On the pros and cons of drinking

Wow, almost a month since my last post. Really doesn't feel that long. So what's up?

The other day I was at a friend's birthday party. After a long night of merry-making with ample beer, he discovered a Texas mickey of whisky. Like a sign from heaven it was, as I counted in my head that it was 10 years almost to the day (perhaps the day? I don't remember) since the first and last time I drank whisky from one of those behemoths. I decided to humour my friend and drink his whiskey. He pulled out three glasses for those who were partaking and proceeded to make us rye and Cokes. Don't get me wrong, I love rye and Coke, but this was the end of a birthday party and the implication was that we would be having WHISKY, not Coke. Drink it straight, like a man.¹ Of course, to rectify this, I quickly finished my rye and Coke to replace it with a full glass of the pure stuff.

So this goes on until 4:00 am. The next morning, my wife and I have to get up for the company golf day. Once there, I realize that not only am I really tired, I'm still quite drunk. Man, that little ball is hard to see, let alone hit.

After that, we went back to visit my wife's family in Kingston. Her house is right next to the university and really close to the street where they have that big street party for homecoming. Apparently, the school and the city are sick of having to deal with the illegal party so they cancelled homecoming but the party continues. We went to check it out, what with the big ruckus and police presence and all. There were hundreds of police with riot gear and horses and paddy wagons to control the drunk students that showed up to party.

Because trying to intimidate drunk teenagers is such a great idea.

Also a great idea: pushing to the ground and arresting a non-drunk, non-partying ~48 year old alumnus who was watching the event from the sidewalk across the street because he didn't clear out quickly enough when police told a group of standers by to clear the sidewalk. "Quickly enough" being 2 seconds.

Because the best way to disperse a drunken teenage party is to arrest an old guy who isn't part of it.

I'm not much of a partier (my friend's birthday being a rare exception) and I'm kind of meh on the idea of out of control street bashes, so I wouldn't mind the elimination of this unsanctioned event. But these certainly aren't the strategies and tactics I'd use. It'll probably work in the long run, as the party is gradually replaced with police confrontations, but for a generation of kids (and one old guy), opinions of police are probably worse than they need to be.

¹Incidentally, in residence I was given a nickname: King "Chasers are for white people" Aardvark. It was based on a supposed quote that I never actually said. And I'm half white anyway.