On Alcohol

I enjoy alcohol. I like sipping on a beer while grilling, or drinking a pina colada at the beach, or just bellying up to the bar with a tall beer and some chicken wings. These and the hundred of other scenarios that involve drinking all make me happy. 

I didn't begin drinking in earnest until college. In high school my main group of friends didn't really drink. I had a few friend circles that would imbibe, but it always seemed very risky while I was still living at home. The most drinking I did in high school was when we would go up to either U of M or MSU to visit older siblings or friends who had already matriculated. From those visits I went into college with a mindset that drinking was at the forefront of college social life. And anyone whose been to a midwestern college can probably agree with that statement.

Me at college orientation, before I learned my drinking boundaries

Once I got to college I no longer had to worry about my parents catching me or anyone driving, and it was the main thing to do. My first semester of college I once got written up twice for drinking in the dorms within 24 hours. But going out and drinking was also how I made social connections.

Is that a keg in our dorm?

What I quickly learned in college was that drinking until I blacked out or puked was not that much fun, and there was a sweet spot of getting pretty drunk without being that guy passed out in the corner. I crossed that line from time to time, but I really got the hang of knowing when I needed to slow down or just call it a night, and that skill has served me well over the years.

College

Nearly all drinking in college was binge drinking. Whether it was a football tailgate, a declared Drunk All Day Day (DADD), sitting around watching Gettysburg, before going out to a party, the beer Olympics or the actual Olympics, there was usually copious amounts of booze being consumed. Honestly, I think this blog post best summarizes my college drinking.

At the time everyone knew we were binge drinking, but it was college, and it's hard to call someone an alcoholic when everyone is drunk all the time and you're 20 years old. Alcoholics were old and drinking in their car in a 7-11 parking lot, that couldn't have been us. Even though everyone was drinking a lot there already were a couple of friends who seemed to have less control, and in later years a few of those friends would develop serious alcohol issues. I think we all walked a fine line, and some were able to pull back and some walked right over that line into alcoholism in their early 20s.

After college I started working and really stopped binge drinking as much. At first I lived alone and drinking usually meant crashing at a friends place since I'd have to drive. During this time is also when I first had money to spare so I started drinking slightly nicer stuff. Bud Light instead of Natty Light. I also started drinking just after getting home from work and this is really when I found my love for Rum & Cokes. I'd make a couple over the course of the evening, but since I had work in the morning it'd just be enough to get me a mild buzz before bed. I still like to drink alone. I know that's an indicator of sorts, but I still really enjoy a night just hanging out solo and making a few cocktails.

Then I moved to place with a roommate where we could walk to the bars of the quaint fishing village we lived in. This is the first and only time I've ever become a "regular" at a bar. I also got a girlfriend who lived in Seattle so I no longer had to worry about missing the last ferry back home. Still being in my mid-twenties, I was trying to keep living that college life on the weekends. I also spent more time seeing my college friends or going to weddings and bachelor parties where there was mucho drinko.

Post-college Edward-40-Hands.

For the last 5 years I've had kids, and that's made me re-evaluate my alcohol consumption. Before then if I was three sheets to wind it wasn't a big deal, and had the time to spend a Sunday nursing a hangover. But kids need care and attention 24/7, and all the sudden being a bit tipsy on the regular wasn't a great idea. But I still liked booze and it became the time when I really had to think about whether I was drinking too much, or on a slippery slope towards a drinking problem. I thought about it a lot and I think there are a lot of people who are on a slow but steady path to alcoholism, and I I decided I didn't want to be one of them.

I was still thinking about it in March of 2020 when all the sudden we were stuck at home with not much else to do besides drink. Those first few weeks of lockdown were a lot of fun. Working from home, making some cocktails or splitting a bottle of wine each night. But I soon realized I hadn't been sober for an entire day for like 20 straight days. So I decided to not drink at all two days of the week. For the past two years I haven't drank at all on Mondays and Thursday - with a few exceptions for special events. I've slowly tried to work in not drinking on Tuesdays as well - and eventually I'd like to only drink on the weekends. Even with these self-imposed limitations I'm still right on the edge of consuming 15 drinks a week which is what the CDC calls a heavy drinker - but it's really just getting a buzz in the few hours between the kid's bedtime and my bedtime.

