Turning 30
July 9, 1985
State College to Williamsport, PA
Thank God I am no longer as foolish as I was when I was thirty. This approaching birthday seemed to be an affront on my youth. So I offered a ridiculous statement to combat that affront. I proclaimed that I could drink 30 beers for my 30th birthday. Everyone laughed and encouraged me and agreed that I could accomplish this ridiculous feat. And so the self imposed challenge was public and supported. I no longer had any choice but to drink 30 damn beers for my birthday. My pride wouldn't let me out of this challenge.
I was taking classes at Penn State at the time. Around midnight of my birthday, a few friends drank with me at a local bar. We drank until 3 AM and I woke up not feeling well. I met a friend for lunch and I packed away a few beers there. Now I was up to 18 beers, only 12 more to go.
Another friend picked me up at 4PM and drove me to Williamsport to meet a larger group of friends. Along the way, we stopped at a few bars and Mark had arranged for someone I knew to be there to greet me and drink with me. We also made one unplanned stop: to pull over so I could throw up which I did, right on some cows hanging by a fence. By the time we got to Williamsport, I was trashed.
We went bar-hopping and again, there was a friendly face in every bar. We drank and drank and drank. And then around midnight, we were at the bar at the Holiday Inn. A band was playing and they had agreed to interrupt thier set so I could give a closing, drunken speech about the virtues of growing older. I finished my last beer to the cheers of everyone in the bar and then someone drove me home. I was trashed.
The next day, I did not feel well. As a matter of fact, I felt like shit. So I went outside for some fresh air. Someone, a stranger, greeted me. "Hey, loved your speech last night," he said. I thanked him as best I could and didn't tell him that I didn't remember giving a speech.
For my 40th birthday, I played it low-key.
