Cuervoman and I

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This blog entry is about Cuervoman from This American Life: “Plan B” and how his story has impacted me.

Cuervoman’s story, while unique because he was being paid, was not unique in his activities. Rampant drinking, excessive bar games, and near-alcoholism with undesired consequences is common on most college campuses. When I heard Cuervoman’s story I was initially intrigued. I thought his job was the best in the world and something that anyone would enjoy, especially since it appeared to be like college but without the work. Then, as Cuervoman continued his story and discussed his decision to stop drinking I realized how fragile his balance of life and work was. The job was fun, but alcohol eventually consumed his life and began to negatively affect his life.

This was something that I struggled with, not because I thought I was an alcoholic, but because I recently began to see the negative consequences of drinking. As a college student in a fraternity, drinking is as common as doing homework. Like most students I would drink heavily (to the point where I was intoxicated or past that) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, every weekend. Additionally, like most of my fraternity brothers, I would have a few beers after I finished my homework the other three to four nights a week. My decision to drink on these other nights wasn’t determined by how often I was drinking, but rather how early I got back from the library. My first priority was always to finish homework before I would drink, and this was never and still is never a problem.

Nevertheless, I began to notice my drinking’s negative effects. I would often wake up lethargic and/or weak, but because I was never hung-over I thought this was fine. However, over the last five months I thought that I had become more stupid. I couldn’t remember things as well as I used to be able to and whenever I spoke it took me longer to figure out what I was going to say. I felt more spaced out when I spoke and words and ideas that I thought were commonly escaping my mind before I uttered them. I tried to ignore this and I even attributed them to other activities, simply saying this is just what happens in college.

Then, over break one of my friends, Paul, was saying the same thing as me. Paul said that he thought his excessive drinking (which I think was heavier than my own) was making him less intelligent. His GPA had dropped from a perfect 4.0 his first three semesters as college to a mere 3.7 (to be fair he goes to SUNY Binghamton, not Michigan). He attributed this effect to excessive drinking, and once he told me that I began to wonder if the same applied to me. This conversation happened over winter break within a large group of friend, off-the-cuff, and informally, and I believe that most of my friends thought nothing of it. I, however, did.

Since second semester began I have been drinking less. I still drink significant quantities of alcohol on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, but I have cut out most of my other light drinking nights to rest my brain. Since then I have noticed a reversal in my negative side-effects of drinking: I am thinking more clearly and words escape my mind less and less often now.

Why do I bring this personal story up now when we are discussing This American Life? Because it comforts me to know that other people have struggled with the negative effects of excessive drinking, not to be confused with alcoholism, which is an addiction to alcohol, but the effects of excessive drinking. Most of what I hear about drinking is about alcoholism, but finding someone like Cuervoman who chose to struggled with alcohol’s effects instead is relieving. At least I now know the story of someone else who has fought this battle.