Dehydrated

I woke up this morning feeling the effects of last-night's festivities. Gibson's Finest and I danced all night -- and he nearly won. Actually, I would call it a draw since the room was spinning and I was feeling all sorts of queasiness all night. Gibson's ensured that I would be doing very little sleeping and a lot of restlessness. I have managed to avoid a headache, but I really don't feel like eating, nor drinking anything.

Contrary to popular belief, I have been trying to cut down on my alcohol consumption. Since my College days, and the better part of my adult life, alcohol has been one of the four food groups for me. I have had at least one drink per day for the better part of ten years. In the last few weeks, I have been monitoring my drinking, and trying to effectively cut it in half. That is to say, only drink about three times per week, rather than seven.

So far, the experiment has been successful. My body hasn't displayed the effects of detoxification (and withdrawal symptoms) as I had expected. In fact, I believe I am sleeping better, and I tend to have more energy during the day.

My choices have been over matters of physical and mental health, as well as budgetary. My health issues surrounding my kidney stone this past winter has more than likely been solely due to the fact that I have been dehydrated the past ten years. The specialist recommended that I drink lots of fluids in order to avoid developing another stone. Sure, I have consumed a lot of fluids in this time -- just all the wrong kinds. If you care to read about the stone's wrath, entries can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Sometimes, you just gotta let loose and go on a good bender -- just like I did last night. A few friends and I gathered for some food, drink, and a game of Risk. The Risk board only comes out of the closet about once a year, but when it does, you know that there will be at least six hours of hard-core gaming (not to mention, drinking) until there is only one player left on the board.

By 2:00AM, three colors remained on the board, and yours truly was fighting a battle to stay in the game. I could not keep a continent no matter what I tried, and there was a period where I only held three countries, taking my turns to only build arms, and hopefully gain one territory, so that I could have enough cards to turn in a set. I managed to do so, and in one turn I was able to claim the South American continent. It did, however, leave my defenses prone to counter-attack.

By 2:30AM, we were all exhausted, and I conceded defeat. The remaining two players discussed strategy between one another, and agreed that a clear victor was apparent, and the game would be over in one or two turns.

Feeling the way I am today, I am glad that we don't play Risk that often. My body just can't take that kind of abuse.