As I mentioned before, there was a group of chemistry grad students who regularly went out to the bars on Thursday nights. Sometimes we went Fridays and Saturdays. Going out on Thursday meant very little work got done on Friday. We were lucky to straggle in by noon in time for lunch. Maybe do a few hours of work in the afternoon before going to the chemistry seminar, which I regularly skipped. It was just too boring to sit there in the dark while some visiting professor droned on about slide after slide of research. Most of these professors were used to the old way of doing things, which means you might get a chalkboard talk. Horrors! PowerpointPowerpoint and similar programs brought an interesting element since animation was possible. At least it was different. Kept the eyes busy.

So we went to the same bar on Thursday nights to drink and listen to music. They had a “band.” The “band” was two guys playing covers–one played piano or guitar, the other played the drums. They weren’t bad, but I can’t really call them a band. So the whole room drinks and sings along to songs they know. I’m sorry to say that I know the woDC’sto AC/DC’s “Big Balls” thanks to these Thursday nights. For some reason, every time we went someone wanted to hear this song. There were other regular songs as well, but this one sticks out in my mind. They played quite a bit of rock and some country. Even a little country was too much for me. Other songs we heard nearly every week: Piano Man, Brown-Eyed Girl and Ring of Fire.

There was this horrible little bar off the beaten path that we would go to because one of the group knew the bartender. This place was a real dive. Cider block walls. One night we were there, two men got into a fight. There was hair everywhere! They started howling and pulling each other’s hair. I don’t even know what it was about.

The best part of going there was the bartender’s own concoction. she made up this drink she called the seven-toed toad. Well it was green (Midori). It had seven different alcohols. She never told us what was in it. It could knock you over though. Tasted great! You couldn’t taste the alcohol at all. But after two (I don’t care how much you weighed), you were very, very drunk. I’ve never drank any mixed drink that has gotten me drunk faster. It knocked the guys a good one too.

Of course, we went there at the end of the night. So that would have been after 6-7 amaretto sours, perhaps a few shots for me, and at least a pitcher of beer for each guy. I never payed much attention to what the other gals drank (there was always a couple others, but they didn’t usually go to the dive bar with the guys). Why did I go? Seems out of place for me. One of the guys was always my ride home. I was stuck going wherever they went.

I have to say that even though all those late nights and hangovers probably increased my time in graduate school, I had a lot of fun.