Even when I don't drink I still look forward to drinking which I take to be another negative indicator. If I'm not drinking that day, I'll tell myself how I'm really going to cut loose the next day. But then the next day comes and once I'm done with work then I need to watch the kids, and then it's dinner and I can maybe down a beer or glass of wine with dinner, but then it's like an hour of putting the kids to bed, and once they're down I go to make myself a cocktail and I'm already getting a little tired so I'll have one but then I have to really convince myself to make a second, and then it's late and I'm not feeling nearly as good as I wanted to be and I go to bed - but that's good right? 

I don't think I have a compulsion to drink, but sometimes it's takes more willpower to not drink on Mondays and Thursdays then I'd like. And that scares me a bit. This leads me into this prolonged battle to be able to enjoy alcohol without fear of falling into alcoholism. It's a bit of an internal tug-of-war. While I don't think I'm anywhere close to it, I'm a tiny bit afraid of becoming an alcoholic. But the reason I'm afraid of becoming an alcoholic is that it would mean that I flat-out couldn't drink anymore as the only true solution to alcoholism is total abstinence. The thought of going to Vegas sober, or not drinking a beer around a campfire, or not having a cold one in the shower after working in they yard all drives that fear. It's a very circular logic to think that if I enjoy this vice to much I won't be able to enjoy it at all.

I hope that being aware of my drinking habits, putting some healthy limitations in place and being honest with myself will allow me to keep enjoying one of my favorite hobbies.

Cheers!

Vegas

I spent Memorial Day weekend down in Vegas, doing Vegas-y things. It was about as much fun as ten 24 year old men can have in Vegas. Most of the trip will stay in Vegas (like how I came back missing a toenail), but I did want to share the events of our first night.

Right after dropping off our bags at the MGM we went right down to the casino floor. As a matter of tradition I put $100 on black to test my luck for the weekend. Sure enough it landed black and so it began. We gambled a little bit and drank at the MGM and then went off to dinner at 9 Fine Irishmen in New York New York. We ate a big meal and had a couple of rounds of Irish Car Bombs and Guinness's. Afterwards I think we went back and drank some more in our rooms before deciding to head out. Our destination was O'sheas, for the midget bar pour. In was the first of a fresh weekend tradition where we had to drink beers every time we walked down the strip.

We drank for a couple hours at O'sheas and before long it was 3AM. Being our first night in Vegas, Dave and I went to go gamble for a bit at The Flamingo before calling it a night. Everything after this point is pretty much a blur. At some point we decided to head across the street to The Mirage, and I remember it was still dark. We found a great dealer, and settled in for the long haul. We drank and gambled for hours and at some point decided it was time to go home. When I cashed out I was up $1200. I was elated as I walked out of the casino. I really didn't have any idea what time it was until I went out side and it was sunny out. We grabbed a cab back to the MGM.

I think at this point it was about 7AM by the time we got back into the MGM. Still feeling the high from the big win I thought it best to let the heater ride. I convinced Dave to join me and we spurned sleep to keep gambling. I can't recall how we decided it was a good idea to keep gambling but I'd like to think that it was because we could keep our 14 hour drinking bender going.

Dave and I spent the next 4 hours having the dealer push money across the table to me. I started switching from Red Bull based drinks to Irish Coffee's, Mimosas and Screwdrivers. I can't really remember many of my bets but Dave said at one point I put $350 up and won. By now I was up another $1600 and Dave was starting to get hungry. I started asking the Pit Boss if I could get some breakfast, and really started hounding him to comp me a Bacon Buffet. It was all I talked about for like half an hour. Eventually the pit boss comped Dave and I a meal at the buffet and suggested that I get some sleep. I couldn't argue with him as I was a hungry/wasted/sleep deprived mess. I finally colored up and the dealer gave me a $1000 chip and a handful of $100 chips as well.

