![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Zen and the Art of Inebriate Maintenance
Aug. 4th, 2003 04:09 pmZen and the art of Inebriate maintenance
Noting that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ukmonty has entitled his LJ "Zen and the art of inebriation", it became inevitable that I should write a short piece outlining the basic survival strategies for seeing through a dinner party in his company.
Imagine, if you will, that you and your nearest and dearest have been invited to a convivial evening of food and booze at the Monty household. By 8pm you've had a jolly good meal over a drink or two, and the plates have been cleared away. Your host has, by this time, necked about 2/3 of a bottle of red, and is just hitting his stride...
8pm: 2/3 Bottle red.
You're host is being expansive, leading off on his favourite topic; a monologue detailing the Battle of Waterloo. Gathering up the condiments jars, salt and pepper cellars, cruet, and so forth to line up as troop dispositions he begins: "Imagine this book," he cries (brandishing a hardcover of Huysmans "Against Nature"), "is the British Square, and this Pomegranite" waving the fruit before trundling it across the table against the book, "is Marshall Ney's fatal charge..."
You are advised to keep your wits about you and look very interested at this stage, as your host will be demonstrating the correct form for holding a sabre during a cavalry charge during his exposition and you don't want to get in the way or invite anger. Instead, he will demonstrate the cutting power of the sabre against any fruits or cheeses that still litter the table before outlining the actions of the 'Thin red line' at Balaclava with a line of snuff.
10pm: 2 bottles red.
Your host and your girlfriend have launched into a discussion of the relative merits of Legolas and Boromir as putative bed partners. Legolas or Boromir? Legolas and Boromir? A huge pile of naked elves covered in Marmalade? All these options and more will be considered. During this period you can distract yourself by reading through your hosts' extensive collection of antique Japanese erotica.
As an important note, when critiquing Antique oriental erotica the correct form is to comment knowledgeably on the exquisite use of rice-line writing and subtle and delicate colouring. Do not cry out "That fellow looks to be in considerable distress!" and "By God, look at the veins on that!"
12 midnight. 2.5 bottle red, 2 glasses port.
By now your host has reached glassy-eyed ranting mode. Correct military protocol for dining is his bugbear and you will receieve a stern lecture upon the rights and wrongs of standing before the monarch, smoking in the officers mess, and a comparitive description of Cavalry dress uniforms. Should you notice a faux pas upon your hosts part (such as passing the port to the right), he will not thank you and you are advised just not to mention it.
Your best bet is to nod and smile until this phase passes.
2am. 2.5 bottles red, 1 bottle port, 1/2 bottle Muscat, 1 Glengoyne.
The maudlin phase has set in. If the Mad Swede has not been mentioned yet, she will be now. You are advised to sink lower in your chair and sleep.
4am: 2.5 bottles red, 1.5 bottles port, 1/2 bottle Muscat, 3 Glengoyne, 1 Drambuie, 2 cans Tennents Export.
Awakening with a start, you discover that your host, faced with having drunk all the alcohol on the building saving the Ukranian Absinthe, has started on the antifreeze. You also note that your girlfriend is matching him slug for slug and seems to be doing better than him.
Noting that
ukmonty has entitled his LJ "Zen and the art of inebriation", it became inevitable that I should write a short piece outlining the basic survival strategies for seeing through a dinner party in his company.Imagine, if you will, that you and your nearest and dearest have been invited to a convivial evening of food and booze at the Monty household. By 8pm you've had a jolly good meal over a drink or two, and the plates have been cleared away. Your host has, by this time, necked about 2/3 of a bottle of red, and is just hitting his stride...
8pm: 2/3 Bottle red.
You're host is being expansive, leading off on his favourite topic; a monologue detailing the Battle of Waterloo. Gathering up the condiments jars, salt and pepper cellars, cruet, and so forth to line up as troop dispositions he begins: "Imagine this book," he cries (brandishing a hardcover of Huysmans "Against Nature"), "is the British Square, and this Pomegranite" waving the fruit before trundling it across the table against the book, "is Marshall Ney's fatal charge..."
You are advised to keep your wits about you and look very interested at this stage, as your host will be demonstrating the correct form for holding a sabre during a cavalry charge during his exposition and you don't want to get in the way or invite anger. Instead, he will demonstrate the cutting power of the sabre against any fruits or cheeses that still litter the table before outlining the actions of the 'Thin red line' at Balaclava with a line of snuff.
10pm: 2 bottles red.
Your host and your girlfriend have launched into a discussion of the relative merits of Legolas and Boromir as putative bed partners. Legolas or Boromir? Legolas and Boromir? A huge pile of naked elves covered in Marmalade? All these options and more will be considered. During this period you can distract yourself by reading through your hosts' extensive collection of antique Japanese erotica.
As an important note, when critiquing Antique oriental erotica the correct form is to comment knowledgeably on the exquisite use of rice-line writing and subtle and delicate colouring. Do not cry out "That fellow looks to be in considerable distress!" and "By God, look at the veins on that!"
12 midnight. 2.5 bottle red, 2 glasses port.
By now your host has reached glassy-eyed ranting mode. Correct military protocol for dining is his bugbear and you will receieve a stern lecture upon the rights and wrongs of standing before the monarch, smoking in the officers mess, and a comparitive description of Cavalry dress uniforms. Should you notice a faux pas upon your hosts part (such as passing the port to the right), he will not thank you and you are advised just not to mention it.
Your best bet is to nod and smile until this phase passes.
2am. 2.5 bottles red, 1 bottle port, 1/2 bottle Muscat, 1 Glengoyne.
The maudlin phase has set in. If the Mad Swede has not been mentioned yet, she will be now. You are advised to sink lower in your chair and sleep.
4am: 2.5 bottles red, 1.5 bottles port, 1/2 bottle Muscat, 3 Glengoyne, 1 Drambuie, 2 cans Tennents Export.
Awakening with a start, you discover that your host, faced with having drunk all the alcohol on the building saving the Ukranian Absinthe, has started on the antifreeze. You also note that your girlfriend is matching him slug for slug and seems to be doing better than him.
