In 3 weeks I'll be drunk!

Yay

:P

coincidence? i think NOT! :D

Now THAT is some tolerance level!!!

I spent several years of my life in heavy drinking; my whole Navy career, in fact, and a few years after I got out. I wasn't an alcoholic but was classified as an "alcohol abuser."

I guess it's a rite of passage for young adults to spend a lot of time drunk. I'm 35 now, and my drinking is down to maybe a beer a month.

This is my favorite drunk story.

I served aboard USS Blue Ridge, which is forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. After the Gulf war (we were one of the first ships to arrive prior to Desert Shield and the last to leave at the end of Desert Storm). I spent lots of time in the nightclub district of Roppongi. Since the trains stop running at midnight, going out is an all-night commitment.

Most of the discos charge about $35 to get in. Usually there's an open bar, or you'll get tickets for drinks.

A popular spot was the Lexington Queen. It was the nightclub of choice for American celebrities visiting Japan. Plus, models got in for free. So, it was pretty exclusive. One night, the bouncer let me in, which was a surprise. That night, the band "Faith No More" were there, along with some actors from a movie called "Mobsters."

So, I spent the night dancing and drinking until...I came to sleeping on the stairs of a subway entrance. I didn't remember how I got there.

About an hour later the subway stationed opened, and I headed back to Yokosuka. Just one small problem:

I couldn't see anything.

I had left my glasses at the Lexington Queen!

This was a horrible turn of events. Since I didn't read Japanese, I had to be awake as each train station was announced. That would be the only way I could get back to Yokosuka. But I kept passing out. It was a short subway ride from Roppongi to the larger train station at Shinigawa. The ride from Shinigawa to Yokosuka was about an hour.

So, I sat there, going in and out of consciousness, but I did make it back to Yokosuka. And I vowed never to drink again. That lasted about a day.

My whole Navy career can almost be summed up by all the places around the world I've been drunk at. I have no photographs of all of these port calls, but I can tell you what I paid for beer in different countries. Cheapest beer: Subic Bay, Philippines: .50 a bottle. Most expensive: Japan, $5.00 - $7.00 for a can of Budweiser. A normal can.