1984
Half of a can of beer given to him by his favorite uncle while on vacation in Miami. They made him perform jokes in front of the
whole family. He was 4 ½.
1992????
On a trip to Disney World with same
uncle and cousins. (Habib, his mother, and brother, had already moved
to Miami.) Drunk at a Denny's barking orders, embarrassing older
brother Nabil, but entertaining his family like a clown. Collapses on the steps of
the motel where they were staying, laughing like a little maniac. He
was 12.
1994
A case of Budweiser in a Honda accord
with a high school buddy he met on the football team. Then later on in the night, drunk in Coconut Grove asking to use the restroom in various
restaurants and being denied. Relieves himself next to the dumpster behind a hotel.
1997
A bowl of weed at his best friend's
house. He ends up laughing the whole night, and ordering pizza.
Another friend brings some Hialeah Chongas who jump in the pool and
remind Habib of hippos in Africa. He's now attending community
college.
1997 end of the year.
Ecstasy at same friend's house. He was
afraid to try it, but his friends ambush him with it. It's so pure, that Habib feels reborn while shopping with his mother
the next day.
1999
Absinthe smuggled from Spain. He has a
floating drunk feeling, despite the taste. This was with the same
best friends but at a condo in Brickell. His friend had a neighbor, a
single woman in her 30s, who kept banging on the wall whenever they
got too loud.
New Year's Eve 2000
Ecstasy again at Shadow Lounge. Partied
the whole night. Stared at a strange Russian couple fighting and tried to write a
story about it the next day.
2004
Mushrooms in Amsterdam with his travel buddy Montes. He was
so high he couldn't cum with the Brazilian prostitute in the Red Light District.
2004
A bowl of weed with Montes before a
tour of the Vatican grotto. He felt an evil presence despite the holiness. He was 27.
Same Rome trip in 2004 – Grappa at the quaint restaurant
across the street from the hotel with Montes.
2007
A feeling that all life has not been
lived, so, – “I need Spain, or Key West, or San Francisco or the
Dominican Republic, or Cuba or anywhere else but Miami.”