes up with these names deserves to be shot) “Blame it on the Alcohol” arguably sums up why we often refuse to take responsibility for our actions in our intoxicated state.
My friends will tell you (hopefully not too much) that I sometimes mess up when I have had one Heineken to many. Like most drinkers I like to have fun and sometimes I get so wasted that it’s not funny but downright embarrassing.
You wake up in the morning with half your clothing lying across the room (I know right), with a raging headache, a stranger next to you and an empty wallet. This is immediately followed by the cliché phrase “what happened last night?”
Now I pride myself in being a cautious yet carefree drinker. But there are times when I am left in awe when my friends sarcastically inform me of my misdeeds during the course of our drinking session. Some of the scenarios include sleeping while standing up, occasionally throwing up and being nasty to the opposite sex because she apparently declined my offer to dance.
Say what you like and nod your head but we all have been left speechless when those who we ‘less drunk’ than us fill us in on the gory details of the previous night. As if battling a persistent hangover was not enough, we obsessed with piecing together what transpired when we were ‘not ourselves’ (they say alcohol brings out the braver or stupid persona in us).
Anyone who drinks knows exactly what I am talking about. Boozing would be much more fun if it didn’t have these side effects. Waking up broke is just another thing that makes you swear never to touch another drop of alcohol again but come the weekend you the first person to update your Facebook status with ‘where the party @?’
The rich and famous have often gotten in trouble because of wild partying and heavy substance in take. Paris Hilton, Robert Downey Junior, Lindsay Lohan, Colin Ferrell and Mel Gibson(don’t ask me how I know all these names) are some of Hollywood’s elite who have gained notoriety and ended up behind bars because of booze.
Imagine how it would be like if you didn’t have to hear unflattering stories in the morning, spend time concocting remedies for your hangover (they never work anyway) or frantically trying to figure out what happened to the 500 rand balance you had in your account. This would certainly make life easier.
But instead we left to deal with the morning after the wild partying. We start making pinkie swears will cut back on our intake (as if), dismiss our embarrassing moments as nothing but exaggeration by our up to no good friends. Because after all the scariest ramification of alcohol can cause is short ‘memory loss’ (whether by choice or genuinely).
Amnesia or not your pals will be only too happy to show you pictures of you forgotten activities taken on their smart cell phones or documented on Facebook (makes you miss the days without social networks) making it so much hard to dispute their claims.
Some may argue that alcohol is a danger to society (people will always find reason not to blame themselves) but no one puts a gun on your head and forces you to have a drink. It’s something most people do because we like the way it makes us them feel and it’s a chance to let go and become something else other than your known self.
So while I have my challenges with binging from time to time, I know that as long as I keep doing it I have to deal with the morning after. And that’s fine with me.
If you not man enough (or woman) to admit that booze does sometimes get the better of you, you can always sing along to the chorus of T-pain’s hit tune and Blame it on the Alcohol.
I know I do (sometimes).
