grown & sexy

okay, i'm borrowing the title of this post from dan's new party (starting at de la coast this coming friday, july 13... holla...), which i think is the coolest name ever, but my point is really this: i am 29 years old, gainfully employed (again), and - to quote chris rock - a grown-ass woman. i find it nice to once in a while hang out with the jiao da kids - either my own indonesian / guatemalan sector, or sherry's german / british / french group for some post-college energy rejuvenation, but i really do not need to engage in RMB 99 all-you-can-eat-and-drink fests that consist of questionable food and even more questionable drink.

because then you find yourself on the bathroom floor, using the bathmat as a pillow, hearing vague snatches of conversation between cyn and jason about the positive and negative design aspects of your watch, which sits on the dining table. you're completely soaked through from hanging your head out of the taxi while driving over the nanpu bridge during a torrential rainstorm. i'm sorry, but i am too motherfucking old to still be doing this shit.

let's back up. one of the things that i think cyn wanted to help me do when i moved here was to decompress. between us, that speaks volumes, because i think that we both feel that i skipped over the fun part of my youth and went straight to an adult phase, hyperfixated on the progress of my career, my finances, and carrying a mortgage at 26. we all partied in college, sure, but we were also very cautious about who we spoke to, who bought us drinks, what kind of clubs to go to. there wasn't a random freedom - it was more like a carefully planned assault on the bay area nightlife. life these days here in stinky 'old SH is much looser, much more random, and i don't disagree that it's probably just what i needed before i turned 45 on my 28th birthday, if you understand where i'm comin from.

so, decompress i have. i'm pretty inflated these days. but i've decided that i need to establish some guidelines for myself. the first rule is something like, avoid all-you-can-drink alcohol buffets. the liquor is bullshit and makes you sick and doesn't help with the tendency one might have of not realizing she needs to slow it down. one likes to pretend one has the liver of a 300-pound trucker, but one likes to fool oneself. rule two will run along the lines of, if the sake you've been knocking back tastes like nail polish remover or paint thinner, don't drink it. duh. and rule three is, if your friend, let's call her sherry, is screaming about how she wants to get everyone drunk and make them barf, temper this a little bit. it's ok to say no. duh again.

jesus.

i'm not blaming this on anyone except for me. sorry if i sound like i am. i just don't understand why i don't have the capacity, once the drinks start flowing, to realize that i'm about 4 sakes bottles deep and i need to chill a bit, not bounce blithely to the next venue. i'm a grown woman. i need to know these things.