Reaching Pi

Reaching Pi
I had a friend in college, let’s call him Dirk, who; like most of us; used to get blind stinking drunk on a fairly consistent basis. Dirk and I were great friends, and even shared the same birthday, although this fact escaped us for nearly an entire semester until around mid-December while making plans that hinged on being blacked out drunk for New Year’s…and beyond.
Now Dirk loved his beer; probably not any more than anyone else, but it had a profound effect on him. Whilst in college, there are people who are dubbed with the unfortunate moniker of “Three Beer Queer” and it becomes very difficult to live down. Dirk wasn’t exactly a TBQ, but the tasty suds still had a pretty strange effect on him. After drinking three beers, Dirk would be fine and still able to do those things like carrying on a conversation or maintaining his balance, that we sometimes take for granted. Upon taking the first sip of his forth beer however, he became a lunatic, often feeling the need to take his shirt off and dance in front of the large bay window in his room, while blasting Easy E’s “Gimmie that Nut,” DJ Assault’s “Ass-n-Titties” or Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere.” Being able to walk the fine line between being cooler than you are and sick nerd who likes Star Trek, I decided that it took Dirk approximately 3.14 beers to get completely wasted. And amazingly, no matter how many more beers -or shots of Jack, for that matter- he had the rest of the night, he never got any drunker. Watching the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde like metamorphosis that would take place when Dirk would reach Pi is one of my fonder college memories; although it’s interposed with one of the most objectionable…the half naked, drunken dancing.