A few days ago Jason posted about whether or not it's "sad and pathetic" to drink for the sake of getting drunk. The commenters uniformly came down against that silly notion, so I didn't have a whole lot to ad.

Just to make sure, though, I ran a field test on Saturday night at a party in San Marcos. Four ubershots of Tequila, 11 jello shots (out of syringes, no less!), and 7 plastic cups of Killian beer. Now I can unconditionally say that Jay is right and she is wrong. I have proof, as evidenced by today's hangover leaving me unswayed.

I am a generally thoughtful person. As a writer, I come up with a lot of ideas to write about and, as you'll read below, several times that many to not think about. Even apart from my creativity, though, I have been described affectionately and not-so-affectionately as a very analytical person. When faced with a problem, a percieved problem, or just a possibly percieved problem, my mind goes into overdrive to figure out what I'm going to do. If I meet a girl, I detect our compatibilities and incompatibilities instinctively. When I meet a guy, I do the same (using a different criteria of course) to determine whether or not this person would annoy me with prolonged exposure (My tolerance for people has dipped a little in recent years). If I have a problem with a friend, roommate, or girlfriend, chances are I've run through it a million times before I even bring it up.

I like that about me, though, because it fuels my creativity and helps me avoid problems before they start.

Sometimes, however, I want to turn it off. I want to have a good time without analyzing the people around me. I want to become uninhibited and just talk to people just to talk to them. Can I do that without the alcohol? It depends on my mood. With alcohol, though, it doesn't matter. I'm a happy drunk, so even if I've had a rough day, I can just turn off everything that went wrong and enjoy the moment. Alcohol is Viagra for the spirit. It's not so much (as the Bare Naked Ladies song quoted above puts it) to become someone else as it is to nurture aspects of my personality that get lost in the daily grind.

Besides, scientists agree, binge drinking is a blast.