The Importance of Being Earnestly Drunk

I like to drink.  Particularly, I like to drink to excess.  I enjoy being drunk.  I am a happy drunk and for me, nothing is better than sharing a few (too many) drinks with good friends and reveling in the laughter and careless conversation that ensues.

I once read that people from northern climes tend to binge drink more than their more southerly located counterparts.  Being from Canada, I suppose I qualify for northern locale group and it seems to fit.  I have never been one to have just a single drink and be content.  I don't drink wine with dinner (because I don't like the way it makes my food taste) and I will only rarely sit and have a drink with a friend if it's only going to be one drink.  I would rather forego the alcohol altogether and have a diet Coke instead.  If I'm going to drink, then it's got to have purpose, which is, namely, becoming inebriated.

I am also very much a social drinker so I prefer to be drunk with other like-minded indiviuals.  Thus, good drinking buddies are very important for me to have around.  It is, in fact, not so much the drinking that I savour as much as the merriment that comes with it.  I have found, over the years, that nothing serves me better than a good drunk with friends.  Laughter increases seratonin levels and, subsequently, improves my mood not only for that night but for days to follow.  It always amazes me how a single night of debauchery can simultaneously reduce my stress levels and put me in a better mood for an indefinite but decidedly longer period of time afterwards.

Unfortunately, I don't have very many drinking buddies and most of the ones I do have do not live close to me.  As a result, I don't get to drink earnestly very often.  Perhaps this is a good thing, though, - other than for the obvious inherant health risks - as the relative rarity of the occasions makes me so much more appreciative of them when they do occur.