Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a very special reason to raise our glasses. January 5th of the year 2014 is the day that the founder of this weblog Nikolay turns 22. If 11 is the ‘crazy number’ can you imagine what happens if the drinking machine from Pernik doubles this number? For sure it’s a way better excuse to drink than the American National Bird Day we had so far on the Party Calendar. So let’s honor this legend by having a drink.

While we enjoy our beverages let me tell you a little more about the birthday boy. I met Nikolay during my exchange semester in Bulgaria in 2011. The first meeting I sadly can not recall, but that fact in mind it must have been an awesome night. The second meeting therefor was a little weird. While he was asking me what we talked about the other day, I was asking myself who the hell he was. Since at first we usually drunk in different groups before finding each other in the end of drunken nights, it took us quite a while to really get to know each other.

By then we both had a notorious reputation where it came to drinking. For a long time his amazing ability to get totally smashed was about all I knew from Nikolay. The fact that he was one of the few students from the town Pernik wasn’t really helping. This is the main city of industry in Bulgaria and the habitants are mostly known for their fighting and drinking skills, rather than their great intellect. With his drinking skills and rather rough presence in mind I therefor started calling him Pernik.

But soon enough I found out that Nikolay was far from a brainless brute. He showed great interest in various topics and a knowledge that was quite stunning. No matter if it was literature, history, languages, geography or philanthropy. Still I’m sure he impressed more people with his amazing drinking skills. He could sit in a restaurant for hours drinking wines or cognacs like water. Before going to a club and downing another ten or twenty tequila shots, while sipping some beers or cocktails on the side. I’m sure many man of the same height and weight would have died or at least ended up in a hospital.

While I, as an Exchange student, didn’t have to care about my grades, Pernik had to. But even with all the drinking and partying this was never a problem. At the end of the year there was the annual election for the  biggest drunk in the school. I remember the sadness in his eyes when yours truly snatched that price away from him. I’m sure a lot of our friends wanted me to have it since he had another chance the next year. And indeed, in 2013 there was no doubt or competition: Pernik finally got rewarded for his hard work. Deserved, but still impressive because I remember him complaining that year: “I hate the courses I took. They cut way too much into my drinking time.”

Nowadays he is besides a recognized and awarded drinker also known as a brilliant mind. A personal lesson I learned from him is not to be ashamed or hide my drinking cause it can damage your reputation. Just do your job right and nobody can say a damn word about it. This weblog is that philosophy in solidified form. So here’s to the founding father of Lords of the Drinks, which I am proud to call my friend. From  this day on the 5th of January will be known as , nazdrave!

Micky Bumbar