The Five Levels of Drinking
LEVEL 1: It's 11:00 on a weeknight, you've had a few beers.
Just as you get up to leave because you have work the next day, one of your
friends buys another round. One of your *unemployed* friends.
Here at level one you think to yourself, "Oh come on, this is silly, as long as
I get seven hours of sleep, I'll be fine."
LEVEL 2: It's midnight. You've had a few more beers.
You've just spent 20 minutes arguing against the use of artificial turf.
You get up to leave again, but at level two, a little devil appears on your
shoulder.
And now you're thinking, "Hey! I'm out with my friends! What am I working for
anyway?
These are the good times! Besides, as long as I get five hours sleep...I'm
cool."
LEVEL 3: One in the morning. You've abandoned beer for tequila.
You've just spent 20 minutes arguing FOR the use of artificial turf.
And now you're thinking, "Our waitress is the most beautiful woman I've ever
seen!"
At level three, you love the world. On the way to the bathroom you buy a drink
for the stranger at the end of the bar just because you like his face.
You get drinking fantasies (like, "Hey fellas, if we bought our own bar, we
could live together forever. We could do it. Tommy, you could cook.")
But at level three, that devil is a little bit bigger...and he's buying. And
you're thinking "Oh, come on, come on now. As long as I get three hours
sleep...and a complete change of blood, I'm cool."
LEVEL 4: Two in the morning. And the devil is bartending.
For last call, you ordered a bottle of rum and a Coke. You ARE artificial turf!
This time on your way to the bathroom, you punch the stranger at the end of the
bar. Just because you don't like his face!
And now you're thinking, "Our busboy is the best looking man I've ever seen."
You and your friends decide to leave, right after you get thrown out, and one of
you knows an after hours bar.
Here at level four, you actually think to yourself, "Well...as long as I'm only
going to get a few hours sleep anyway, I may as well....STAY UP ALL NIGHT!!!!
Yeah! That'd be good for me. I don't mind going to that board meeting looking like Keith
Richards. Yeah, I'll turn that around, make it work for me. And besides, as long
as I get 31 hours sleep tomorrow, I'm cool.
LEVEL 5: Five in th morning. After unsuccessfully trying to get your
money back at the tattoo parlor ("But I don't even know anybody named
Simon!!!"), you and your friends wind up across the state line in a bar with
guys who have been in prison as recently as... that morning. It's the kind of
place where even the devil is going, "Uh, I gotta turn in. I gotta be in Hell at
nine."
At this point, you're all drinking some kind of thick blue liquor, like
something from a Klingon wedding.
A waitress with fresh stitches comes over, and you think to yourself, "Someday
I'm gonna marry that girl!!"
One of your friends stands up and screams, "WE'RE DRIVIN' TO VEGAS, BABY!!!!!" -
and passes out.
You crawl outside for air, and then you hit t he worst part of level five - the
sun. You weren't expecting that were you?
You never do. You walk out of a bar in daylight, and you see people on their way
to work, or jogging. And they look at you and they know. And they say, "Who's Simon?"
Let's be honest, if you're 19 and you stay up all night, it's like a victory
like you've beat the night, but if you're over 30, then that sun is like God's
flashlight.
We all say the same prayer then, "I swear, I will never do this again as long as I live!"
And some of us have that little addition, "and this time, I mean it!