Drinking: am I abnormal?
 

So I went to a party tonight. I get there 8ish and start off with rum and cokes. Over the course of the next 2 hours, I did a couple shots of tequila (some really good stuff, don't remember the 'model' - it was Jose Cuervo brand). Then a shot of "Red Rum", a shot of J&B followed by a "Highlander" (J&B & Ginger Ale). I had a drink in my hand the entire time.

Someone had brought a breathalizer; neat idea! About 10:30, we're trying it out just for fun. Everyone else was blowing in the range of .11 - .19 - I blow a .05. Thinking it was a fluke, we did it again - .04. @ 11:00, I did it again, although I finished the drink I had and then no more - .02. Everyone else was the same or higher, as evidenced by the fact that they were stripping their clothes off and getting in the hot tub. I ate a decent dinner (for a bachelor, anyway) and had a quad mocha before I got to the party - not sure if that had anything to do with it. I was snacking on cheese and crackers most of the night, too. I'm 6'2", 235lbs.

As an aside, there's this chick from the office I've been working on for a while not. The good - I got to see her naked; the 'bad' - I didn't get much (note I didn't say 'any'...) play. Nice abs though.

Men process alcohol more efficiently than women (faster metabolism). Other key factors are what you have eaten and your bodymass.
I have a personal theory that your mood influences how fast or slowly you get drunk but this would not be measured on a breathalyser.
If I remember rightly one metabolises one measure of alcohol an hour, so depending on the size of the shots you were drinking your reading would be about right.

A lot of this depends on how much alcohol dehydrogenase your liver makes. It varies greatly from person to person. Also, people who drink regularly (not necessarily heavily) will have rapid induction of enzymes that break down EtOH and it will clear from the bloodstream more quickly.

Young alcoholics metabolize alcohol very rapidly. Later, when the liver begins to fail the alcohol clearance time may triple.

When I was in college, I could have five or six drinks and be pretty sober in a couple hours. I don't drink heavily any more so now I'm a lightweight. I have no desire to resume "liver training" exercises!

Also, remember that breathalyser equipment (even the stuff law enforcement uses) is terrifically innaccurate.

Thom, don't get me wrong. I am interested in your alcohol consumption and absorption question but tell us more about the girl.:D

Probably the fact that you had a good dinner before and time to digest it, then some moderate drinking. Rum is only @80 proof and depends on what 'flavor of Tequila' may have only been 80 proof. Ditto on the JB.

I'm almost your height /weight and I can 'drink' !! My poison is Wild Turkey 101 (101 proof). When I want to go 'upscale' I opt for Bookers @ 127 proof bourbon. Man that stuff is very smooth but it will sneak up on you!!

Re: Drinking: am I abnormal?
 

Pics?

O.k., Thom, you've got a leg up on me. There is not a single woman in my office that I would want to see naked. Not one. Ever. No matter how much I had to drink.

Historically, my metabolism has been light lighning. I've never been able to drink others under the table, but regardless of how much I have drank, I'd be sober with a headache in two hours. Or less. Now that I'm 47, things don't work like they used to, but I still have no trouble maintaining my 165-lb weight (I'm 5'9") on a steady diet of mixed nuts (we keep tubs of the stuff at work) Big Mac's and Breyers ice cream. I eat everything I see.

She's about 6'2", slender, athletic, lightly but perkily racked, dirty blonde hair (and aparently that's her true hair color :) ), and she knows perl better than I do. However, it looks like I've been put on the 'friends' ladder

I'm kicking my own ass for not taking the digicam to the party.

Pictures?

Thom, If you really want to get off the friend ladder it can be done. It's not really fair play, but it works.

Enlighten me, oh wise one...

This doesn't involve date rape drugs or anything, does it?

Nah, just a certain amount of shameless indignity.

For several days at work keep to yourself. Act sullen, moody. Withdraw. Be terribly sad and pitiful. Make sure she notices. When you find yourself alone with her, put your head in your hands as if the emotional strain is almost too much to bear. Letting your eyes tear up a little is a great touch, but generally reserved for masters.

When she asks you what is wrong (and she will, she's a woman), tell her that the lost stray kitten you nursed back to health has disappeared and you fear the worst. You can substitute "small bird fallen from nest" or any other warm blooded animal as long as it is cute and helpless.

You are now off the "friends ladder" and find yourself in the exalted and rare category of "sensitive man who is not gay". There is no higher station in the heterosexual marketplace. None.

In a short time she will be posing with your car parts on e-Bay. Guaranteed.

1. there is no such thing as normal

2. drinking isn't really the problem for an alcoholic, the alcoholic is the alcoholic's problem...the drinking justs helps him to get away from himself for a while

3. for God's sake, don't you dare even try to bang a girl at work, unless the following apply to you:

a. you don't care about losing your job

b. you don't mind getting sued

c. you don't mind feeling uncomfortable at work, to the point of having to hide and scout corners while there

d. possibly all of the above

4. if you think you can't fit exhibits 3a-3d into your life, then don't do it...there's a reason for the expression "don't fish off the company pier"


And for the rest of you guys, don't encourage this kind of behavior...

The Ladder Theory. That's a friggin' classic! :cool:

I'm thinking that since they're all nekkid in the hot tub together that the normal rules may not apply. Just a guess. ;)

Sheesh! I wasn't going to bang here at work; maybe my place, hers, in the back of my VW bus...

This is a large company, with probably 4k people at our site, and while we work in the same building, we're not in the same department.

Classic! :D :D :D :D :D

Umm, a female, educated, athletic, and possibly willing to "bang" in the back of a guy's VW bus. So what details are you leaving out? Hell you might be a real Casanova Thom (with tin foil hat :) ) but any girl willing to bang a guy in a VW bus who's still not in Jr. High, well, there's more there than meets the eye. Oh wait, she can program w/Perl, that explains alot. Good luck on that. ;) I'm with Jeff, the only attractive girls I've seen on the job were the sales/marketing temps hired at Java One.

fishing off the company pier is a recipe for disaster!