at parties , especially when he was drinking heavily , as he had taken to doing upon resurfacing from his hiatus , bhakti had become an absolute terror to the finer sensibilities of some , for unable to resist the urge to spout off about one thing or another , he would corner some poor unsuspecting sap who didnt see him approaching from behind , would lean in really closethereby invading his victims space cushionand would unleash with his toxic , brandy-infused breath the full weight of his musings , opinions , and strange speculations , eliciting polite grimaces and uncomfortable nods of affirmation from his tense captives who helplessly repeated these thoughtless and mechanical gestures of empathy until the boozy blowhard finally found himself stuck in mid-sentence , attempting to remember where he had been going in the first place with this tirade he had just unleashed upon them .