Afternoon Inquisition 1.1

Happy New Year Skepchick readers.

I’m typing as softly as I can, because I know some of you are nursing one mother honey of a hangover right now. Last night is no doubt a blur, and hopefully you woke up nude or partially dressed with someone warm and at least mildly attractive next to you.

If you’re not nauseous, you’re going to need something greasy to eat and about a gallon and a half of water soon, just to feel human again. But I won’t offer any homespun remedies, other than the tried and true cure for the hangover: Keep drinking.

At any rate, try not to breathe on anyone, turn the lights and music down low, put on some warm, fluffy socks or some slippers, let your bathrobe hang open wide, and let’s use the first Afternoon Inquisition of the new year to commiserate:

Did you do anything crazy last night? If so, what? And if you’re hungover, how are you dealing with it?

And those of you smart enough not to get caught in the trappings of a New Years Eve party, feel free to share with us what you did to begin another trip around the sun as well.

Sam Ogden

Sam Ogden is a writer, beach bum, and songwriter living in Houston, Texas, but he may be found scratching himself at many points across the globe. Follow him on Twitter @SamOgden

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31 Comments

  1. Hell yeah… I got way crazy. I spent hours locked in a comment battle on skepchick.

    How am I handling it? Hair of the dog, dog.

  2. I am a responsible drinker by nature. I just don’t drink very fast. So when I get toasted, I never get sick and I don’t normally have hangovers. The only time either of those things happened to me in relation to drinking, it was when I drank a whole bottle of red wine by myself. It was awful.

    My boyfriend and I watched Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations season 3 disc 3 and had margaritas. There was other celebratory stuff, I’m sure you can guess.

  3. I did something crazy. I did nothing interesting at new year’s eve, and just ate cheese cubes with my family while watching TV. That is crazy because at new year’s eve, one is supposed to do something not dull. ^_^

  4. I stayed home, fell asleep until about 11:57 when my dad woke me up to watch the ball drop, and tried to time a text to my friend for exactly 12:00 which verizon couldn’t send until 12:20…

  5. I’ve been fighting a cold all week, so I spent the evening sipping tea with lemon and watching the Twilight Zone marathon. (“It’s a cookbook!”)

  6. I had dinner with my family. When midnight struck, we made a toast. Then we went outside to see the fireworks, but it was kinda cold, so we came back inside soon. I drank a little more (about half a glass, if you can believe it!) and had some chocolate-covered peanuts. Then I went to bed, read a chapter of The Count of Monte Cristo or two, and went to sleep. Yeah, I’m crazy that way.

  7. Since we’re not drinkers…nada. Just watched four Animaniacs episodes, laughed ’til I collapsed, then fell asleep at about 2230 trying to read about Kamikaze pilots and the USS Bunker Hill. My eyes gave out, not my interest.

    (Ever notice how much kids can learn from learing to sing some of the Animaniac’s songs? The Universe, the countries of the world…Hmmm. Stealth education…)

  8. Our local landmark, The Boulderado Hotel, celebrated it’s 100th anniversary with a sumptuous food, wine, and dancing. Both the wine and the dancing were done in moderation and we went to bed before midnight. I would have like to have danced more, but the live music, though a very good mix of swing and pop, was well above my threshold of pain.

    I notice a tendency towards moderation in the responses so far. I wonder; is this is a trait of skeptics? Don’t get me wrong I enjoy a good booze-up from time to time, but usually with my wife or a few close friends. Being crazy in public has never been our style. I can see too many possibilities for unfortunate occurrences.

  9. nothing crazy at all. drank a little, toked a little, and fought falling asleep until almost 4 am. and then i was out like a light on the L-shaped couch, a friend of mine on the other end. we kept our feet warm lol. slept pretty good, too! didn’t get up ’til almost 2. putting off the 30-minute drive home for a while, because we’re going to play some wii. :D very good, chill new years.

  10. I lit off fireworks in the backyard with my innumerable children, including arming a couple of not-quite-three year-old twins with sparklers. Nothing says excitement like wobbly toddlers in control of potentially lethal flaming sticks.

