Those drunken antics were not mine

Last night, In what felt like one of the braver moves of my thirties, I went to a bar in town with a friend to see a gig. The act of bravery wasn't going to see the band ,who turned out to be pretty damn good, but the fact that I was out in a late bar surrounded by the hammered and disheveled of Waterford and I was sober as a newt sipping from a glass of water. Yes, I know and this is a true story even if my college friends would not recognize me now.

  I did feel the odd pang of regret for my last drunken night in that same bar when I parted ways with my iphone 5 but it only strengthened my resolve to persevere with this mini alcohol free holiday. Now, I don't have a whole lot of practice being in a pub sober, it is not my favorite activity by far but it certainly was an interesting experiment as these things go. The music was pretty damn good so I did surprise myself by having a good night but there was more than one moment when I'd catch sight of someone and hope to God (or some other deity) that I don't look like that after a few glasses of wine. 

 On my little sober adventure I learned many things. 1- However classy you think you look on a hen party, you are mistaken and yes this is meant for the twenty women in minnie mouse costumes who stormed into the pub mid gig and proceeded to dance around a giant inflatable penis while making some of the most unattractive faces I have ever seen.

 2-If you think you are dancing sexily while drunk, giving it your all on the dance floor, then chances are you are mistaken. Judging from what I witnessed  (while I inwardly cringed thinking my drunken dancing probably wasn't much better) there was a whole lot of moves going on and none of them were remotely seductive. 

 3- Maybe some inhibitions are best found. I think a lot of what most people enjoy about being drunk is the buzz but also that sense of freedom or bravery you get to be a person you would never dare to be sober. Now maybe that seems sort of awesome when you are have remembering snatches of the night before through the haze of alcohol but chances are it isn't as great as you've been telling yourself. I have had flashbacks of Drunken Laura that make me cringe more than a little. Retrospect and that voice in my head tell me I wasn't half as sexy or as funny as I chose to believe.

 4- Drunk people are not half as funny as they think or maybe there's a special sort of humor that only drunk people can appreciate because honestly while I have been known to laugh at drunk people (sorry !) I can't say that I'm usually laughing with them. There was couple last night who were dancing so terribly that I can only assume it was ironically but they did pause mid song to invite me to dance with them which made me laugh quite a lot. 

 I know when the fear of the fear has passed, some social occasion will tempt me to pick up a glass again that I can keep my head about me because a lot of what I saw from my bar stool had the haunting air of being a glimpse of Drunk Laura past and it was less than delightful. Who knows perhaps sober Laura will be my new social persona. Only time will tell 

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