Poker Night

All day I've had this underlying feeling of very slight nausea. Hmmmm. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that I had a wee bit too much to drink last night.

OH YES!

Twas the inaugural poker night with my friends from work. The variation was Texas Hold 'Em, the stakes were $5/player. Yes, we were living life on the edge. The talent was diverse (and I shall anonymize here to protect everyone - plus nicknames are fun!):

a. Leeds - experienced, plays online, silent, very methodical, very particular about the lingo
b. Aqua - experienced, likes to talk, likes to stay in the game
c. Yoga - novice, professes that bluffing is cheating, wants to win all the money
d. Curatrix - er, that would be me, novice, likes to talk the talk but really can't walk the walk

It all started out relatively well. We had a set of practice rounds and then, the game began in earnest. Out came the money, out came the Bombay Sapphire and the tonic. Into Yoga's large water glasses, no ice, mix your own, pick your strength.

------
Things I learned:

1. It's probably best not to mix your own drink especially when you've got no real idea of the proportions the ingredients should be mixed in.

2. Gin and tonic with no ice hits you WAY faster than the stuff with it because, SURPRISE, SURPRISE, the ice dilutes the drink.

3. Bachelors have no ice in their freezers.

So, one or two (or maybe three or four) drinks later, the world is a rosy place, the card game gets way more interesting (Aqua ends up winning) and I swiftly run into the next lesson:

4. The line between just a bit tipsy and drunk is a fine one.

Whoa! I am NOT driving home tonight. Please don't even let me get near my car.

5. Good place to drink: a friend's house or your home. Getting loopy in private and in the company of people that you trust and like and can still look in the eye the next time you see them is preferable to having this happen in public.

Let's just say that I got home by cab and in the company of Aqua and Yoga, who then returned to their respective homes. Drinking does tend to cement a friendship. God bless them.

6. Try to remember to remove contact lenses before going to sleep. Peeling them off your eyeballs at 3:30 in the morning is sub-optimal.

7. If you're up at 3:30 am removing glued-on contacts, it's a great idea to drink a nice big glass of water and a couple of Tylenols to ward off the headache from hell in the morning.

--------

I woke up this morning in considerably better shape than I thought I would be in. Yes, that slightly nauseous feeling remained but at least there wasn't a jackhammer pounding in my brain. And I did get in a 6 mi run this afternoon, albeit at a slower pace than usual, and it felt good.

I knew my German alcohol dehydrogenase genes would come in handy someday. (Yes, I am such a geek.)