Drunken Driving

[robinturner]

I decided to see how much alcohol affects drinving skills by  driving after a couple of litres of beer and a few brandies.

OK, not real driving. A few days ago, prompted by an unexpected payment for some translation work, I succumbed to temptation and bought a steering wheel controller for my computer. My rationalisation was that this would improve my pathetic driving skills, since Turkish traffic bears a strong resemblance to video games like Crazy Taxi and NASCAR Racer. I was rather disappointed that the free game that came with the hardware was not one of these, but Age of Empires II, which I already have, and in any case is not the best piece of software to try out your new steering wheel and pedals ("OMG, there's a bunch of pikemen on the road - quick, rev up and do a handbrake turn!"). So I downloaded the demo of Live For Speed, which turned out to be pretty impressive in terms of graphics and physics, and started working my way through the tutorial. I got stuck on the slalom - however fast I tried to go, it still told me I hadn't finished the course quickly enough.

A fair amount of alcohol later, I rebooted into Windows (yech!) for another try. Sure, I finished the slalom much more quickly, but it was a case of "Whee, there goes a traffic cone! Wow, those stacks of tires go right up in the air when you hit them!"

In other words, only try this at home, kids.

Comments

deep breath

[maggie-lucy.livejournal.com]

For a minute you had me worried! Like my intruder frog. Now I am more aware of the effects of various substances, I am amazed at the fact that I'm still here and, tho' feeling decrepit, am reasonably healthy. I grew up in rooms and public spaces that were thick with cigarette smoke, i lived for years near a leadworks and huge steam marshalling yards, smoked for effect at uni, and drove while over what is now considered the limit. I indulged in dangerous sports, i.e. rock climbing, and was often soaked and frozen, and spent years in what therapists call a toxic work environment. But I'm still here at 76. I remember friends coming over to play scrabble or bridge and consuming lots of alcohol. But they thought nothing of driving home with a baby on the back seat. John B. couldn't remember the route and his reflexes must have been perfect. There wasn't much traffic and he knew the roads well, but-----. I now cringe at the memory.

Re: deep breath

[cf.livejournal.com]

I had a fight with a fire hydrant last time i almost drove drunk. I swear to god that the fire hydrant was chasing us...

anyway, i think that drunk driving practice helps drunk driving, not sober driving. And now that i am back in new york, i think i need to go try out these games, you are making miss me old driving habits in istanbul.

you know though, that the scariest scariest scariest thing you can do is going rock climbing drunk.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

heh. the analogy between Turkish traffic and Crazy Taxi is both amusing and (if Turkey is like my experience in India) apt.

Crazy Taxi indeed.

rock climbing

[maggie-lucy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know - the ground dissolves into a gentle blur rather than a scary sheer 200foot drop.

[galaxy-nebula.livejournal.com]

Beer forever!!!