On the way back to the room I had so much cash on me, I kept thinking it would fall out. I burst into our hotel room where everyone was sleeping and made it rain. By the time I collected it and counted it, I had cleared over $2800. I wouldn't eat or sleep for another 3 hours and then only a small nap before starting to drink for the next night.

Needless to say, that night in itself was pretty trip defining. I managed to hold on to what I made and came home with a free trip and a few extra bills in my pocket. And that was just the first night.

Drunkest Man in America

I went to DC for New Years. After waking up from a tremendous all-you-can-drink on Friday night, we proceeded directly to the bar at noon on Saturday to watch the Gator bowl. Because of the results we decided just keep drinking all day and all night.

Somewhere around hour 9 of 14 and bar number 4 we began wondering if we were any of us were approaching the title of drunkest man in DC. Clearly, one of us held the title of drunkest man in the bar we were at. But there was no way tell if any of us could claim the title of drunkest man in our nation's Capitol.

Human microchip implants are an existing technology. Cell phones with RFID readers exist. I'd wager that in 40 or 50 years microchips will be widely used in conjunction with cell phones for people to monitor their blood sugar, temp and other body statistics such as BAC. This could be very helpful for people that want to know if they are legal to drive a vehicle or need an insulin shot.

So it stands to reason that it could be possible to create a phone app that compares the BAC for a large number of people and output over what geographic area you are the drunkest man. I'm pretty sure there have been a few times that I've contended for DMIA. I've at least broached the top-100, and definitely have been the drunkest man in Ann Arbor. But until the future catches up, I'll have no way to know for sure.

A selected story from South Bend

I'm sitting at O'hare waiting for my flight home from my buddys wedding. To keep from being excessivly bored I figure I'll pound out a blog post. I'm typing this on my broke ass iPhone so... yeah.

The reception had an open bar and they were serving shots. Some open bars don't serve shot to keep people from getting excessively drunk. I got excessively drunk. But it was a celebration, bitches! After the reception ended a few of us went to the bar for a post party. After a couple more shots I realized that I was too inebreated to be at the bar and I decide to walk back to my hotel. The hotel is in the biggest building in South Bend so I kinda knew where I was going.

I don't really know how or under what circumstances I met him but somehow I started talking with a homeless man. We are walking along just having a terrific chat. About life, love and being an out of work welder. As we walk I see a Burger King a few blocks away. I really want some BK but it's like 2 am and only the drive thru is open. Willie says that he can get us some Whoppers. So Willie and I walk up to the drive thru window. Me a 23 white guy in a shirt and tie, Willie a 40 year old black man with a scruffy beard and a raincoat. The manager goes "Willie! What are you doing here?" but she agrees to sell us some food. I tell Willie to order whatever he wants and I would pay for it. We both order a couple whoppers and I pay with a twenty and give the change to Willie. So we continue our walk and our conversation. When we get close to the hotel we had to say our goodbyes and part ways. I'm not certain but I'm pretty sure I gave Willie a big hug.

Routine

Everyday feels the same. Wake up / go to work / come home / pour myself a drink / eat / play video games. Life has gotten stale. But the cool thing is that every two weeks I get paid money, which is nice.

I'm still trying to live the dream on the weekends. Hitting the bars, staying out all night and crashing on couches. But to be honest, it's harder than it was in college. Tonight I was watching the Michigan game on ESPN 2 and they panned over Chris Orr. He was wearing his signature green hat and Neil Diamond vest. I could tell he was about 7 Molson XXX's deep. It made me recall last year when I could slam a bunch Tequila at the Cantina and then yell at Ed DeChellis to "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN". It was then that I realized how much I miss college.

Campus Legend

Stories I can only tell now that I'm no longer living in Ann Arbor/enrolled.

