Calling in Hungover
*sigh*
Yesterday morning I was watching School of Rock (because I’m cool) and found myself reveling in the old familiar scene of Jack Black explaining hungover-ness to the children. What is it? Are you an alcoholic? A low-life?
Being hungover should be something to be studied! The many phases, the side-effects, the humor!! I’m not an alcoholic, I’m simply a young lady who gets it. But last week I woke up, hungover, from a night of singing Gypsy tunes at Marie’s Crisis and I couldn’t believe what I was feeling. I wasn’t giggling and I didn’t feel like a low-key genius. I felt SAD. And I’d only had 3 G&Ts!!!!
I felt sad about how bad I felt. Sad that I wasn’t going to be able to work. Sad that I was… gasp! WASTING TIME? The guilt was almost unbearable!
I recently turned 30 and it appears, everything has changed? How could it happen so fast! Being hungover used to be one of the absolute funniest things to me. It was almost a joy to look at life through the dark shades of yesterday’s wine. What happened to the early days of hilarious hangovers! Mornings of crawling, literally crawling, from my room to my bestie’s room across the hall, giddy to talk to her about all of the amazing thoughts I was having?! While also, really hoping, they wanted a bagel too?
The camaraderie was such a beautiful thing. And sure, after college, I wasn’t quite as much of a degenerate, but I was still very capable of having a good time and somehow working through the whole next day, over and over again. I mean I could do anything while I was hungover. I’d exercise, I’d clean, I’d drive 6 hours north to see my parents. I ran weeks of a film festival in Park City, working 16 hour days, living from coffee to wine, and cracking up the entire time. I was unstoppable baby! I recall, fondly now, a moment when a new friend told me, “You function very well hungover.” What a compliment, amiright!
After I quit my film festival job and began this here cartooning life, I started it felt like I could even capitalize on my hangovers! I was writing, drawing, being so funny obviously, and enjoying all of it.
Hungover Girl was my muse for many years. You can find her if you scroll back far enough on my Instagram. Here’s several of my favorites:
I know, I know, I know, you’re like “Woah that girl is sad!” But It’s okay!! I’m very funny when I’m sad. It runs in the family.
I was drawing Hungover Girl so much in my early 20s that when I met new people, they assumed I drank a lot (like you’re assuming right now), but the truth was, and is, I don’t. FOOLED YOU!!!!!! I’m great at drawing about these things, but I drink white wine on ice, darling, because I have heartburn! I just like a little buzz and I like to go to bed on time. As my mother always told me, nothing good happens after midnight! Unless you’re falling in love or dancing. But this year everything has changed! No more can I casually go dancing Tuesday, a party on Wednesday, and a concert on Thursday! It’s over, people! Send me to my grave! I have one fun night out and it’s like… I need… time…to recover?
I can’t believe that beautiful time in my life is over. I’ll be hosting a funeral for it this weekend, which I’ll of course, also have to recover from.
As I was perusing through old sketchbooks to write this week’s newsletter, I came upon a doodle of a woman I met in the Atlanta airport, while I was hungover, traveling back from a wedding in California.
She was a gem. A not so humble, gem. Never did get that art show from her though.
I’ll leave you with a recent list:
And a favorite New Yorker reject:
Also, please, dear god, do not try to write to me and tell me something about not drinking, or getting help. I’m absolutely fine. Remember, this is *comedy*.
Thank you for reading! New posts every Friday!
ICYMI: My bestie Kelsey and I wrote a thing about Shania Twain
Song on repeat: 500 Miles from Inside Llewyn Davis
A movie not enough people have seen: High Society
Obsessed with: that old “I smell like beef” video
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