Ceylon Tea Saves the Day

I think, nope I am positively convinced that I am experiencing the 1st hang-over of my life. This sounds really juvenile and I'll probably delete this entry after a couple of days because of sheer embarrassment that will be filled with, "What was I thinking posting this?" But if you know me I'd rather live a life of oh wells than of what ifs. Shocks, I am still able to put together what seems like comprehensible words, it's amazing. 

My entire body aches! Why is this happening? Even typing hurts. My gulay.

So last night, my high school friends and I threw this surprise birthday party for one of our friends and turned out that she knew all along, still was a fun night though. 

After all the eating is done they moved to the drinking part of the night. Yep. This is the usual routine and I have grown accustomed to it. About a year ago the whole session will go like this: food and then some small talk, then the buying of booze for them and the setting aside of soda for me, and then some heated discussions about anything possible. I swore off alcoholic drinking for a good decade and there is no regret in it. I realized early on that it potentially can make me stupid and do some stupid stuff; not a good thing. After graduating from high school and then seriously getting to know the Lord more, I decided I can forego drinking, after all my father was a roaring drunkard and he was already having my share. It was hard at first, making a stand and all but eventually my friends have come to accept the lifestyle change and we established a routine: booze for them, food and soda for me. Everybody is happy. That was till last year and I once again I have come to a conclusion that if I want to live longer I may have to start drinking, again. This was prompted by one of the research articles we use in my morning part-time job. The material went on to say:

"Research published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found those who did not consume any alcohol appeared to have a higher mortality rate, regardless of whether they were former heavy drinkers or not, than those who drank heavily.

Instead, ‘moderate’ drinking, defined as one to three drinks per day, was associated with the lowest mortality rate, according to Business Insider."

This explained my father's resilience even after his second stroke (but the 3rd one was a different story for another day), going every single day with a drink in hand. There were articles as well that explained how it contributes to better nutrient absorption and other ways of improving your life. And after much pondering I went, "maybe I'm on to something here." I did some research and asked around as well, and I conceded that maybe it's not all that bad. During the New Year's Party with the aforementioned group of friends they were surprised that I was toying with the idea and I explained that perhaps sharing a glass of wine (and wine alone) with them won't be such a bad idea. I tried sharing to them the reason behind the backtracking of the "D is not drinking" policy and I could say that they were not interested at all, they were just pleased that I'll stop looking like the kid in the group that needs to be babysat so she's tagging along and drinking soda while all of the grown ups are getting wasted. We have arrived at a different dynamics. 

Adult drinking is so much better and so validating than illegally-sneaking-around-buying-booze-underage drinking. I guess it's stripped off the rush but meh, that will come with enough glasses of wine in you. 

This solidified my "The Classy Friend" status in the group, 'cause I like wine and poetry and dusty books and a good cup of tea. I'm not complaining, this creates diversity in our group and the conversations are all the more interesting. 

Going back to last night, after they have put away the china and set up the drinks, I was looking at the table and got a bit disappointed because they were drinking beer (not a fan of beer). I was contemplating that maybe this is a good thing, after all I have to get to work at 5 am the next morning and we are running a little late. A tap on the shoulder later and the birthday girl handed me a coffee mug with wine in it. "Kala mo makakatakas ka ah," was what she said. Wine in a coffee mug, it won't get classier than that I thought, "Okay, good a mug will be enough. I can go home after this one." The mug turned out to be an entire bottle just for me. And the night wasted away. 

I went home at 2 am, prepared the dress I'll wear in about 2 hours and washed my face. I forgot to plug in my charger. 

4 hours after that I was woken with a start upon seeing that the sun has already risen. Shocking banana I'm late. I scrambled for my phone and was heartbroken upon seeing that it is completely drained and didn't alarm. I connected the charger and when it had enough energy to be turned on a call came in immediately. My morning manager is frantic and worried, I have never done this before, save that one time when I was so stupid and I spent the night in Los Baños and I was sober. Goodness, the universe is conniving to get to me. Should I stop drinking again?

I came to work 2 hours late and had only 4 students to call. I feel like crap. This is the worst! I tried sleeping it off with the 1 hour break that I have before my day job and nothing happened. I just feel slower and crappier. My body hurts too. No headache though but I definitely feel like throwing up. I look pale and sickly that when one of the admin girls saw me, she put her hands on my forehead for feel up. No fever there, just definitely not enough brain activity to function fully today. 

Sitting down in my chair, I reached for a bag of Ceylon tea and it makes me want to cry. 3 sips of this nectar of the gods and I am slowly feeling like a human being again. My mom packed some sweet potatoes and that contributed too. I really feel bad at the beginning of this post that I was contemplating on taking half the day off. Thank You Lord God for teas! 

So kids, to avoid regretting a night of drinking, remember the following:

1. Keep yourself hydrated. Alcohol metabolizes quickly and it goes directly to your bloodstream, it sucks out all the water in your body, so you really  need to replenish.
2. Eat something while drinking. This is why there is the concept of pulutan, it follows the same principle as mentioned earlier. 
3. Know when to say no. Well to be fair, it's her birthday and it was really all my fault. No one dared me to down that entire bottle and I only have myself to blame.
4. Responsibilities first. I really hate myself right now. 

This has been fruitful.You deserve an award for reading the entire thing.