On drinking.

It is possible to drink often and get drunk rarely.

Just thought I'd point that out because a lot of people tend to assume that anyone who drinks regularly is a raging alcoholic.

One or two beers a night will not get you drunk, probably won't even get you buzzed (unless you drink them really fast). I happen to drink, on average, 1 beer a night. Sometimes I don't drink anything, sometimes I drink one, sometimes I drink two, every great once in a while I'll have 3. But that's usually the full extent of it.

So do I drink? Yes. Do I get drunk? Rarely.

Just pointing that out for those who tend to make assumptions.

The Contraband Candle

I went to my cousins' wedding yesterday evening.

Got pretty drunk.

We came home and the wife lit a few candles, because they smell nice. We left one of them burning on the front (enclosed) porch over night. It was a safe, ten hour candle; the kind that comes in a jar.

We went to sleep a few hours later.

At 4:30am the phone rings. I fumble around, trying to wake from a deep, drunken sleep. It's the police, they tell me there are some officers at the front door. So I stumble to the front door and, sure enough, there are three officers standing at the bottom of the porch steps. Two cruisers are parked on the road in front of my house.

"Hi," I say. "How can I help you?"

"We got a call from one of your neighbors," one of the officers says. "They saw you had a candle burning on the porch and were concerned that you hadn't blown it out."

I stared at them, dumbfounded for a bit before saying; "Do you want me to blow it out?" No answer. I continue; "It's safe. That kind of candle can last for hours."

"Okay," the one that talked said. "We just came to check on it, to make sure everything was okay. One of your neighbors was concerned."

"Alright," I said. "I'll blow it out then."

So they thanked me and turned around to return to their vehicles, and I blew out the candle.

First I'm pissed off and wondering which one of my idiot fucking neighbors called in with concern about a candle burning, and then I'm wondering how boring the graveyard shift must be for these guys if they come in for back-up on a candle burning in a jar.

Stupid fucking Youngstown suburb.

it's my mother fucking birthday.

i'm already drinking. i have a day to just relax. vacation from work, plenty of beer. i'm going to try to get some writing done, since i haven't in some time. otherwise, i'll be goofing off on the internet.

i got a pearl jam concert blasting from the speakers. i just got it, it's about nine disks worth, and so far it kicks ass. it's three concerts they did at the gorge. one in '05 and two in '06. they fucking rock live.