    Then, after putting the young ones to sleep, I really went for broke, and cracked open the DS for a couple of hours of intoxicating Chrono Trigger action.

    Having partied my body to the very boundaries of human endurance, I crawled my way to bed at 9:47 in an attempt to sleep it off.

  11. I got the flu and couldn’t overcome the gravitational pull of the responses on A.I. 12.12.

    I am hung over from that…

  12. @Joshua: Braggart.

    Anyway, I saw my friend perform in front of 400 people at one of Boston’s oldest theater venues.

    THEN, we had a good time watching the Twilight Zone marathon, drinking, eating fondue, and drinking some more. Oh, and stumbling over icy sidewalks to get to the T before our eyeballs froze. -20F! (with the windchill but srsly)

  13. I celebrated the new year with a cup of non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider at 7pm EST (00:00 GMT), then I went to bed at 9pm.

    I’m not a night owl. In fact, the one time I actually got invited to a new years eve party, I fell asleep somewhere around 11pm.

  14. What they don’t tell you when you are young is that middle-age forces moderation on you. At gunpoint, if necessary. ;-)

  15. I watched one show on TV while recording another, AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
    .
    Beat that, bee-atches!

  16. Since I’m temporarily back living with my parents in a town where I don’t know anyone, I wouldn’t have gone out anyway, but as it was I had a cold and a headache and didn’t even make it to midnight. Then I woke up at 3 am to let the dogs in because they were freaking out about a thunderstorm.

    Almost as exciting as last NYE when I had the flu with a fever and slept for 13 hours!

  17. For those of you still recovering from a monster hangover, I’ll try to type quietly. As for my family, we stayed home hoping not to have to take my 3 yr old to the ER with respiratory distress. Turns out we didn’t so we watched the Peach (pathetic Atlanta equivalent of the ball in NY) and the NY ball drop on TV. Dick Clark looks really bad. Didn’t he have a stroke a few years back? My husband surprised the kids and me with a platter full of a variety of chocolates. I decided this will be our New Year’s tradition from now on. We don’t drink so we had some sparkling juice. Then we had to wait another couple of hours for the kids came off the sugar high from the chocolate before we finally got to sleep. Overall, one my better New Years’.

  18. For the first time in my adult life I was asleep before midnight…, the pathetic result of staying up too late the two previous nights reading a really good book. I just got back from an annual New Years Day poker tournament at a friends where I placed high enough to win $20 Whoohooo!

  19. Moderation? Who said anythinga about moderation? I only said I didn’t have a hangover.

  20. I scraped paint off of a wood beam ceiling. Then I watched several episodes of The Honeymooners (“Hello Ball”). To recover form all that Honeymoonering, I spent the day today scraping paint off of a wood beam ceiling. (Who decides painting something like that is a good idea?)

    I am a Hedge

  21. Put the kids to bed, watched three episodes of House. Then we went to bed, listened to the latest Skeptoid, and then listened to SGU, pumped up loud to drown out the Bogons next door.

    Had to be physically restrained by husband from opening the window and screaming “f*(%& off” when they kept yelling out Happy Easter and thinking that was the height of witticism.

    Hah Bumbug.

    Still, listening to Mr Dunning and our favourite SGU podcasts is not too shabby a way to start the year 8-)

    Happy New Year to all SkepChicks (and Dudes)

  22. No hangover, but I’m having a bitch of a New Year’s Cold. I spent New Year’s on my friends’ farm. Had an excellent roast beef dinner, played Elasund, woke the kids (their, not mine) up right before midnight, lit a bonfire and watched nearly 50 kms worth of fireworks.

  23. For all of you who don’t drink, I put back enough for all of us. I have calculated that the alcohol should be gone from my blood stream in time for next new year (probably).

    Happy new year to everyone except……

  24. Just me & 3 felines — I made brownies and watched DEATH PROOF. It’s my favorite kind of party — no pants required!

  25. Finished “The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God” by Carl Sagan.

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