Ten Historic Drunks, A wet cat, and letting your soul glo!

It's official. I am one of those crazy cat ladies. I decided to take some time off from going out. Decided to stay home last night and watch movies and such....

One of the things I have been meaning to do awhile is give Refugio a bath.

So here he is. My little man. Look how angry he looks! He's so soft and fluffy now though!




Also, the other night, the night before thanksgiving, I went to Decibel for the Thanksgiving Eve Throwdown, which was a lot of fun, and before that, I went to Tangerine for Fred and Favio's party, which was a good time.

The Lakers were there, but I left before I had the chance to talk to any of them (which was sad, as I would've enjoyed a reunion with my main squeeze, Derek Fisher, but oh well, haha).

I did, however, get to meet Eriq La Salle. You probably recognize him from ER, which he is apparently on.

Not me, though. I recognised him from Coming to America. You know, he was Darryl Jenks, the Prince of Soul Glo!

Here we are....



And there he is in his younger days!




I'd say the years have been pretty kind, wouldn't you?

Anyway, I'm going to close out this absurd blog with an excerpt from a book that I got for my birthday present from one of my best friends of all time, Al.

Here it is....

"Ten Historic Drunks"

1. Noah. According to the Old Testament, Noah was the first person ever to get drunk.

2. King Scorpion I of Egypt. The Pharoahs loved their wine. In 3500 BC, his royal highness's cadaver was entombed with seven hundred bottles of resin-infused hooch to help ease his journey into the afterlife.

(Wow, must be nice!)

3. Socrates (469-399 BC) The great philosopher had a legendary ability to hold his liquor and would continue to philosophize when everyone else at the symposium had long since passed out or gone home.

(I've known some people to do this!)

4. Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) The Macedonian king who ruled an empire stretching from Greece to India was in his lifetime as famous for his marathon drinking sessions as for his military conquests. During one of Alexander's drinking contests thirty-five men died; during another he killed one of his best friends with a spear. His close friend Hephaestion expired after drinking half a gallon of wine for breakfast; Alexander dropped dead after drinking contest at the age of thirty-two.

(Makes me feel a little better now about just simply falling and scraping up my knee!)

5. Pope Benedict XII (C. 1334-42) The pontiff was such a hardened boozer that the expression "Drunk as a pope" became popular in his lifetime.

(I have never heard of this expression, but I'll be damned if I don't start using it!

6. Selim II, Sultan of the Ottomans (R. 1566-74) Also known as "Selim the Sot," he could drink a bottle of Cyprus wine without drawing a breath. When he ran out of his favorite drink, someone suggested he capture Cyprus to replenish his stocks. Selim agreed and massacred 30,000 Cypriot Christians in the process.

(Wow. Seems a little extreme.)

7. Empress Catherine I, Czarina of Russia (R. 1725-27) Whiloe shuffling through her two-year reign in a drunken haze, she once survived an assassination attempt, too drunk to realize that anything had happened. She was reviewing a Guards regiment when a bullet flew past her and struck an innocent bystander dead. The Empress moved on without flinching.

(I don't even know why that was in the book. Who hasn't that happened to?)

8. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) The composer died of hepatic cirrhosis of the liver as a result of alcoholism at the age of fifty seven. Before he expired, he cheerily announced, "Wine is both necessary and good for me."

(At least he was cheery!)

9. President Andrew Johnson (President from 1865-69) He was apparently drunk at his swearing-in as vice President to Lincoln, and his acceptance speech was rambling and largely incoherent; he claimed later that he ahd been taking alcoholic medicine prescribed for a cold. He didn't make his own inaugural address. When the U.S. Chief Justice was sent to tell him that Lincoln was dead and that he was now president, they found him trying to shake off a terrible hangover. Johnson took the oath of office as required, but then fell asleep and had to be dressed and carried to the White House.

(Wow. Just wow.)

10. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) Britain's great wartime leader began each day with a glass of Riesling with his breakfast, then kept himself topped up with whiskey until the early hours of the following day. A doctor attending him after he was knocked down by a cara in New York in 1931 actually issued a medical note that his convalescence "necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits, especially at mealtimes," speficying 250cc per day as the minimum. Although it wrecked his health, he liked to brag, "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me."

(My doctor specified that, too. Oh wait....)

Have a great rest of the weekend!