Undermining the dragon's layer of impunity
Make it one for my baby, and one more for the road...
Inebriation is an interesting phenomenon.
Lastnight I put in an appearance at yet another 18th birthday party. Unlike the previous non-boozey get-down, the turps was freely flowing left, right, and left-of-centre. And thus, so it was, Binnsy proceeded to become utterly and unconsequently hammered. (NB: The word 'unconsequently' was incorrectly used in the prior sentence, but I don't really give a damn. Come to think of it, I don't even think 'unconsequently' is a word.)
Now, I remember a fair bit of lastnight, which is quite remarkable given the earth-shattering nature of the headache I had when I was awoken at approximately 6:15 this morning. It's interesting: I remember the parts I wanted to remember, the events I told myself I would be able to recall. Other occurrences infuriatingly elude me; they take the form mainly of fragments of audio and visuals, like a postmodernist adaptation of a Scandinavian adult arthouse flick.
This morning was an interesting experience. I awoke, as aforementioned, at around 6:15am. A bunch of us stayed the night at the birthday person's house (in the stables, in fact), in order to avoid being upfront drunk when our folks came to pick us up. I attempt to justify this by saying that I wouldn't want to make my folks pick me up at around 11pm when they would be either in bed or almost reaching the climactic final scenes of A Touch of Frost. But the real reason still ends up being that I was avoiding appearing openly inebriated in front of my non-drinking elders. So when we woke up, we basically sat around the embers of the fire-in-a-barrel, vaguely nodding acknowledgement as each of us rose from a patchy slumber. Some just couldn't handle it and slept where they sat this morning. Some awoke to find themselves in quite odd positions, such as resting their head next to the rear tyre of a Ford F250. Some, like myself, hardly slept, then wandered vacantly to the fire, awaiting the arrival of coffee or food: either would have been good.
On the whole, an enlightening evening. The first time I got drunk was probably New Year's this year. That was a little over the top, given my technicolour yodel onto the sand under the pier - not a good thing to have a crystal clear memory of. This time I was a little more under control, and thankfully kept the booze down.
But what is it that makes countless people go back to do it every weekend? Even though they know that Sunday morning will be hell. Like I said: Inebriation - a wide, varied, diverse, questionable yet not-on-the-whole-unpleasant experience.
Doctor Who, Episode 2: The End of the World
In my semi-aware state this morning (late morning, and back home, so most of the shadiness had worn off, thank Christ), I watched the second episode of Doctor Who, that I taped from lastnight.
It never ceases to amaze me how modern TV screenwriters want to tap into peoples' emotions. It further amazes me when such psychological archaeology actually works. Doctor Who cried! (Crowd: Aaawwwww.) Russell T. Davies has done an awesome job in giving this Doctor an edge that many of the previous ones lacked. As much of a devotee to traditionalism as I am, it's good to see a TV icon like the Doctor tailored to a more emotionally receptive 21st-century audience.
This episode was a good blend of a linear yet heavily-embellished story thread, with a good rounding-off at the end. Rose and the Doctor's relationship got good mileage, and was extrapolated well. That priceless British humour came through brilliantly, and Christopher Eccleston delivers the one-liners with metronomic timing. This episode was also very poignant and brought across the harsh reality of the world in which the Doctor lives, and it was good to see Rose again given the choice to back out. In the older episodes it seemed unrealistic that a bimbo earthling would blindly follow an alien into intergalactic warzones, but here we clearly see that Rose is given a choice, and is aware of the dangers when she makes her decision.
An awesome episode - can't wait for next week!
Until next time...
