Sailing on Lake MI/ Somewhere near WI/ 8-31-08

Over Labor Day weekend, some friends and I went sailing for the first time. We sailed on Lake Michigan, somewhere near the Wisconsin border for hours. Of course being at sea is synonymous with partying. I had a few too many *cocktails mixed with the rocking of the boat, and passed out immediately. Notice I’m sleeping on a life raft just in case something happened. I stole my friend’s hat, too. It was a perfect day to drift on the lake full of booze. I’ll deem it the booze cruise. Notice my tan!

*The truth is, we weren’t allowed to drink at all on the boat. Nazis. We did enjoy some homemade veggie pizza and Gatorade, though. I can even vouch for being asleep. Maybe next time.

Lollapalooza/August 2008

We all know a 3-Day festival can be exhausting and Lolla was no exception. Having access to free beer during the duration of the fest didn’t help matters, either. Neither did passing out magazines in the heat. Oh what fun it all was.

Kinetic Playground/ Redwalls Show/ Chicago/ 5/20/08

This Memorial Day weekend, my friend dragged me to see her new favorite band, the Redwalls in concert. They are an affable local band that was having a party in celebration of their new music video. My friend will never admit this, but she wanted to go to “stalk” the cute members in the band. Okay, she wanted to meet them because they inspire her as a musician and well, their music is good. We ended up meeting the band, although at first there was a case of mistaken identity: We confused one brother in the band with the other. Oops. My friend gave the right brother her demo and he hugged her. Aww. What nice guys (albeit the skinniest guys I’ve ever seen). Anyway, we drank, we danced and then I passed out. Well, not really, but doesn’t it really look like I’m two sheets to the wind? Totally.

Subterranean/ Chicago/ 5/09/08

Some of my friends and I went to Subterranean to take advantage of free Red Stripe. Every week they usually have free PBR for an hour, but this week that had Red Stripe! It’s quite yummy and definitely tastes better than PBR. Each of my friends got two drink tickets, so I really didn’t drink that much. It did the job, though. I go to Subt all the time to see concerts. The free events are usually held in the downstairs lounge. I have a story about the downstairs lounge, but I won’t go into it right now. I’ll save that for my tell-all book.

344 N. Ogden/Chicago/Bowler Hat Art Party/April 2008

It’s been Artropolis the past few days here in the city which means a lot of art parties and activities. My friend and I went to this party at some random warehouse because they had free Ruby Rey rum drinks. We got lost getting there, were headed back home and finally happened upon there. We had two drinks and some chocolate fondue before the party ended, but not before taking some crazy pics. As you can see from the picture, there was some sort of blue saran wrap like wall. I decided to take a “nap.” A couple walked by and were like, “Good idea!” I mean, we were at an art party, so it made sense.

Sidebar: The first time I was at this location was almost a year ago. It was some pretentious art thing as well and my friend and I showed up because they had free wine and Shiner’s Bock. I got a little toasted to the point where my friend had to drive me in my car to meet a friend at a concert. At least this time I was sober enough to walk home.

Garin Passed Out/Lumen/Chicago/Summer 2007

So, before I start posting more crazy photos of me, I should explain what this blog is about. One evening last summer, my friend Theresa and I went to an open bar at a lounge called Lumen. For those of you who don’t know, I not only write for an open bar website, but I also attend a lot of them. Yunno, for the experience. Um, yeah. Anyway, a lot of these events are dull and are filled with really earnest, pretentious people. On this particular evening at Lumen, on a whim I told Theresa to take a picture of me passed out on a comfy couch. It all steamrolled from there. Some of my friends got in on the action and started posing with me. I began posting the pics on my Facebook and Myspace pages. A lot of people would ask me: “Garin, are you really passed out?” “Of course not,” would be my reply. Honestly, I’m never passed or nor really intoxicated in these photos, but in practically all of them, I have been drinking. I think the drink gives me gusto to do these crazy things. Sometimes I’ll be at a bar and a friend will command me to “get sleepy” on spot. Of course I abide.

So, almost a year after my first photo, I’ve decided to start an entire blog. This will give me a chance to do something creative and silly with no limits and I think that’s what I really crave right now. Plus I feel 10 years from now when I’m old, boring and actually look my age, I can have a record to look back upon when I was youthful and carefree. The next few photos posted are older ones, but I will start posting newer ones regularly. I took some last night, so expect some crazy new ones within the next few days. Just keep in mind I haven’t lost my mind–I’m combining three of my passions: writing, photography and drinking.

Easy Bar/Chicago/July 2007

This is one of my fave pictures. It was Theresa’s former roommate’s b-day, I believe. We all met at a bar near us called Easy Bar. I wasn’t even planning on going out that night, but I got suckered in. Once again it was lounge seating (a reoccurring theme) and for some reason I thought it’d be funny if dollar bills were strewn over me. The interpretation is completely open as the dead presidents could mean a lot of different things. Was I stripping? Who knows. Afterwards, I should mention we went back to Theresa’s place for a dance party. We stayed up until 6 a.m. Then some other stuff happened. Overall, it was a good night.

Avenue M/Chicago/July 2007

Okay, this picture is slightly strange. Here’s the story. A sorta upscale restaurant called Avenue M had a Ruby Rey rum tasting. Ruby Rey is a very strong white rum. A few of us My Open Barers of course went to the event for free rum and food. I suggest the potato chips there. Anyway, we got a little out of control that night. That’s what free rum does to you. Like I said before, sometimes we feel the need to spice up events. I mean, we completely ruined Tech Cocktail last summer, too. We put the “ass” into classy, basically. MOBster Lauren took this photo. There are many others in the album, but I will not show those. The bamboo stick was in a vase for display. I took it out and put it into my shirt, and voila, passed out. The entire night was fun. We “stole” some bottles of rum, a pillow and a candle. In fact, I still have some Ruby Rey in my apartment. Later that night, my friend would proceed to have drunken sex with my roommate. Ah, the benefits of alcoholism.

Some Random Street/Chicago/August 2007

This picture gets me because it looks like some sort of train wreck occurred. It was my friend Auriane’s b-day so we went to see a band she liked. She was really drunk, me, not so much. After the show ended we tried to find a cab. Her friend Scott took this photo. I got the idea in my mind to lay on the sidewalk, so I plopped down. She decided to lay on me and crush me. I think I may be screaming in the picture. Just kidding. We have a “complicated” relationship. Inside joke. The next day, everything got a little more “complicated” between us.

Bloody Mary Bar/Galena, IL/September 2007

This picture was taken in a quaint, sleepy town called Galena. It’s located near Iowa and the Mississippi River. My friends and I took a trip to Theresa’s farm in Shirland, spent the night, then the next day drove an hour and half to Galena. The first thing we did was hit a wine tasting, natch. It was after noon, so it was time to drink. I’m a sucker for bloody Mary bars and this was probably the best one I’ve ever been to (well, I haven’t been to many, I guess). They even had bleu cheese stuffed olives! Anyway, this was taken at the outdoor patio. I like the contrast of flinty colors with the bright red from the drink.