6. Whenever you go out for dinner or drinks always stick to one group. Do not switch groups halfway through (diner with friends A followed by drinks with friends B). When you hook up with your second group there is a high probability of an alcohol mismatch. Either your friends are already in a happy state of intoxication by the time you arrive and are still sober or you have already drowned the voice of reason in the river of alcohol but your friends are still discussing the finer points of Einsteins theories. When you are sober drunk people are extremely annoying. First because they do stupid things and say stupid stuff, second because you want to be there to. Trying to catch up will fail because your annoyance will inhibit your power of drinking. After one hour of trying you will probably give up and go home realizing that the alcohol is now finally kicking in. After a lousy nights rest you wake up with a hangover without having enjoyed the drunkenness. If you are drunk but your friends are not the situation can get much nastier (depends on your friends). They can go snooty (the solution is to kill them) or go into a mode of slight bemusement. Both are irritating and they will leave while you are still dancing on the table thinking your cool. This leads to a situation in which you have no sense of reason or logic and you have nobody to either correct you or to share your shame. The potential for trouble is endless.
7. Whenever you are at a company drink, make sure there is at least one person (preferably three or four) people more drunk than you. They will act as lightning rods and focus all attention on themselves. This is the difference between being the person who has a problem and being a good mate to have a drink with.