Summary: Know your limits and know yourself. If you get too fucked up, you lose all control.

Body: I was having a get together last weekend with a few friends and their gfs, my wife, and a few of her friends. We were having drinks and everything was just generally good. One of my buddies tends to drink way too much too fast, and in the past I'd go shot for shot with him getting shitfaced before 11:00pm.

Lately, I've been more focused on health and generally wanted to drink and have fun, not get wasted. Maybe I'm getting older, but drinking until you get trashed doesn't appeal to me anymore. I told my friend this, but if he wanted to get fucked up, then so be it. He is always welcome to crash on my couch.

As the night went on, he and one other guy just kept pounding shots of tequila. I had about 4 or 5 beers, so I had a nice buzz but nothing more. Enough alcohol to be loose but not enough to hinder my performance. What bothered me the most was how much of an ass he looked like, and more importantly how I used to be this person

Everyone in the room had to take care of him, help him to bed, make sure he didn't puke in his sleep. He essentially became a child we all had to pitch in and help. I noticed the women instantly turned off by his behavior. I'll state, that if you get too drunk once and a while, I wont fault you, but as I stated above, I used to be like my buddy.

I used to get so fucked up that I'd do things and not even remember them. It got really bad, and I realized I had a problem. I dont want to be someone else's burden, and I dont want to have to rely on others to know where the fucking bathroom is. When I was single, I'd be so wasted/baked that I couldn't talk to a woman, even if I wanted to. I had a problem, and I took the necessary steps to fix it.

In keeping somewhat sober, I was able to command the room that night. I had people laughing, cracking jokes at everyone, and was just kind of in the center of all the social interaction, rather than rambling drunken bullshit that no one wanted to hear.

Lesson Learned: Know your limits, and realize that if you're the drunken idiot, then it really casts you in a bad light. Alcohol can be a great social tool, but it can make you in to a man-baby also.