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Notes -
All great advice so far. I want to drive home that getting super drunk is unbelievably not fun, and will only get less fun the older you get.
Shots of pure liqour should be almost a total no-go for you the first round. That 45 minute delay is significant when imbibing only takes a couple seconds. If you over-do it you'll remember the drink that put you over the edge and you'll hate yourself.
Hydration, Hydration, hydration. I disagree you should eat a whole pizza beforehand, but timing your food and alcohol is an art. If you eat too much you'll feel uncomfortably bloated and tired, not fun and tipsy. If you drink too little you'll outrun food and water's ability to soften the downsides of alcohol. A simple formula is a drink of water between each alcoholic drink.
If you're starting to drink around 7:00 PM a small dinner is the way to go. Better yet, anticipate your "Drunchies" and eat half of your dinner and save the lest to scarf once your inhibitions on eating a reasonable amount of food disappear. At college we had a nasty habit of stuffing a car with the DD and too many people before eating 2,000 calories of trash as a way to end the night, so you can save money and be more sensible in this regard.
I honestly think the best food situation for getting drunk is a party in which only "heavy appetizers" are served. If there's a dinner then it's too easy to overeat when you're expected to eat a full meal. Light appetizers like chips are too insubstantial to stand up to heavy drinking. Heavy appetizers like buffalo chicken dip, wings, gutbusters, pepperoni squares, etc. are best because they're as substantial as a full meal but meant to be consumed gradually over the course of several hours. Thus it's easier to maintain the optimal level of fullness. That being said, I only get drunk twice a year, and really don't enjoy the aftereffects. It's not even the physical symptoms of the hangover that bother me, it just makes me tired and depressed the next day in a way that I can't seem to get comfortable.
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