Are you "that" friend?

Hello All,

Following a recent night out with some girl-friends it dawned on me that I was “that” friend. You know the one.... Unable to handle her drink as well as everyone else. Unable to identify the round at which you have a coca cola and not another beer. The one that wants to go on to the next bar/club, as opposed to go home, despite it being really late. The one who, once inebriated, forgets about her actual life and imagines she is living in a movie where she is young, slim, beautiful and, of course, the worlds greatest dancer. Secretly she knows she has got the moves – she's Baby Housemann from Dirty Dancing, she's SJP's character in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (can't remember what she was called..). Everyone in the room is sitting there thinking, wow, I've never seen choreography like it, she's amazing....er, ahem.... Have I said too much?

Anyway, in some people's eyes “that” friend is, to be frank a bit of a pain and a liability I expect. I wouldn't know of course – because, it's me.

So, the question is, should I try and change from being “that” friend? I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to, because its basically down to the fact that as much as I love it, my body is intolerant to alcohol. It floods my system quickly and poisons me for days after, my brain then blocks this out, just in time for the following weekend/outing with the girls. So, I'm doomed anyway.

I'm relatively lucky that most of my friends don't seem to mind me playing this role, well, they've never moaned about it to my face anyway. I'm also lucky in the fact that my other half is, I suspect “that” friend too. He's completely blasé about being a nightmare on a night out, absolutely no shame and I find that really liberating. Plus we've had some great nights in and out together. Having a few beers, doing the leg dance* and turning any board game or xbox game you can think of, into a drinking game, until the silly hours of the morning.

The up-side of being “that” friend for me is that I'm always willing to squeeze all the possible good time out of a night out, have a laugh, get up on the dance floor and stop for a burger on the way home. Generally speaking I'm not unpleasant when drunk, I laugh too much, I dance like a complete spack and then go home and pass out. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've argued after a night out. But I did once snog a cab driver (many many many years ago) – which is pretty unforgivable...

I still can't say with any conviction that I'd rather be the person who has a coke on the 6^th round, remembers the whole night with clarity and wakes up feeling absolutely fine the next day. For me that would be a crap night out. Who's with me brothers and sisters???!!!!

(*copyright Daz)