April 16, 2010

Alright, first bit. I just got done talking to one of my friends whom I met freshman year of college. Great guy, knows alot, and he's in the Marines. Well, later in that year he got deployed to Afghanistan. So, being able to talk to him was relieving. You kind of get in to a rythym of watching the news and just kind of shrugging, but then you realize one of your friends is over there and it's nerve wracking. So needless to say it's great to hear from the guy, he should be back around late May.

Now on to last weekend. We left on our Landscape Architecture field trip to Memphis last Thursday. Let me just start off by saying it was awesome, except for a couple bits. Once we got in we all got settled, did our own things, some of us grabbed dinner, others just walked around downtown. Our hotel was in the perfect location to see almost everything downtown. Eventually me and some others headed to Beale Street, the Bourbon Street of Memphis. We meet some others at this bar and watch this guy play music. It was a good time, then we noticed that some of our friends had some beer so we ordered some, didn't get carded, greatest feeling ever. Anyway, after awhile it was time for karaoke to start in the bar, and at that point I was feeling pretty good. I'm normally a shy guy, but I was down to sing that night for some reason. I sang two songs, did horribly on both but it doesn't matter, we were just having a good time. The "party" kept moving in and out of the bar seeing as you could go on the street with your beer no problem, so we'd go out, and that's when I had my first cigarette, sad I know, but then I had two more later. Eventually I was pretty toasted and ended up dancing around our professor on stage, which was ridiculous because I looked like an idiot, but being drunk I didn't give two shits. Now that I see the video and pictures of it it's kind of funny and only slightly embarrassing. Throughout the course of the night we danced on the street, with homeless people and others in our group interchangeably. I danced with an double amputee in the street at one point. Then we headed back to the hotel, I tried to sleep, couldn't ended up doing a double shot of whiskey and chasing it with chips, other mishaps happened, then I went to bed. More like passed out on the floor.

The next day was pretty good, went to a Landscape Architecture firm, checked out one of their projects, played hacky sack with some friends, then went back to the hotel. Later I took some photos of the sunset while drawing. Here's a panorama:


So later that night everyone was getting ready to go out again. I hadn't started pregaming and figured I better do it soon cause it seemed everyone was almost ready. So I started by taking a drink straight from a bottle of Jack, no chaser, I was fine. Then I did about six double shots of vodka in around 20 to 30 minutes. Also no chaser. Then one more shot of whiskey. This, as you can already imagine, was a really, really bad idea. We headed out, I was already starting to feel it, couldn't walk straight at all. We finally get to Coyote Ugly and I'm flat out drunk at that point, but still functioning. At this point I present my fake I.D. The guy says, "Noooo way!" And I say, "Yea, I know, it's been a long time." He lets me in, we start playing pool. I buy the first round. After about two shots it hits me hard and I am drunk as hell, just plastered. Apparently I dozed off a bit, leaning on my pool cue and drooling. Then I woke up, wiped the drool off my mouth said, "I'm gonna puke" and went to the bathroom. I remember that part, then I tried to puke, apparently I was in there for an hour and a half. Next thing I know a bouncer is pulling me out and pushes me on the street. I look around and begin to kind of freak out because I see no one I know, I'm drunk as hell, and I need to get home. So I start walking, eventually I see someone. It's several of my friends, everyone, from what I barely remember, was asking if I was o.k. Two of them basically carried me home. Then two of our friends, both heading the direction we were coming from, see us and end up helping carry me, seeing as one of the ones helping was a girl much smaller than me. We get about halfway back to the hotel when I have to stop and puke, so I barf in the planter next to us. Then we head back. I just remember one instance where I could feel my feet dragging and my struggling to try and walk. Once we get back my friends take me to their room where I proceed to puke for quite some time, saying a bunch of stupid crap and just being an all around bitch. Eventually I apparently passed out on the tub, then crawled out of the bathroom and slept next to it. I don't remember because I blacked out after the last vomit. Apparently they woke me up at one point to ask me how I was and I mentioned that someone had taken my umbrella and they wouldn't give it back til I gave them 75 bucks. I was talking about my phone, because we found out it had been taken at Coyote Ugly, I eventually got that back for a small fee. But, back to the time frame. I woke up at some point in the morning, I'm thinking before 8, because they woke me up. I puked in the sink, then the toilet, then they took me back to my room where I thought I was going to puke again, didn't then fell asleep for awhile.

I was awoken to a knock, it was a friend telling me to head for the bus. So I got dressed and headed down. At this point I felt pretty alright, that is, until I got on the bus, then the urge to puke hit again. We went to the Memphis Botanic Garden, I had no camera or money cause it was all in my friends room and they had already gone to the bus. So I basically walked around like a zombie, drank water, and felt like I was going to barf again the entire time. After the Botanic Garden we headed to Graceland. The bus ride sucked, I fell asleep but it was shitty sleep. Then we get there, I still feel like I'm going to puke. The shuttle ride to the mansion wasn't bad, but once we got inside I thought I was going to puke everywhere, the smell of 60s and 70s furniture was absolutely nauseating. We get to the last room and I thought I seriously was going to puke, so I headed straight for the door to the outside. I didn't end up puking, thank god, I can't imagine what would have happened. Then I decided I'd look at the rest of the place. Didn't really have any mishaps after that, just felt shitty. Once the tour was over we headed back to the meeting spot where we walked around and looked around for a good deal of time, and I eventually started feeling much better. Not great but better. Once we got back to downtown I went and got my phone from the bouncer. I found that he had texted his girl with it, which kinda pissed me off, but whatever. Then I went and got Ginger Ale and some food, felt much better. That night I just hung out in the hotel, we watched some movies and talked and whatnot. Then the next morning we woke up and headed home.

Overall it was an alright trip other than the getting plastered and feeling like shit for longer than I was even drunk, but whatever, it's those kinds of experiences you learn from. Hope you enjoyed reading about my tomfoolery and utter stupidity.