The Five Levels Of Drinking

The 5 Levels of Drinking


Level 1:


It's 11:00 on a weeknight, you've had a few beers. You get up to leave because you have


work the next day and one of your friends buys another round. One of your unemployed


friends. Here at level I you think to yourself, "Oh come on, this is silly. Why, as long as I


get seven hours of sleep (snap fingers), I'm cool."


Level 2:


It's midnight. You've had a few more beers. You've just spent 20 minutes arguing against


artificial tuff. You get up to leave again, but at level


2, a little devil appears on your shoulder. And now you're thinking, "Hey! I'm out with


my friends! What am I working for anyway? These are the good times! Besides, as long


as I get five hours sleep (snaps fingers), I'm


COOl."


Level 3:


One in the morning. You've abandoned beer for tequila. You've just spent 20 minutes


arguing for artificial tuff. And now you're thinking, "Our waitress is the most beautiful


woman I've ever seen!" At level 3, you love the world. On the way to the bathroom you


buy a drink for the stranger at the end of the bar just because you like his face. You get


drinking fantasies (like, "Hey fellas, if we bought our own bar, we could live together


forever. We could do it. Tommy, you could cook.") But at level 3, that devil is a little bit


bigger.., and he's buying. And you're thinking


"Oh, come on, come on now. As long as I get three hours sleep.., and a complete change


of blood (snaps fingers), I'm cool."


Level 4:


Two in the morning. And the devil is bartending. For last call, you ordered a bottle of


rum and a Coke. You are artificial tutti. This time on your way to the bathroom, you


punch the stranger at the end of the bar just because you don't like his face! And now


you're thinking, "Our busboy is the best looking man I've ever seen." You and your


friends decide to leave, right after you get thrown out, and one of you knows an at, er


hours bar. And here, at level 4, you actually think to yourself, "Well .... as long as I'm


only going to get a few hours sleep anyway, I may as well .... stay up all night!!!! Yeah!


That'd be good for me. I don't mind going to that board meeting looking like Keith


Richards. Yeah, I'll turn that around, make it work for me. And besides, as long as I get


31 hours sleep tomorrow ................... cool.


Level 5:


Five in the morning, alter unsuccessfully trying to get your money back at the tattoo


parlor ("But I don't even know anybody named Ruby!!!"), you and your friends wind up


across the state line in a bar with guys who have been in prison as recently as that


morning. It's the kind of place where even the devil is going, "Uh, I gotta turn in. I gotta


be in Hell at nine.I've got that brunch with Hitler, I can't miss that." At this point,


you're ail drinking some kind of thick blue liquor, like something from a Klingon


wedding. A waitress with fresh stitches comes over, and you think to yourself, "Someday


I'm gonna marry that girlt!" One of your friends stands up and screams, "We're drivin' to


floridaf Y!!!"- and passes out.


You crawl outside for air, and then you hit the worst part of level 5 -


the sun. You weren't expecting that were you? You never do. You walk out ora bar in


daylight, and you see people on their way to work, or jogging. And they look at you-and


they know. And they say... "Who's Ruby?" Let's be honest, if you're 19 and you stay up


ail night, it's like a victory, like you've beat the night.., but if you're over 27, then that sun


is like


God's flashlight. We all say the same prayer then, "I swear, I will never


do this again (how long?) as long as I live!" And some of us have that


little addition, "and this time, I mean it!"