One star hangover

No pain. No real feeling of illness. Your sleep last night was a mere disco nap which is giving you a whole lot of misplaced energy. Be glad that you are able to function relatively well.

However, you are still parched. You can drink ten cokes and still feel this way. Even vegetarians are craving a steak sandwich and a side order of gravy fries from any cafe.

Two star hangover

No pain. Something is definitely amiss. You may look okay but you have the attention span and mental capacity of a staple gun. The coffee you chug to try and remain focused is only exacerbating your rumbling gut, which is craving a MacDonalds breakfast. Last night has wreaked havoc on your bowels and even though you have a nice demeanor about the office, you are costing your employer valuable money because all you really can handle is surfing internet porn and writing junk e-mails.

Three star hangover

Slight headache. Stomach feels crappy. You are definitely a space shot and so not productive. Anytime a girl walks by you gag because her perfume reminds you of the random gin shots you did with your alcoholic friends after the bouncer chucked you out at 1:45 a.m.

Life would be better right now if you were in your bed with a dozen donuts and a steak sub watching the Q awards. You've had four cups of coffee, a gallon of water, three Snapples and a litre of diet coke - yet you haven't peed once.

Four star hangover

Life sucks. Your head is throbbing and you can't speak too quickly or else you might puke. Your boss has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze.

You wore nice clothes, but that can't hide the fact that you missed an oh-so crucial spot shaving, (girls, it looks like you put your make-up on while riding the bumper cars) your teeth have sweaters, your eyes look like one big vein and your hair style makes you look like a retard.

You would shoot your mother for one or all of the following -
1. the clock to strike 6pm
2. the entire appetizer list from TGI Fridays or
3. a time machine so you could go back and NOT have gone out the night before.

Five star hangover (aka Dante's 4th Circle of Hell)

You have a second heartbeat in your head which is actually annoying the employee who sits at the next desk. Vodka vapor is seeping out of every pore and making you dizzy. You still have toothpaste crust in the corners of your mouth from brushing your teeth. Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva, so your tongue is suffocating you. You'd cry but that would take the last of the moisture left in your body. Death seems pretty good right now. Your boss doesn't even get mad at you and your co-workers think that your dog just died because you look so pathetic.

You should have called in sick because, let's face it, all you can manage to do is bitch about your state - which is a mystery to you because you definitely don't remember who you were with, where you were, what you drank and why there is a stranger still sleeping in your bed, unaccompanied, at your house. The only thing you can do is smoke a spliff and pass out. It's when you wake up a few hours later with a lesser star hangover that you eat a large pizza, an order of Tandoori Chicken, a ham and cheese omelet and a batch of Cadbury's chocolate.