[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] The Eve...

Ahh... Champagne.

You know, drinking champagne is like swallowing a really good book written in braille. Some people say it's like drinking stars, but those people are morons. To me, a guy who's plowed down his fair share of bubbly, it's like drinking freshly printed braille where the edges are crisp and the story is good.

Unfortunately, I think as a result of all those bubbles, champagne seems to only go straight up once it crosses my lips. It doesn't go down any pipes and plumbing to get worked into my system. Nope. It just goes straight up into my brain to deposit enough alcohol to bend the bloody hell out of my world and pretty much guarantee that I am going to wake up the next morning with what feels like a red-hot screwdriver stabbed into my forehead, and a mob of little gnomes chiseling furiously into the irises of my eyes with very pointy ice-picks.

Still... Champagne is pretty damn yummy.

On the other hand, this year, it's going to be no champagne for me. I do not mix pain killers with alcohol. That's a little too hard core for me. Sure, I don't mind drinking myself into a brilliant, glowing stupor now and then, but once you start mixing opiates with alcohol, you can potentially wind up with some rather unpredictable results. And, lets face it, with as much pain as I'm in, the last thing I want is to find myself running naked through the snow with a hot dog in one hand and an alarm clock in the other while screaming about crustaceans taking over the world.

Oh yeah... I'm weirdly paranoid.

Anyway, the thing I've noticed today is that a lot of people are coming out with "Year in Review" lists and whatnots. I don't think I have any desire to make one of those. 2007, for me, was actually a pretty great year, and simple to sum up without any tedious lists.

I blazed my way through the year with Remicade infusions that really had more of an effect than I realized. It was weird. I had no idea how well it was working, but I was still feeling a bunch of aches and pains in certain joints here and there; however, given the situation I find myself in now, I would, in a heartbeat, go back to that level of pain than deal with the crippling nonsense which I am currently trying to get a handle on.

Then again, aside from all that noise, I did finish up the first draft of a novel I'd been working on. Someday, I'm sure I'll try to sell it once I'm actually happy with it. I had a lot of fun writing it, and now I've just got to find the time and ambition to tidy up all the mistakes and screaming uglies and start shopping it around. However, dealing with medical morons is not only time consuming, it's pretty damn soul crushing as well.

Then, once it's sold, I am going to drink champagne... By... the... BUCKET!

Anyway, I do hope you all manage to spend some time celebrating the oncoming lunacy of 2008. I imagine that it's going to be a very weird year. The potential for craziness certainly exists, doesn't it?

The most important thing, however, is that you be safe (or safe-ish, at least). I want to see you all back here in 2008.

Enjoy the braille, and I'll see you all next year.

-DP


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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 12/31/2007 10:00:00 AM