Drunk

Last night's league session made me extremely uncomfortable. One of the bowler's on the other team was completely plastered before the lanes were turned on. I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened in my Thursday league, but this is the first time where I was getting ensnared by the environment as a result. The guy decided to pick me as his "buddy" which means that every time I was within 5 feet of him he felt the need to interact with me. I know that sounds really arrogant on my part, but when most of those interactions are along the lines of "I thought you were good, dude" and "did you see that? He missed the spare" (referring to one of my teammates) I think I'm entitled to a little disdain. Also, I'm not the chattiest person anyway, so when he was trying to get me to talk by instigating instead of conversing that just causes me to close off more.

By the second game, after a few more rounds of drinks, he had progressed from "tipsy/chatty/buddy buddy" to "overly aware of his surroundings/asshole". He noticed that Bukie, our anchor bowler, was the namesake of our team "Bukie & Associates" and kept on chanting "Bukie". Towards the end of the third game, after a string of open frames caused by an inability to aim, he threw a ball so hard and fast into the gutter that it bounced over the lane divider, hit the gutter on the next lane over, bounced out of that gutter and went down the lane. The machine was cycling, so the ball bounced off the rake and caromed back and managed to get back to the approach. Even his teammates were all "Dude, seriously?" I just wanted to get out of there.

I do not object to drinking. I don't even object to a light buzz where one is still giggly or perhaps chattier than usual. When you get beyond that point though, all of my defenses are at red alert. I get nervous that interactions will go awry. I get uncomfortable that I will be the only person lucid enough to act like an adult. I get anxious and feel like I'm struggling for control of a situation that has suddenly become very unpredictable.

After last night, I felt the need to unload that baggage. Thank you.