Today is my fifth birthday. What does this mean exactly? It means that five years ago, I came to in a hospital with a woman talking to me, asking me (what I percieved to be as) rude questions. Turns out she was taking a survey. She was a shrink or counselor or something. She came to see whether she should send me to the "Crisis" center next door. She asked me: "Do you ever drink and drive?" I politely (sarcasm) replied: "How the *&^%$ else am I supposed to get home from the bar!" No, she didn't ask me any more questions after that. My family told me later that my BAC was a .28, which is a little over the legal limit for driving, but seriously impairing without driving. At the point where they drew my blood, I hadn't had a drink in about six or seven hours. I haven't had a drink since. I had a little information in my memory as to how I ended up in the hospital. It is really foggy. I was in something known to some as a black out. I hear it talked about on the radio (99x) as something funny. "Hey I can't remember what I did last night!! Ha! HA!HA!" In reality, if you can't remember what you did last night because of alcohol, you are not normal. Normal people always remember. Normal people always stop when they get that kick. They say something like "Oh, dear me, I feel a little whoozy, I think I'll stop!" and in front of them sits half a glass of wine or more. I never had that problem. There was no such thing as "whoozy" for me. It was an unbelievable sensation. It was as though I disappeared. It was my best friend. Now, unlike the DJs on the radio who encourage sick things, I didn't just black out for a night because I was at a party with a band. I couldn't put together the things I had done since July 4th. That was the last day I could remember. It was common for me to lose weeks. The little lady that asked me if I drank and drove realized what had happened to me and that I had just "come to." Thank God for that woman. She sent me to the Crisis center and it was all up hill from there. 5 years, no alcohol. You try it, if you can do it, you might not be like me, but you still might. Crazy thing that alcohol. Cunning, Baffling, Powerful.