Not As I Imagined

Alcohol

Citation: Spud. "Not As I Imagined: An Experience with Alcohol (exp39603)". Erowid.org . Mar 28, 2008. erowid.org/exp/39603

BODY WEIGHT: 180 lb

The report I am writing is explaining about my first time ever drinking a real amount of alcohol (all other times were simple sips). I was in the middle of high school when this experience happened, so I am probably quite a 'lightweight' to most of you guys. I have never touched tobacco or cannabis.The last time I tried to drink alcohol, all of my friends got really drunk, and I was busy dealing with them. By the end of the night, I never got a chance to drink. I sure learned a lot that night though, mainly that you need to be careful about how much alcohol someone around you consumes (two of my friends probably got alcohol poisoning that night).So for my first time, I was careful to make sure the enviroment around me was safe and easy to interact with. I knew that I was going to use the computer and my Xbox, so I made sure both were up and running before I would consume any alcohol. My mom was going to bed early due to work she had the next day, and so I designed my preparations around not waking her up mainly. At the time of writing this, I can be pretty proud about the preparations I took, and it led to no complications. Planning ahead definitely has its benefits.I had my 'plan' all thought out days before, and it was only a couple of hours before I would start drinking. All I needed to do was wait for my mom to go to bed, and I would be off drinking. However, I had one problem with a cold that I had for quite a long time. I started coughing a lot, so decided I needed to take some sort of cough medicine. I had Dayquil and Nyquil, and at the time it was 9:30 pm. I knew I'd be up till around 3 am, but for some reason I thought that Dayquil would keep me up all night. I knew that Nyquil is a powerful drug, and it will combine with the alcohol to do some negative effects, but I chose to take it anyway. It was in my stomach for around one and a half hours before I started to drink, and I was starting to get really tired. This effect eventually went away. I think Nyquil might have had a big effect on my body that night, but I am no expert, so I don't know for sure.Right before my mom went to bed, I actually had a lengthy conversation with my mom about alcohol, and I eventually realized I didn't need to be so secretive about it. I still decided to stick with the plan of her not knowing, but now I know if I get caught it won't be as big of a deal. My mom went to bed, I waited about 20 minutes, and then the 'show' began.The first thing I decided to drink was all of the whiskey I had on me, and I mixed it into orange juice. I honestly think I didn't have enough to even get a 'buzz,' so I chugged the whole orange juice/whiskey combo while holding my nose. It was 11:00 pm when I did this. I played one game of Halo 2 online that lasted around 10 minutes, and then I went down stairs to chat on my computer. It was after about 2 minutes of chatting that the effects really hit me, I mean, I never expected the effects to hit me so fast like that. I drank this strong old red wine that my mom had, and then I went back upstairs.I was totally new to alcohol, so the effects surprised me. The world around me wasn't a blur at all like I thought it would be, but I felt really dizzy. The only way I could compare it to is when you are one of those spinning rides in a theme park, and you can feel the G-forces weighing down on your body. The only difference was that I could move my body much more, and the feeling didn't make me feel bad at all. I had fun just moving my head side to side, because it just felt cool moving my head. I also noticed that walking felt really weird, I kept stumbling and had to keep holding onto walls in order to walk. Tastes in my mouth also felt really numb, and I fear that most people that are drunk can start drinking a lot of hard alcohol without feeling the taste.I knew I needed to try out the 'social' aspects of drinking, so I started talking to my friends on Xbox Live while playing Halo 2. I am usually pretty timid, but I noticed that I kept talking almost nonstop. I knew it was also the typical slurred speech you get from drunks, and I kept trying to make my speech intelligent, but I always failed. Alcohol basically screwed up my speech, but I could still think fairly good. I could see that my inhibitions were lowered, and it didn't really bother me at all.At around 2 am, I knew I was coming down. One of the odd things about alcohol is that the effects come in waves, in which I feel the effects greatly, and then it goes down to an almost sober feeling, and then back up again. I was in a continued state of feeling the lower 'sober' feeling, so I knew that I was coming down. It was at this point that I recognized the true danger of alcohol. I felt very tempted to go and drink more in order to get the higher 'feeling' that I had, but I knew I shouldn't. The next day, I felt like getting drunk again, and that really scared me. I had no hangover though. I can see why this is a drug that requires A LOT of respect, because it is so easy to abuse.