It seemed like a good idea at the time
by Seven

My best friend and I have spent more than one New Year's Eve celebrating together. And I have spent more than one New Year's Day crumpled in a corner next to her trying to recover from the previous night's festivities. This year was no different. True to form, we regained consciousness somewhere around 10am; me with a huge pain in my foot and an even bigger pain in my head. It didn't take me long to come to the realization that I had had far too much to drink last night.

I checked the receipt from our bar tab. $120. I did the math and thought to myself "JESUS! The two of us had single-handedly downed 24 vodka/tonics! No... wait... 26. That guy bought me two of them." That means approximately 13 a piece, depending on who was drinking faster. Why on earth did I think drinking THAT MUCH VODKA was a good idea? There is no telling what I said, who I said it to, or how many pictures were taken of whatever I was doing. Around 12:45, I heard my liver grumble something along the lines of, "Now what?! Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me, you've already had eleven!"

New Years afternoon, after waiting through the longest hour of my life for my pictures to be developed, I got a glimpse of a few key moments. I don't remember taking most of them, but my friend had a great time hooting and hollering with me. We were getting funny looks from everyone in the photo-mat because we opted to look through them at the counter instead of waiting until we got home. It was like being unable to look away from a horrible car wreck. Early that morning I had said something along the lines of "Oh Jesus, I hope I didn't _____." (Fill in the blank with whatever random embarrassing thing you choose.) I now have photo proof that I had, indeed, _____ed. As I sit here with my head hanging in shame, I am anticipating countless horribly embarrassing moments over the coming weeks as I see everyone again for the first time and they all point at me chanting "Duuuude, guess what YOU did!"

When I think about myself at my drunkest ever, I am reminded of the New Year's Eve in high school when I drank two entire bottles of champagne by myself and woke up with an empty purse and dirt on my knees. I wish I could tell you I was kidding, but no, there was actually dirt on my knees... meaning I fell down at some point. That was the only time in my life I ever drank until I blacked out... until this year. I'm not sure what it is about New Years Eve that makes me physically incapable of NOT making an ass out of myself in front of everyone in America, but drinking that much seemed like a good idea at the time.

I am never drinking again.

Until my birthday next weekend.