I've always insisted - to no opposing argument - that the Law Quad is the most romantic place on campus. If I were to ever write a screenplay, it would be a coming of age teen dramedy where the quintessential plot zenith would take place in the Law Quad. The main character would be walking the girl he was madly in love with through an empty law quad at night. It would be one of those winter nights where fat snowflakes fall heavily on an already thick layer of fresh snow and despite the snow falling it would feel strangely warm. As they quietly walk together in front of the doors to the Law Library he would stop her and turn her to face him. With the yellow glow of the two lights from Hutchens Hall illuminating the snow around them, he would tell her how he felt about her and without her having to say anything they would kiss underneath the falling snow. The kiss would be unsure at first until the warmth of each others lips let them know that it was meant to be. Then the camera would slowly lift above them and zoom out until the entire Law Quad was visible, and then the entire campus and then the entire city. The movie would probably go straight to DVD.

Anyways. About a month after I graduated I was walking home from the bar through the Law Quad when I realized that for all the beauty I had admired for the past 4 years, I had never actually been in the Law Quad. So I decided that I needed to break in. I was able to jimmy a window and sneak into the Law Quad. I found myself slightly inebriated and wandering around room to room. I finally made it to the top floor and found that one of the rooms had a window that let out to a roof overlooking Tappan Street. I leaned back with my body resting on the roof line enjoying the warm summer air and recalling some of the good times I've had at Michigan. As I was sitting up on the roof, I watched the drunks stumble home and I was just about to get down when I saw a familiar gait walking up Tappan. It was my buddy Craig. I called down to him and he looked up in a state of disbelief upon seeing that his friend was perched on the edge a building. I went down and let him in and we stood up on the roof talking about how it would be the perfect place to take a girl.

Two nights later I was at the bar with some my mates and one of the girls at our table happened to be a former GSI of mine. We must of hit it off because I found myself on the roof of the law quad making out with my old GSI.

How many other people can say they have done that?

To Being an Undergrad

14 credits. 7 actual credits. My life revolves around having fun. I got really sick after my adventure to Kalamazoo, so this is what my life is like.

Tuesday:
Skip out of class about half an hour early to make it down to Bar Louie for my traditional Tuesday festivities. Post pints and burgers we made the pilgrimage down to Super Liquor IV with no clear intentions in mind. Unlike last time when we made a house trip, with 7 people in 3 cars all descending on SLIV. I did pick up a fifth of Wild Turkey - American Honey which I discovered through my couz Shawn.

Wednesday:
I don't think I did much, maybe because it is surrounded by drunkenness.

Thursday:
Got the important text from Gusto that there were $0.50 shots and $1 beers at the Cantina starting at 5 PM. It's Cinqo de Montho, and every 5th of the month they do a progressive pricing scheme that goes up by $0.50 every hour, until they reach $2.50. Next month it will be on the 5th of March which just so happens to by my birthday, so we will see how that goes. So I meet up with gusto and one of his buddies. We rip shots for an hour and then I head down to the basketball game.

At the game I almost got kicked out. I stand directly behind the opposing bench and spend most of my time telling the other coach to "SHUT UP!". I was being a rowdy drunk. But eventually the game ended with a big win. Afterwards I went home and dropped some High Life. But my night was just beginning. I called one of my high school friends who now knows the benefits of the Dvorak keyboard (Very obscure WTF reference, (as was the WTF reference) I will tribute you 1,000 gold for figuring it out). Anyways I went over to her place for some pre-gaming. Drank a bud heavy and a margarita and then we went to Rick's. Going to Rick's with 5 girls on Ladies night it the coolest thing that will ever be done. I danced and danced and danced and danced. The ladies and their comptroller (me) then went to the Cantina for some obscure reason. Probably because the females were hungry from all that bumping and Brian grinding. So I ordered some shots. Never start you're night ripping tequila shots and then end your night blamming (new word) more tequila shots. You will end up making bad decisions, like taking a cab home with a girl but then going home anyways. Then you will go home and decide that you want to not only listen to Janis Joplin's stupendous cover of Me and Bobby McGee, but also want to blog about it. You will then end up leaving it on and passing out, and then wake up 10 hours later with the song still playing on repeat and not knowing why until you read you're own blog. Believe me, it's actually not a horrible thing to have happen. Maybe tequila shots get a bad rap. Because Mexicans are terrible rappers.

