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- ISSUE #006
After Hours
The weekly newsletter covering tech, culture & life outside our digital world
ISSUE #006: The Case for a Bender
1 Thing From Me
This week is a departure from the topics I’ve covered in the past, but I needed to put this out there. I hope you enjoy.
THE INTRO
Summer is approaching. You can feel it in the air. The buzz of warmer days ahead is becoming palpable.
Even still, times don't feel great. There's a lot of worry in the world, no denying that. If you’re often filled with existential dread like me, there may be a perfect remedy for our woes.
A bender. A good old fashioned bender.
12 beers on a Wednesday
— Joseph 🕊️ (@CaudilloXIV)
5:03 AM • Mar 13, 2025
Indulging in a (purposeful) weekend of vice is by no means a healthy solution to your problems, but it is a lot of fun. Most people have hung their college jerseys in the rafters and forgotten how to have a lot of fun.
If you need a break from the mundane routine of life and yearn for the joyous thrill of raging: look no further than prescribing yourself a bender.
THE DENNIS RODMAN CASE STUDY
Amidst the famous 97-98 NBA season, Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman took off for Vegas. There was no game scheduled, Rodman (renowned for his antics) had his own agenda in mind.
"When Scottie was out, Dennis was a model citizen, to the point where it was driving him f–king insane," Michael Jordan said in The Last Dance. "So, when Scottie came back, Dennis wanted to take a vacation."
Rodman returned from vice city and balled out harder than before. The team went on to win the championship and 3-peat.
Lesson there.
DRINKING IS LINDY
Drinking is under attack. Biohackers and experts on all things to ever exist like Andrew Huberman and Brian Johnson have been gaining influence over mainstream health discourse. In his parting moments, Biden's Surgeon General proclaimed that all consumption of alcohol increases cancer risk.
Everyone seems to be urging us not to drink in the slightest. This is absolutely not medical advice but… I'm not buying it.
Although drinking does come with some risk, it's still Lindy. It's endured the test of time. Drinking has been the bonding agent of humanity for centuries. The word "wine" even appears in the bible over 200 times.
There's probably good reason for all that.
If modern society does eventually over-rationalize at critical mass and decide to stop drinking, we'll probably all die of loneliness instead.
Non-drinkers who go to social events are freeriding on the goodwill and joviality of hard working drinkers and the whole social fabric would fall apart if everybody stopped drinking
— metakuna (14/100 blog posts) (@metakuna)
1:17 PM • Mar 25, 2025
The amount of people who mentioned to me that they were doing dry January this year was a concerning signal of what may come. It's on us to stop this madness.
If we’re all sober, what is left for us to do?
HOW TO BENDER
These days I'm actually an advocate for strict moderation when it comes to drinking. My MO is beer and wine only, aim for no more than 3 drinks on any given night out.
However, you can still benefit from moderately partaking in excessive drinking. The Ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca put it more eloquently in a letter:
“At times we ought to drink even to intoxication, not so as to drown, but merely to dip ourselves in wine, for wine washes away troubles and dislodges them from the depths of the mind and acts as a remedy to sorrow as it does to some diseases."
Here's my bender checklist:
Calendar completely blocked for the weekend
Friday night pregame, Saturday afternoon rough plan, Sunday brunch reservation (bottomless if you're strong) all in the books
Electric texts to the groupchat Friday at 3pm
Never feel bad for having fun and don’t ever think about Monday
2-3 days, min. 3 locations, Calendars blocked out, lots of friends, lots of drinks. That's a bender in my books. Doesn’t have to be much.
THE EXIT
Hopefully you’re fired up for the weekend. Send some goofy texts to the gc and get things in motion. If you’re having trouble rallying the troops, send them this post and make them feel bad.
Until then, see you next Friday.
— Kyle
From The Community
This newsletter isn't just my voice echoing into the void (actually it is)— it's the beginning of a conversation. And like any good conversation at a dimly lit bar, I want to hear your stories.
Share with me:
Your all-time bender performance
Reply to this email with a story and the best ones will be featured anonymously in next week's issue.
If I don’t get any replies after this week I will be retiring this section. May be time for a pivot.
What’s Next
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