I swear we don’t always drink when we get together…

On Thursday, my friend, MG, called to see if I wanted to get together that night for dinner or a movie. I already had plans to meet another friend, TS, for happy hour at the BJ’s by my work. She sounded so bummed about my already having plans, so I invited her to join us. She had met TS a few years ago at my Goddaughter’s Baptism, but the three of us have never really hung out. In fact, pretty much all of my friendships are mutually exclusive. The majority of my friends have only heard about others, but they’ve never really hung out together. The only exceptions are my high school friends.

MG and I both arrived before TS and MG asked me when I last hung out with TS, thinking I probably hadn’t seen her in quite a while. The truth was we’d hung out the month before; had spent the afternoon in El Segundo, ate and had a few drinks at Cozymel’s and then watched a movie at the local theatre. We had the same plans scheduled for the Saturday before, but I had to cancel because the pups were sick and we had to clean up the yard, so we were getting together that Sunday. Our plans were still on, but TS had text me on Wednesday asking if I wanted to join her for happy hour.

As I thought about my last outings, in general, I realized they involved two things: drinks and movies.

Thanks to my vip pass, if a movie is playing at my nearby theatre, I’ve seen it. Well, unless it’s The Last Airbender. I just refuse. It’s getting harder to refuse though, as I’m fascinated with Jackson Rathbone and he is, unfortunately, in that movie. :(

Everyone knows I don’t drink often nor as much as I did during my college years, but lately, in the last two months, I’ve had a huge hankering for margaritas. Places I go, things I do, I wonder, can I have a margarita. Do margaritas go well with sushi, I wonder. I sure do hope so.

Before anyone starts to worry, no, I’m not a lush. I’m a social drinker. I don’t like drinking alone, so I don’t. And the most I have is two drinks.

OK, I had four margaritas on Father’s Day at my uncle’s house, but it wasn’t my fault, my cousin kept them coming and I was sitting with my other cousin’s wife, that just so happens to be my age, and my younger not-quite-21-yet cousins. We were talking and laughing and the drinks just fueled it. Plus, he put sugar on the rim of the glasses and I couldn’t stop licking it off. I’ve never had margaritas with sugar rims. They’ve always been salted. And then they brought out the bottle of tequila and he and his mom’s sister’s man took shots and I mocked my cousin that he took the shot too slowly so then I had to show him how it was done.

Four margaritas and a double shot of tequila later and I was feeling no pain. I was also ready for a nap. Yes, it seems drinking puts me to sleep now. Last Sunday, I had one drink at dinner after a double feature and I was falling asleep on the ride home and I did fall asleep as soon as I lay down on the sofa to watch tv and it was only 8pm.

Today, I had to get a Coke at the movies after happy hour lunch at Cozymel’s and I only had 2 margaritas (they put sugar on the rim – yay!!) to make sure I stayed awake. Oddly enough, I didn’t get sleepy on Thursday, though, and I had two drinks that night too. Obviously, my tolerance is not what it used to be. Is that a good or bad thing….

If it makes you feel any better, to show that I don’t always drink when I go out, I didn’t have a single drink at my Goddaughter’s birthday party or at my mom’s birthday dinner. Before you say anything, yes, it is possible to drink at a 5 year old’s birthday party. Just ask my cunada – my cousin & Goddaughter’s mom – she was drunk and so was her husband, heck, they had friends spend the night cuz they were too drunk to drive. Besides, don’t you know we’re Mexican? Any celebration is cause for drinking, even a kids birthday party.

Ooh, I just looked at the time, it’s past my bedtime.

(Finished on Sunday, July 18th @ 11:45pm.)