I am about to take you on a journey, one that many OU students experience. It is a journey of love and loss. A journey of two best friends turned enemies. This trip details the travels of Ethyl Allie Alcohol and Adam blood and guts Cuervo.
Adam decides tonight will be a good night. He finally musters the bravery to talk to the apple of his eye, Kelly. Adam begins the night at his favorite bar. He orders a drink; and the real star, Allie Alcohol, introduces herself.
Now, Allie has different plans for Adam. What he does not realize is Allie's unlike all the other alcohol groups. She is full of carbon, hydrogen and, most importantly, oxygen bonds that give Allie her unique abilities.
Adam decides to take things fast and quickly downs his first drink. And so, Allie begins her love-hate relationship with Adam.
Allie saunters to the liver for digestion. The liver works quickly to oxidize her ethanol. When ethanol oxidizes into acetic acid, it produces two protons and two electrons. The acetic acid can be used to form fatty acids or can further break down into carbon dioxide and water.
However, Allie does not want to leave her fair prince Adam as she rapidly absorbs into the blood stream from the stomach. The blood then transports Allie into all his tissues. Once inside his tissues, the real fun begins.
Meanwhile, Adam orders more and more drinks. His confidence level rises. His cheeks feel flushed and his judgment impairs. He knows from introductory chemistry class that his blood alcohol level is beginning to rise.
And suddenly, there she is, radiating in the spotlight. Kelly is all alone; sitting, waiting, glancing ever so sheepishly at Adam. Adam sees this and gives his best cool guy nod
grabs his drink and, unfazed, walks over to Kelly.
Allie will not stand for this behavior.
She is determined to make Adam's BAC level rise and his chances with Kelly plummet straight to the ground.
Now Adam feels the third drink's effects. His BAC level surpasses 0.02, the level known as confusion. His vision blurs, his speech slurs. He seems a bit confused and unsure. Adam struggles to stay on the stool. The calm, cool place inside the bar seems like a euphoria of bright lights and loud arguments.
Inside Adam's body, his cerebral cortex pounds with Allie's Alcohol. It causes depression, restricting thought processes and allowing Allie to enter his cerebellum.
There, Allie is ruthless. The cerebellum tries keeping poor Adam on the chair long enough to say once sentence, but it's no use. Allie has succeeded and WHAM! Adam goes down hard to the floor.
Adam is muddled and confused. Kelly left ten minutes ago and he realizes he was talking to Post columnist Jane Adams. Warning lights sound off in his head because his levels just reached 0.04.
Allie has almost finished her fiendish mission and now arrives at the medulla. It controls all of the bodily functions that Adam does not have to think about. This includes breathing, thinking, body temperature and heart rate.
At the same time, the lining of Adam's liver is so irritated that it forces immediate expulsion of all the alcohol, massively dehydrating the body at the same time.
And now that Allie finally finishes her plan to ruin Adam's night, everything goes dark.
Adam wakes up instantly hit with a throbbing pain in his head. He knows the acetaldehyde from the breakdown of Allie caused this. He reaches for some eggs, fruit juice and water; all of which will provide the best ways to rehydrate his body.
What Adam needs most is time. Time to think about the potentially dangerous actions of last night. Time to make things right with those he interacted with last night.
Time: the best remedy for his Allie breakup.
Luis Delgadillo is a sophomore studying chemical engineering and columnist for The Post. Send him your favorite journeys with Allie at ld199907@ohiou.edu 4
Opinion
Luis Delgadillo
