It seems I’ve had a resurgence of partying fever. I used to party a lot in my first few years of University, and then when I first moved to Hong Kong, but I’ve been out of practice for quite a while, preferring to stay in the neighbourhood and go to bed at a normal hour-ish. But my latest partying craze started in August and it still seems to be going strong, straight into September. Remember when you partied like it was 1999? Well, I’ve been living it up at least once–often twice, or three times–a week for no apparent reason other than the pure fact that I can.
The worst usually happens on a hen/bachelorette’s night. [I don’t like either of those names. They’re both kind of sexist. Maybe we need to coin a new term? Any ideas?] The plan is always NOT to drink too much. But it never works. Peer pressure rears it’s ugly head, there’s always someone who’s a bigger lush than you and they seem to be the ones who set the tempo. Then, the shots come out! Even if you’ve been doing well pacing yourself, it all gets ruined when your group orders shots.
But now you’re buzzing and you’ve made it to the point of the night where the fun factor kicks in. You say yes to everything because it’s waaaay more entertaining and now that you’re out on the town you feel like you might as well do a good job of it. So you stay out later, and later, and later… This is ridiculously easy to do in Hong Kong as, even on a weeknight, there is always somewhere you can go that’s open until dawn–literally.
I’m pretty amazing at going through the motions even when I’ve had too much to drink. Eventually, I’ll make it home, take off my makeup, have a shower, and even get myself a tall glass of water for the nightstand. One time, I even made it home, started getting ready to shower, realised I’d left my jacket on the seat at the club, so I put my clothes back on and returned to the scene of the crime, staying out even later because, “Hey, I was already out…” But the next day…
THE HANGOVER. It gets worse the older you get (at least it does for me). You just don’t bounce back the same way you used to when you were 20-something.
After a particularly raucous hen’s night I attended about a year ago (the same one where I forgot my cute little jacket) I was feeling exceptionally devastated the next morning. This time it was pretty bad so I took to Facebook and wrote this simple sentence, “Does anybody have any brilliant hangover remedies? They would really come in handy right about now…” To which I received a zillion responses from my friends, all of who’ve obviously had some kind of experience with hangovers, and they offered up their own home remedies like fanatical mad doctors. Here are their prescriptions; maybe one will work for you… I suggest you bookmark this page so you don’t forget for next time you’re feeling awful. I hope this helps!
click to view larger…
All hangover prescription artwork by Bridget Steis.
Oh, and the moral of the story? I now always–without fail–have coconut water in my cupboard. It really works! What are your sure-fire hangover remedies?
