Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

Long story short, I slept in my trunk so I wouldn’t have to drive under the influence of alcohol. What follows is the full story, details, and reason behind this “strangeness.”

I drove to a BBQ on Friday evening, where I met up with Marina and some of our friends. There was a bit of beer drinking on my part, and I made a quick detour by walking over to the nearby bar in order to buy my friend and myself a couple of shots for his 21st birthday.

It wasn’t a long BBQ. We hung out there for a couple of hours, went to a Middle Eastern cafe for some food and hookah, after which it was time to go. Marina left, as did everyone else, and I walked towards my car.

I was fully aware that after approximately 5+ units of alcohol my blood-alcohol limit would be above the legal limit. On top of this, I was tired, and I hate driving tired since I fell asleep driving several years ago (by an act of God my car spun out of control in a 360* turn and I didn’t hit anything). Of course I don’t want to injure myself, nor any innocent bystanders.

Last semester when I was volunteering at NYU, Dr. Eric Ploumis, an orthodontist and an attorney that specializes in dental law all wrapped up into one pretty awesome human being gave an interesting lecture. As a side note in his lecture, he stated that if a dentist is to get a DUI, even if he had half a glass of wine more than he should have, the Dental Board will take away his license.

A dentist without a license is not able to pay back the massive 6 digit school loans, the money he took out to finance his office, and the money for the house and cars that he no doubt financed. He’s also not qualified to get another job with a salary that is even close to what he was making as a dentist. I’m actually not sure how this affects someone that isn’t a dentist yet, but a perspective dentist, and if this would prevent a person from receiving their dental license in the future. Regardless, the risk versus reward of this situation is overwhelmingly high in favor of the risk.

Had I been Tyler Durden, a fictional character from the book Fight Club, and had nothing to lose, I’d probably purposely crash my car into the police station. Alas, I’m not, and I like police officers, and my life, and my freedom, so I wouldn’t do that!

So when faced with such a situation, what’s one to do but go camping in their own car? BTW, as far as I know, you aren’t allowed to stick your keys into the ignition of your car if you’re intoxicated, because then you are technically “operating” your vehicle (instant DUI).

The weather was perfect. I put down my back seat, so that I could lay down fully stretched out with my head inside the trunk and my feet on the back seat. My review: More comfortable than sleeping on the bare ground in the woods, safer than sleeping under a park bench, but less comfortable than sleeping in my own bed at home.

It was about 1:15am when I decided to go through with this. I did have other options, like sleeping over Marina’s friend’s house, but I didn’t want to bother. I could have taken a cab home for approximately $20, and then back again in the morning for another $20 to catch my 10am class. The class was only 2 miles from where my car was already parked.

With my book bag already in the car (perhaps I was expecting this?), I went car camping. I put my head-end in the trunk, and the legs-end on the back seat because it was darker, and felt safer in the nook of the trunk.

I woke up around 7am, evaluated if I was sober, and found myself to be as fresh as a cucumber. I headed over to Dunkin Donuts. I cleaned up, got my coffee and breakfast, and parked my butt there for approximately 3 hours to study and prepare for class.

If I had to do it again, maybe I’d pack a pillow or something. Maybe I’d even try to arrange a place to sleepover, or a ride home in advance, as I’ve done many times in the past. The experience was interesting, and totally out of the box.

The moral of the story is that even if you have to go ‘car camping’, there’s never a good reason to drive drunk. Also, I just found this article on How to Sleep Comfortably in Your Car, which leads me to believe that I’m not the only one (see #5), lol.

Dear readers, have you ever had a similar experience? Have a story with a good moral? Just a plain old drunk story? Share!

Don’t forget to get your free copy of Liberation Revolution: It’s Time to Cut the Cubicle Umbilical Cord, by Jonathan Mead.

I created a new review site yesterday. If you’re interested in having the freedom to do whatever you want in life, you’ll be interested in reading the Project Mojave Review.

Tweet This Post