“I’m not as young as I used to be!”

Evidence of this was handed to yours truly in the form of a lingering headache and an overall feeling of uselessness that followed two nights of drinking. Friday was the office party, which was, you know, an office party, and I put away a steady—though not excessive—amount of whiskey. Good times in a way. Then Saturday was a wedding, which was a lot of fun and a lot of booze, which seemed fitting considering the groom (more on that another time). I might have had only 2 or 3 whiskies and a standard issue number of beers, but goddamn it ruined my Sunday. And I never felt “drunk” while conversing with old friends and hanging on the arm of my lovely, though I might have seemed more far-gone than I realized—a common occurrence. What the hell?

Anyway, I really wanted to talk about the wedding music, one song in particular: “The Star Spangled Banner” which began the dinner portion of the reception. I asked Wally, the groom, why this song was played at a wedding, as it seemed a bit surreal, and he answered: “Everyone knows the words, so why not?” which was funny. For the record, I don’t think anyone knows all the words, not really, but I’ll never forget that wedding reception as a result, so there’s that.

And I wonder how that poor adolescent is doing, the one who was in the men’s room crying: “I really wish I didn’t feel this way!” for the better part of the night, that first taste of over-intoxication running out of every pore (and then some). The poor kid looked like he’d just crawled out a grave as they (at last) carried him out of the bathroom. I’m sure he felt worse yesterday than me, which is some (small) consolation.