Getting to know Alcohol: the Irish way

Warning

If you're not careful Alcohol can make you feel isolated and completely aware of yourself. It can create an 'Outside looking in and not impressed' feeling. An awareness of your flaws and your secrets. Alcohol can secretly suppress your compassion and innocence while exposing your putridity and desperation. A retreat into self sloth-ery and glutton which results in heavy sleep and late night food.

The blackout: When too much alcohol casts you away into a darkness that doesn't record time or judge behaviours. A darkness that flickers with colours and alternate images. Pillowed with emotions but safe from tactile memory. What you don't touch or breath isn't remembered. What you hate is never forgotten.

Drinking makes time feel better.
We live in a society completely functioning on a structure of time. Time is so present that we can actually feel it in the tactile sense. Drinking changes the feeling of time. Society even uses time to get us to drink by making certain times feel better in relation to alcohol. Time before spent waiting in anticipation and excitement to enjoy it. Time after, reminiscing with a grain of salt about it. It tells you that the time spent behaving and being productive justifies time spent escaping and being destructive. Time worked allows for time indulged. It reminds you that at this certain time according to your calendar it's socially acceptable to do it. In fact many times are the right time to drink. Time of celebration. Time of reward. Time of promotion. Time of love. Time of companionship. Time of misery. Time of stress. Time of sun. Time of ski. Time of beach. Time of St. Patrick. Time of long weekend. Time of discussion. Time of business. Thursday Time. Time of killing time.

It wasn't me it was 'drunk me'
Most of all it controls us by making us act out of our character; or at least, what we would call our character. It actually takes over our body and 'changes' us. It makes us 'different' by our own definition. Thus, it creates a relationship, or a dichotomy. A sense of more than one. A 'Me' And a 'me when I'm drunk'. We create a relationship, a hierarchy between 'me' and 'drunk me'. A hierarchy of who is better at what and in what situation. the relationship between self and 'drunk self' is a micro chasm of society. The relationship explains why we segregate, specialize and judge each other in society.

'Drunk me' is the fun blue collar worker that enjoys life but has made some wrong decisions. 'Sober me' is the tight ass white collar that is getting back at drunk me for insulting it in high school. The 'sober me' is 'drunk me's' boss and when a problem at the company arises, blue collar gets the blame. Who made what poor decision? that wasn't my fault, that was 'drunk me'. I never should have let him out that day. I can't control him.

We always give 'sober me' the excuse of innocence. The lesser of the two evils. The sober self gets mad at the drunk self, but the drunk self doesn't get mad at the sober self. He would rather go for a beer. With the dichotomy of drunk and sober there becomes potential, as with anything is society where there's more than one, for a blame game. Or rather, that wasn't 'me', that was 'drunk me'. People with drinking problems blame either a weakness in their ability not to drink, or on a 'drunk me' that is uncontrollable and is separate from them. "'Drunk me' isn't 'me'. In fact, we have completely different opinions on what is right and wrong. I should not be blamed for the behaviours of drunk me. The real me is a good person."

Why 'drunk me' then?
The 'sober me' is in constant pursuit of a 'better me'; whatever that may be. However due to the impatiences of human nature 'Sober me' realizes that 'Drunk me' does feel good, even though it is an easy quick 'better'. Plus it gives us a good night sleep. And isn't that what life is all about. Life and death; the ultimate dichotomy. Sleep is the closest thing to death, and we love sleep. Yet we fear death. We say, "I hope death isn't like sleep because after a while I would get pretty sick of it", but I don't think I have ever interrupted a dream with requests of returning to reality. In fact, I have done much the opposite.