Surreal moments with alcohol

So after a failed attempt to check out an apt listing, Tony and I decided to go to our favorite bar for burgers and beer. Or rather bison burger (me) and hot gravy-covered turkey sandwich (Tony) and beer (both). Fraizer's on the Avenue is an odd little half hole-in-the-wall/half restaurant in Hampden. It's like a bar you'd find in Lawrenceville, but without the pretension.

Anyway, we walk into the bar and low and behold, what is everyone watching one of the TVs? Discovery's How it's made? Nope. (Although that was on one of the television sets.)

Instead, the majority of patrons were raptly engaged in an episode of A&E TV's Intervention. Two episodes, in fact. Better yet, both shows centered on individuals who were steadily drinking themselves to death: one a returned Afghanistan army vet with a yen for vodka and the other an obviously manic depressive former body builder who eats his own cigarettes while washing them down with bottles of Southern Comfort.

The SoCo/Marlboro snack mix nearly killed my appetite.

It's a completely surreal experience to be indulging in alcohol and fries while watching a person physically and mentally deteriorate on nationally syndicated TV. You start to wonder where that line is where you go from casual drinker to functional alcoholic to not-so-functional addict.

It's a bit of a downer, really.

A slightly more surreal moment is when the show wraps up (both show subjects went to rehab; one stayed sober) and the bartender turns to the few of us at the bar, decrees that we will NEVER watch an episode of the show during bar hours again, and then shouts:

"Intervention special! $1 SoCo shots for everyone!"

I love this place.