Level 1:
It’s 11:00 on a weeknight, you’ve had a few beers. You get up to leave because
you have work the next day and one of your friends buys another round. One of
your unemployed friends. Here at level I you think to yourself, “Oh come on,
this is silly. Why, as long as I get seven hours of sleep (snap fingers), I’m
cool.”
Level 2:
It’s midnight. You’ve had a few more beers. You’ve just spent 20 minutes
arguing against artificial tuff. You get up to leave again, but at level
2, a little devil appears on your shoulder. And now you’re thinking, “Hey! I’m
out with my friends! What am I working for anyway? These are the good times!
Besides, as long as I get five hours sleep (snaps fingers), I’m
Cool.”
Level 3:
One in the morning. You’ve abandoned beer for tequila. You’ve just spent 20
minutes arguing for artificial tuff. And now you’re thinking, “Our waitress is
the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen!” At level 3, you love the world. On the
way to the bathroom you buy a drink for the stranger at the end of the bar just
because you like his face. You get drinking fantasies (like, “Hey fellas, if we
bought our own bar, we could live together forever. We could do it. Tommy, you
could cook.”) But at level 3, that devil is a little bit bigger.., and he’s
buying. And you’re thinking
“Oh, come on, come on now. As long as I get three hours sleep.., and a
complete change of blood (snaps fingers), I’m cool.”
Level 4:
Two in the morning. And the devil is bartending. For last call, you ordered a
bottle of rum and a Coke. You are artificial tutti. This time on your way to the
bathroom, you punch the stranger at the end of the bar just because you don’t
like his face! And now you’re thinking, “Our busboy is the best looking man I’ve
ever seen.” You and your friends decide to leave, right after you get thrown
out, and one of you knows an at, er
hours bar. And here, at level 4, you actually think to ourself, “Well …. as
long as I’m only going to get a few hours sleep anyway, I may as well …. stay
up all night!!!! Yeah! That’d be good for me. I don’t mind going to that board
meeting looking like Keith Richards. Yeah, I’ll turn that around, make it work
for me. And besides, as long as I get 31 hours sleep tomorrow
………………. cool.
Level 5:
Five in the morning, alter unsuccessfully trying to get your money back at the
tattoo parlor (“But I don’t even know anybody named Ruby!!!”), you and your
friends wind up across the state line in a bar with guys who have been in prison
as recently as that morning. It’s the kind of place where even the devil is
going, “Uh, I gotta turn in. I gotta be in Hell at nine.I’ve got that brunch
with Hitler, I can’t miss that.” At this point,
you’re ail drinking some kind of thick blue liquor, like something from a
Klingon wedding. A waitress with fresh stitches comes over, and you think to
yourself, “Someday I’m gonna marry that girl!” One of your friends stands up and
screams, “We’re drivin’ to floridaf Y!!!”- and passes out.
You crawl outside for air, and then you hit the worst part of level 5 –
the sun. You weren’t expecting that were you? You never do. You walk out or a
bar in day light, and you see people on their way to work, or jogging. And they
look at you-and they know. And they say… “Who’s Ruby?” Let’s be honest, if
you’re 19 and you stay up ail night, it’s like a victory, like you’ve beat the
night.., but if you’re over 27, then that sun is like God’s flashlight. We all
say the same prayer then, “I swear, I will never do this again (how long?) as
long as I live!” And some of us have that little addition, “and this time, I
mean it!”