Bar or work?

That is the question. Today is my brothers birthday or as he referred to it “His special day”. That was actually the defense he used at 11 a.m. today to justify being at the bar. Below is the conversation we had.

Ring ring (I’m calling him)
Birthday boy~ “HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!”
Me~ “Hey, wait what? Happy Birthday brother. Are you at work”
BB~ No I’m at the Pine (local seedy bar)
Me~ Whoa. It’s 11 a.m. little early for the bar isn’t it.
BB~ No. It’s my special day. You should come up.
Me~ I’m on my way.

Now I feel the need to explain that I DON’T usually go to the bar at 11 a.m. b ut hey, it was his special day. Off to the Pine I go. I had a beer (I don’t usually have beer before work) and shot some pool. My brother was well on his way to a good buzz and his girlfriend was slightly sloshed, at 11 a.m. may I remind you. He makes my parents proud one day at a time. I actually rationalized why it would be ok to drink 2 beers before work but I reminded myself I hadn’t eaten an opted to stick to just one Coors Light. I cleaned up at pool. I’m sort of a pool shark and by sort of I mean not all. I like to play. I’m not very good but I can make some shots. I have my days. Today was a good day. I ran the table for a while but I always lose in the end. What can I say; sometimes I blow my load early. I left the Pine at exactly 12:25 and needed to be at work at 12:30. Oops. I rolled in here to the death desk around 12:36 pretty good time for crossing Rt. 30 with 5-6 lights between the bar and here. I wanted to stop at the golden arches for a smiley meal, but I couldn’t justify being later for a cheap toy and some nuggets. Strange I could justify being late for a beer and some pool. Priorities? Needless to say 1 beer on an empty stomach downed in about 5 minutes makes even me a little off. I stuffed my face with a cheap pretzel sandwich from the machine in the break room. My options were slim and I only had $2 left from the bar. Well $2 and a ten, and trust me the last thing I needed was $10 in quarters from the machine. So I purchased my pretzel treat. My only complaint with those vending machine sandwiches is the ham ALWAYS looks transparent. One thing I don’t want to see through, my food, especially food of the protein nature. So that was the exciting start of my day. A trip to the bar, a few games of pool, and a pretzel sandwich at work. Living dangerously. Take notes children, you to can one day be a drunk with a job. That’s the best kind to be.