Tag Archives: alcohol

Supporting A Friend (or Another Story I Haven’t Talked About Before)

Posted on October 7, 2014 | Comments Off on Supporting A Friend (or Another Story I Haven’t Talked About Before)

This past Saturday evening, I drove into Hollywood (which I hate to do on weekends) because a friend of mine was screening his film.

The film is “The Sublime And Beautiful” and it is written by/directed by/starring Blake Robbins. I have gotten to know Blake a bit. He was a guest on the podcast I work for so I know a lot about his story. It was awesome to get to see him again and to watch his film on the big screen.

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I’ve also seen the film before. Without giving much away, the film deals with the aftermath of a drunk driving accident (not caused by the main character).

This film is truly incredible to watch. I highly recommend everyone sees it. It is currently screening through this week in LA, but you can see future screening dates on their website.

But for me, this film has another meaning.

When I was 6, I was involved in a drunk driving accident. My brother and I were being driven by our babysitter. My parents had been on a vacation and we were going to surprise them at the airport. We made a quick stop at Taco Bell for dinner (this was the first and last time I ate at Taco Bell). And then we were off to the airport.

I was sitting in the back with my brother and our babysitter’s dog Pierre. We were trying to make Pierre sit in the middle seat and wear a seatbelt when a drunk driver ran a red light and slammed into our car.

I know that some people might not think that you can remember something really well from when you were 6, but I remember so much from the accident. I remember the sound that the car made as it was hit. I remember screaming to my brother to duck and cover because I was so sure that this was an earthquake (the 1989 San Francisco quake was the year before and clearly that stuck out in my head). I remember how it felt like forever before the car stopped moving.

Another car stopped and came to help us. They got my brother and I out of the car and someone waited with our babysitter who was up in the front. I don’t remember how they found Pierre, but I learned later that by my brother and I trying to make him wear a seatbelt, we probably saved the dog’s life. If his foot hadn’t gotten caught in it (and made him hit the door of the car), he probably would have gone through the windshield.

The paramedics came quickly (or at least it felt quickly to me). Our babysitter was on one backboard and my brother and I shared another. As the paramedics were taping our heads to the backboard, I remember screaming at them that they had to take us to Kaiser because that’s where my dad worked and that’s what our insurance was.

At the hospital, my brother and were checked out and we were both fine. My brother had a cut lip and I don’t remember any injuries for myself besides bruises. Our babysitter was hurt a bit more, but she was fine.

It seems like in most car accidents, the drunk driver lives and the victims in the other car die. In our accident, the drunk driver died.

I know that I should feel horrible that someone died, but I just remember hearing from someone (I’m not sure who said this to me) that we were lucky that that is how the outcome was. Not only did we live, we did not have to go through a trial with the drunk driver. Now that I’m older, I occasionally think about the drunk driver (whose name I don’t even know) and what their family must have gone through. Even though they did something wrong, their family still lost a loved one.

If you haven’t been personally affected by drunk driving, you are so incredibly lucky. To this day, I will almost never drink if I have to drive. And if I do drink, I usually make sure that I only drink one and that I have at least 2 or 3 hours before I have to drive. I’d rather be over-cautious than to have a horrible accident happen.

The story in “The Sublime and Beautiful” is heartbreaking to watch, but I feel like it is something that everyone should see. Maybe if more people saw how doing something so stupid could affect so many people, they would think twice about drinking and driving.

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Posted in Tough Stuff

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Bar Food Hangout (or A Quick Friend Catch Up)

Posted on April 8, 2014 | Comments Off on Bar Food Hangout (or A Quick Friend Catch Up)

As I mentioned before on here, my friend Kate moved back up to Northern California for an awesome job. It sucked that she moved away, but I understand having to do something for a job that you love.

She finally got a new apartment and she had to come down to LA to get the rest of her stuff. The plan for me originally was to go and help her move things into a van after doing the 5K, but since I was in so much pain (and she had enough help), I decided to just join in for the dinner portion of the day.

I have to say that I totally forgot to take photos of my meal, so I’m sorry. But, as always, I ordered a Dirty Shirley. We also ordered some food for the table and I got some mac and cheese.

But the highlight of the evening wasn’t the good food, it was the good company. Kate’s boyfriend also made the trip down so it was great to get to chat with him some more. And everyone else at the table was someone who I had already met, so that was awesome as well. In fact, two of the girls at the table and I all got season tickets for the Pantages Theater together.

We were at Bar Food for several hours just chatting about everything and nothing at the same time. The food was all great, but I’m sad to say that the service kind of stunk. People who ordered non-alcoholic drinks were charged for alcoholic drinks (and the manager claimed that she put alcohol in them). We also had things we ordered not come to the table until we prompted the waitress and the wrong dessert was brought over to the table as well. And when it came time for the bill, the waitress made it so much more complicated than it needed to be.

I joked that the service was a sign that this was the end of the good times at Bar Food. I’m sure some of the other people will go again (since they live super close to it), but I think unless I’m doing something in that neighborhood I probably won’t be going back.

Now that Kate’s getting settled in her new apartment, I’m getting excited to visit her in the future. I’m not sure when I’ll be going up, but my summer is starting to get filled with fun weekend adventures so I hope I’ll be planning that soon.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

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Dirty Shirley (or My Signature Drink)

Posted on November 6, 2012 | 3 comments

I’m not a big drinker. I used to be, but the first time I went on the RFO diet I wasn’t able to drink anything with calories, and my tolerance for alcohol went down. Now, I never have more than 2 drinks, but more often, I only will have 1 when I go out.

I’ve never been a beer drinker. The only time I tolerated beer was when my family was in Africa and the beer was safer to drink than water (I’m sure I spent a lot of that trip dehydrated). I’m not a wine lover. If I drink wine, it tends to be a sweeter one like a Riesling.

My go to drink is any type of sparkling wine. Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, I love them all. And at most bars or restaurants, that’s what I’ll order.

But there are plenty of bars or restaurants where they don’t have a sparkling wine (or you don’t want to drink a weird cheap one), so I’ve been working on finding a signature mixed drink. I really like martinis, but I only like them with blue cheese filled olives so I won’t get them most places. I do enjoy a vodka cranberry, but that seemed to cliché and typically girly for me.

I was googling signature drinks a while back and found a recipe for a Dirty Shirley. It’s pretty much a Shirley Temple with vodka. I loved Shirley Temples as a kid (and now) so I figured that this would be the perfect drink for me.

When I order it most of the time, they have no idea what a Dirty Shirley is, so I have to order a Shirley Temple with vodka. But it is yummy, and it looks pretty.

 

And if you need the recipe, here it is:

  • 4-6 ounces carbonated lemon-lime soda (I like Diet 7-Up)
  • 2 ounces of vodka
  • 1 ounce grenadine
  • 1-2 maraschino cherry (for the garnish)

 

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

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