Friday:
After adventures in Thursday, I actually had a very important group meeting for my senior design that I was still quite sauced for. Before my afternoon meeting I stopped home only to find my roommates throwing a mid-day birthday party for our roommate who was turning 21. And to clarify, birthday party means 4 dudes buying a quarter barrel and sitting on our couch watching outdoor anal porn and discussing the finer aspects of it with the roommate whose birthday it was being no where in sight. Very deep conversation. So I dropped a couple of Gargoyles and went to my afternoon business. I got home around 4 to find that the party had moved outside to a little game of outdoor beer pong in 18 degree (that's Fahrenheit for my mass German following) weather. While playing outdoor beer pong in 18 degree weather and only wearing a short sleeved Hawaiian shirt, my childhood boy scout leader walked by, and I got a chance shake his much warmer hand.

So me and my roommate Brick went to the hockey game. We actually had some free tickets. But when we go to a game we bring our friends. For this game our friends were a pint of Ezra Brooks, an orange juice full of vodka, and 3 cans of the Champagne of Beers. Our friends who I sit usually bring their friends Evan Williams and Jack. You would recognize them in an instant. Even 5 gallons of whisky water cannot beat having a cold beer while watching a game at Yost. Fun game too, but that's for another post.

So afterwards our friends were having a party. It was Luau, but for some reason had Peppermint schnapps and chocolate syrup. I didn't complain, but did teach some noobs how to tap and poor a keg with a faulty tap. It resulted in a whopping four (4) IV facebook friend requests for me. So yeah, I'm pretty much a player, even if some of those were dudes.

Saturday:
The day started as a backlog of my 2 day hangover. The day progressed to me drinking and watching the basketball game at our neighbors house. Then my roommate Peter and I decided to take the 50 foot trip to Cliff Keen arena for the men's gymnastic meet to do whatever you do at a gymnastic meet. Gymnastics are kinda boring when there aren't hot gymnastic girls to oogle. So Peter and I went all the way back home (across the street) and pounded some beers and then went to the hockey game. Didn't pay, fun game. Same shit, different night. Afterwards our Peter and I went home for a beer break and then to our friend Juanita's house for her birthday and then over to the bars.

We started at the Jug where it was one of those "I know everyone in this bar" feelings. Our gorgeous neighbors where there. Our luau friends were there. Our tailgating friends were there. My other friends were there (you know them right?). Peter and I decided to do a pitcher race. Some other friends showed up and soon it seemed like everyone was heading to Rick's (Not again!). But Rick's, being Rick's, is actually a lot of fun when go with 20 people and get to dance with your hotty neighbors.

But no one wants to read a blog post about a dude going to Rick's, and in my sub-conscious I knew this and decided to take action. I grabbed the ultimate drinking partner in a friend named John. The same friend who started off the best night of my life, last 4th of July (Blog post is classified). We head up to the Cantina, to you know, talk to chicks. The only problem is that we get there at 1:48. That leaves us 12 minutes of legal drinking time. So I open a tab, for the next 12 minutes. We grab same tequila shots because I didn't learn my lesson from Thursday. But our only problem is we got the 2 AM cutoff but we didn't want to stop drinking so we managed to get some extra drinks. I can't go into much detail, but that's why I go drinking with my friend John. Our friend Craig shows up and takes a seat next to us at the bar. He then passes out at his bar stool, but I don't want to take care of him so I delegate the task to a super hawt girl who tries to keep him awake and gets him a water. Of course Craig snaps out of it right after the girl walks away. Dammit Craig! So now we spend our time talking to the ladies. Eventually my extra drinks kick in and I decide it's time for me to leave. But I don't just walk home. I wander over to the daig and in front of the block M, I started to Salute every building and gave a speech about the U in the middle of the daig to no one. Then I went over to the Law Quad and did the same thing. It was pretty cool to me. I made it home to find that our house had been destroyed by Brick and I passed out. When I awoke I realized that no matter how much I drink I am still a smart guy because before I passed out I wrote down the vitals of one of the girls who's number I got at the bar. It reads:

red vest
named Clair

Hot!

