Mike's Hard Lemonade

Saint Patrick's day is a wonderful excuse to wear green from head to toe, cram into a pub, and most of all take part of the Irish habit of drinking into oblivion. It's not as though we need an excuse -- heck, I've had a glass of wine simply because it looks good beside my spaghetti -- but having a holiday makes drinking somehow more worthwhile. Now, I've done my part in donning the green, and I've successfully crammed my way into the pub, but I refuse to follow the Irish example of getting utterly and irrevocably hammered.

That's not to say I didn't drink. I did. It was only one -- but boy was it tasty. I haven't had a Mike's Hard since last year, and it was just as good as I remember. Best of all, it was bought by a dear friend. That just made the drink all the tastier. I honestly wasn't planning on drinking since I'd rather prefer an occasion that requires a little more than one drink, but in the spirit of the holiday, and because I didn't have to pay for it, I decided to go for it. I was not disappointed.

The night consisted of fabulous company (ie: the ruggers), wonderful food (chicken strips and fries), a little lesson in pool, and the serenades of Ronan and Danny. The ruggers are always good company, and any time I go to the pub, it's usually with the same crowd on a typical Saturday night. The usual crowd was there, but also in attendance were a few of the guys that normally don't make it out with us (some for personal reasons, some for...age reasons). Our gifted Ronan is not only a singer, but also a very talented member of the team. Now the food there is always great. I tend to order the same thing, because who likes change? Fries must always be dipped in honey mustard, and chicken strips must always be accompanied by ranch. It's just the way it goes. As for pool, I've been playing since junior high, but am still just as horrible now as I was back then. It is quite possible that I have gotten worse, actually. But we let the guys we were playing against assume we are pool-illiterate and teach us a thing or two about the game. We were beating them too for quite a while but just couldn't get the 8-ball into a pocket. As already mentioned, the music was in excellent taste, and a player's younger brother even made it out to sing for us. He did a number on Jason Mraz and even sported the fedora. I wonder if he was doing that on purpose....

This marks the second occasion for drinking of the year. Two down, ten more to go. There's a good chance that I won't be using up my twelve occasions since I rather like not drinking. But it's nice to know that I am right on track and farming like a pro. Okay, I guess none of you have ever played the Farming Game. I'm tellin ya, it changed my life.