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. 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 (yeah, right).

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.

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.

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.

Stoli Hotel/Chicago/October 2007

This was taken at the Stoli Hotel during Halloween weekend. The Stoli isn’t an actual hotel. It was a warehouse converted into an alcohol induced party area serving free vodka drinks for a few weeks. They had a Halloween party there, so my friends and I went. They had all these rooms with beds and couches obviously modeled after a hotel room. Like I mentioned before, sometimes my friends would get in cahoots with me. In this pic is my Swedish friend David. He was always amused with my “posing” so he decided to pass out with me. He went back to Sweden (sniff sniff) so no more of that. For Halloween I was some sort of devil woman and David was J.D from the show Scrubs. Funny.

Prey/NYC/September 2007

I went to NYC for my friend’s bachelorette party. A bunch of us girls went to a place called La Caverna in the Lower East Side for dinner. The restaurant is modeled after a cave, which is kinda lame, but the food was good. The tab was ridiculous: $45 per person. This is one reason why I don’t live in NY. Afterwards, we headed to a club called Prey. I remember sitting in the car on the way to this club and getting really depressed. I think at that moment it hit me I didn’t want to live in NY anymore. I suddenly felt lonely for Chicago and all my friends there. I was feeling down, but the bottle service perked me up. Until that night, I’d never had bottle service. They brought us vodka and rum and mixers and we all sat at a table and drank. We even had penis straws in honor of the bride-to-be. Some random guys started dancing with us. Ick. The next weekend I went to Ohio to be in the wedding.

NCR Country Club/Dayton, Ohio/October 2007

“My friends are getting married, I’m getting drunk” should be the caption for the picture. Two of my best friends, Mark and Julie, got married in October and I was a groomswoman in the the wedding. Yes, I was in Mark’s wedding party with another groomswoman. They are from my hometown, so that’s where they got married. My passing out even trickled to a wedding. One of the groomsmen, John, took this photo. Mark and Julie live in NY and the majority of the wedding party flew in from there. My project is infamous in NY. I think this photo perfectly sums up my life at that moment. The weekend before the wedding, I was in NY for the bachelorette party. I was back in Chicago for two days before driving home to Ohio to be in the wedding. I think more than anything, I was completely exhausted at this point. The night before, my mom even forced me to take a sleeping pill. Geez. Being in a wedding is hard. I didn’t drink too much at the wedding. Really.

Sidebar: After the reception ended, we went back to the hotel and hung out with some people. One of their friends was so drunk he kept dialing the concierge and harassing him about stupid things like the hairdryer not working. Then he poured beer down the elevator shaft. I would’ve thought that was funnier if I hadn’t been riding in said elevator. Good times.