So we will have to see where that leads. I don't know how I manage to live my life, but I love it. I wrote this so that someday when my life sucks, I can look back and see how awesome I must be. Also I wrote this because I need you to know how awesome I am. Also, I'm still drunk.

Sometimes we do cool things

Yesterday we were sitting on the porch talking about drinking and someone mentioned playing Edward 40 Hands, a classic college drinking game. But we decided that you could make it much more coleslawesome if instead of Edward 40 Hands you played Edward 7 Cans. The premise is basically the same but instead of taping 2 40's to your hands you tape 7 cans of beer to your hands.

Of course while playing Edward 7 Cans we watched the back half of Gettysburg. In the past 4 days I have not come home and Gettysburg wasn't on. Sometimes we watch it multiple times in one day. It's 4 1/2 hours.

Gettysburg + Edward 7 Cans = Bliss

Cedar Point + Alcohol = Fun

Yesterday I found myself in a parking lot in Ohio sitting in the back of an Escape slamming bottles of Budwiser at 3pm.

Last fall when I went to Cedar Point I had what was definitively one of the best/funniest days of my life, but we were just hung over, not drunk. Yesterday we woke up at 6:30, hungover and hit the road. After one run in with the Bloomfield Hills police, we made it to the park and got 4 deep before going in. Decisions to not eat or drink water and to stay in the sun all day were great. So after our trip to the parking lot, the lines seemed a lot shorter, and the everyone slightly more interesting. Observations like Ohio State fans are also fans of jorts (JORTS!) became obvious. After getting "The Boot" from the Red Garter Saloon the obviously next choice was to ride the Mean Streak twice (No puking yay!). Of course when we went on the Millennium Force and Maverick we had to hide our boots down our pants, but that came with all the added benefits of carrying a 32oz boot in your pants. So what am I drinking out of right now? A dirty boot that yesterday was in my pants.

The good news was that Paul and I were the first 2 people to ride Snake River Falls all year.

Last Week...

Things that have happened in the week since my last post:

*I hi-fived a transvestite
*Went to 4 Michigan Baseball games in 48 hours
*Air Guitared "More Than A Feeling" at Charley's ala Chris Turk and the Cool Cats
*Walk of shamed it back to my house at 7 am on a Sunday, only to pass people going to church.
*Ate a Loaded Steakhouse while on the clock
*Got the stare down from the Ohio State baseball coach
*Scored a point in Poop War '08
*Saw Phucking Phil, only to have him FB message Emily the next morning
*Was on FSN
*While singing Heat of the Moment at the Heidelburg I replaced the lyric "Teenage ambitions you remember well" with "Teenage abortions you remember well"
*I drove the Michigan Baseball team to the airport, and when we got there the assistant coach goes "You were fucking flying down 94, brother"
*Climbed to the peak of Mark's roof
*Watched all three Back to the Future movies
*Got terribly bad every night

Brett did it for the lulz

This is after he fell backwards off of a porch onto a flower planter.

From the Archives

I was going through some of my old Gmail's and came across the paper I had to write to Mike "Webcam" Schryer for when I got caught drinking in the dorms freshmen year. It looks like I didn't want to indite any of my friends by naming them. It's a bit of a throwback to freshmen year but I really like the last paragraph.

My Alcohol Experience

The weekend of January 24^th was one of the defining weekends of this semester, so far at least. I made some bad decisions and as a result faced punishments. But that same weekend I made new friends and got closer to people I had barely known. Almost a month later looking back on that weekend, the amount I regret is far smaller then the amount I am glad I experienced.

The weekend started out like any other weekend. I was done with class at 11:30 on Friday and had no plans for the weekend. This left me with 2 and a half days to screw around, and after a hard week that was exactly what I planned to do. My neighbor told me that he was having some high school girls up for Friday night and we were supposed to show them a good time. So my neighbor, his friends, his roommate and I start drinking in dorms early that evening before we headed out to a fraternity. On the way we ran into one of my friends and convinced him to join us. It was a great night, just hanging out and drinking free beer paid for by frat boys. We came back all better friends then when we had left. It was late and I decided to retire back to my room to go to bed after I realized that a hookup chance was remote. I was in my room and decided to clean up a little before I went bed. So I went to the bathroom to empty out a nearly full beer that had been in my room. As I went into the bathroom I was caught by a DPS officer and was cited. Because of my fascination with the police show COPS I managed to get myself out of a MIP.

The next day was spent lounging around the dorms until around 5 PM when I got a call from one of my friends who I am living with next year. He told me that most of my future roommates were going out and invited me to come with him. He also had a girl from home up for the weekend. We planned on going to a house party but on the way we decided to stop by West Quad to pick up some people. We went to a room and I saw two people I had classes with last semester. I hadn’t really talked to them much, but I started to, and I now know them much better. I also met the owner of the room, who I now see quite a bit and hadn’t known before this night. We had only been in the room for a few minutes when we heard a knock on the door, and outside was an RA and a DPS officer. So for the second time in less then 24 hours I surrendered my Mcard to a DPS officer’s notebook. So with that incident behind us, we went out to a party down the street. Although I didn’t know whose house it was, I saw so many people that I knew there, I could have sworn it was my own party. I saw people from my calculus math group from the previous term and people that I hadn’t seen in months. It was one of the best parties I have been to. My friend and I then decided to head down the street to another party, and realized that the party we were going to was at the house that we had leased for next year. We went inside and actually got to meet the people that were currently living in the house. I was really cool to see our house and the people that reside there. As the party was winding down, we left and went to the BOX house where we know the people that live there. They were having a few people over and we hung out there and eventually passed out there. Then next morning we woke up and had to take the long walk back to Markley. As we taking our walk of shame we discussed all the events of the previous night, and how much fun we had. The write up by DPS was only a small negative to the great night just happened.

Of course the inevitable happened, I receive a letter and an e-mail about my two run-ins with DPS. I figured it would be a small price to pay for the great weekend I had just had. I wasn’t quite sure the sort of trouble I would be in for two write ups in less then 24 hours, but I didn’t think it would be good. I showed up for the meeting and was punished in the manner that I was expected. I had been told that I would probably have to do an online course and maybe make a poster. I wasn’t to keen on the poster idea and was relieved when I found out that I only had to do a two page paper and an online course.

I took the course and thought that it was a good course on alcohol awareness. I found I learned things about alcohol that I didn’t know, or I thought were only myth. Although the program was educational it didn’t make me feel like what I had done was wrong. I had already known most of the facts that they threw at me and so I didn’t have too much trouble taking the test to pass the course. It seemed like a bit of a waste of time, but if it was necessary to get this over with I was willing to do it.

That left only this paper, which is great because it gave me a chance to reflect on the events, and to look at them from a hindsight perspective. I was able to see how these write ups affected my actions and behaviors. What I realized is that these experiences really haven’t changed behavior. I am smarter when I drink in the dorms, but I still drink just as frequently. Now when I drink I am always sure my door in closed and that there aren’t DPS officers in the hallway when I am outside my room with alcohol. These write ups showed that there are consequences for my actions but the consequences are sometimes worth the rewards. The rewards of going out and making friends are in my opinion what college is all about. I could stay in every night and never drink, but I can barely imagine what my college experience would be like without going out to parties and meeting new people. In the words of the great South Park character Chef “There is a time and a place for everything, it's called college.”

BOX House on the internets.

Our very Ross has become yet another internet celebrity after this picture appeared on the website collegehumor.com.

It appears that a few other people also took pictures, as we've been seeing them pop up on facebook. Too bad the BOX letters didn't make the pic. We also spread the BOX to Oregon after playing thunderstruck with some old timers and trading t-shirts. It looks like were on the up and up.