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BOOZE
Apr 11, 2006 2:16:11 GMT -4
Post by ECTO-1 on Apr 11, 2006 2:16:11 GMT -4
I think this' about the only place I can get constructive input without getting flamed or smartasses, so I'm putting this here.
I'm trying to, but I just don't understand society's obssession with booze. Not in the least. When did booze become an every day part of life? When did it become a necessity? Why? My problem with the booze is so-called civilized people don't know when to say NO. Getting drunk is THE thing to do. Getting drunk every night, hey, even better! You know, I could accept the OCCASSIONAL swig now and again, but to celebrate, people go out for a drink. To hang out, people go out for a drink. When they're miserable, they go out for a drink. What, movies don't exist no more? All these businesses that encourage you to stick around and hang there and the best you can ever do is a bar?
One example of why it all bugs me: if someone goes out to a bar to hang out with friends, say not a regular drinker, they would have ordered something other than a beer. Yet, if someone offers to buy them a beer, they wouldn't refuse it. Why? Why do you HAVE to drink when you go out or hang out? Why would someone ACCEPT the very thing they wouldn't have gotten in the first place? Why do you HAVE to be offered a drink everywhere? Water...juice...soda...all perfectly good options. Cheaper than booze and won't screw you up either.
One answer I got in relation to the above situation is it's rude to refuse something. So, what's to stop you from saying you don't want a beer but would take a soda? Would that also apply if you weren't a smoker but someone bought you a pack of cigarettes? That mean you'd take and smoke them all 'cause it's rude to refuse when someone offers it to you? Is it so hard to say "no thanks"?
Now, the getting drunk...what is with the getting drunk? See, therin lies the REAL issue here. People get drunk for numerous excuses, er, I mean reasons, but why is that necessary? Why does drinking mean you have to automatically go to get drunk? Why can't you stop at your limit? Why can't you just say no more? Or take a break?
One account I got was this girl went to a ski weekend and partied all of one day until she blacked out, spent the whole next day throwing up, and called it the best time of her life. How does spending half of a drunken weekend throwing up after you blacked out constitute the best weekend of your life?
Here's another account; they drink/get drunk to have fun. To have fun? So, what you're saying is you need to be boozed up in order to have fun with the people you're out with or at the places you go to. Um, maybe if you NEED something to MAKE them fun, they weren't THAT much fun to begin with and you should consider other options. I mean, I manage to have fun with my friends with whatever we do and there's nary a drink in sight. Wow, what a concept.
And of course, the ever-popular "trying to get away from a problem" excuse. NEWSFLASH: When you sober up, whatever problem you had before you got drunk will still be there!
Why is it a rite of passage? Why can't anyone not be "cool" or an "adult" unless they've gotten sh*tfaced and thrown up for the next 48 hours? What in the hell is the point of booze anyway when you have many, many, many other things to drink that won't give you a headache, make you have memory loss, or have you either on the road dead because you were too stupid to not drive or in bed with a complete stranger (sometimes multiple or even of the same sex!). And of course let's not forget date-rape and pregnancy.
And then people are in such a rush to start doing it! They raid their parents' cabients, get their older siblings to buy them some, go into bars where they know they won't be carded just to get liquored up. Why? 'Cause they're sheep sthingyfed images by society? 'Cause their friends tell them it's cool? Oh, and let's not forget the enablers; the older adults that take kids under 21 into bars with them to hang out.
The FDA says an 8oz serving of booze these days is good for your health...but my problem lies in that people do not have the faculties to NOT drink more than that a day. Drinking has become a serious part of life for no reason I can see other than it's addicitve properties. So if someone can explain this obssession to me, it'd be appreciated, 'cause for now all I see is this pointless sh*t that everyone HAS to have.
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BOOZE
Apr 11, 2006 6:47:27 GMT -4
Post by EGBFan on Apr 11, 2006 6:47:27 GMT -4
This semi-autobiographical story I wrote at the beginning of January (for an open mic event at uni - scariest thing I've ever done) about sums up how I feel, not really about booze itself, but about the kind of people Ecto hates who won't take no for an answer. If you don't want to read the story but you care what I think, my attitude is pretty much this: drink all you want, but please leave me out of it. I'm not exactly what you might call teetotal, although I haven't had a drink for probably about two years. It's extremely possible that I might drink a little bit a week on Saturday - it's a party, there will be booze and I won't want to be there (and the problem will be gone in the morning). But anyway, I agree, I don't understand the mentality either. I don't, like, disapprove of alcohol or anything, as long as you're sensible with it - I just don't like it myself. I could delve into my personal experiences with a suspected alcoholic (suspected by my mother and myself, at least)... but I don't think I will. Ashamed as I am to admit it, I once showed incredible weakness and found myself accepting a drink from this guy that I didn't want shortly after my eighteenth birthday because he just wouldn't drop it. "You're eighteen... you have to drink..." I mean, that about sums it up, doesn't it?
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BOOZE
Apr 11, 2006 9:20:07 GMT -4
Post by Fritz on Apr 11, 2006 9:20:07 GMT -4
I suppose one theory is that getting drunk lowers your inhibitions, and you do things you'd have the sense to avoid sober.
I've also heard tell that in ancient times, alchohol was actually safer to drink than water, because the distillation kills most of the germs and bacteria. But that doesn't really excuse much after the Industrial Revolution.
And then there's the old jokes about "Alchohol helps ugly people procreate too."
But on the whole, I don't understand it either. I'm 35 and have had maybe three drinks in my entire life--when I turned 21, on January 1, 2000, and when a friend of mine got married about four years ago. And even then, I didn't enjoy them very much and certainly didn't get completely hammered.
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BOOZE
Apr 11, 2006 10:01:24 GMT -4
Post by Kingpin on Apr 11, 2006 10:01:24 GMT -4
Let's not forget the unknowing family who drinks often.
I enjoy an occassional drink... but is it so neccesary that I have to have a drink in the evening? I enjoy Pepsi as an evening drink too...
Drunk isn't fun... or as close as I ever got to it, I was sick and that was a sobering experience.
A casual drink with friends is fine, but you guys are right... you don't need to drink heavily to have a good time or you simply have a bad taste/idea in 'having fun'.
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BlackMaria
Doberman
Jersey Devil
Sharpening the Fence Posts
Posts: 126
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BOOZE
Apr 11, 2006 16:04:10 GMT -4
Post by BlackMaria on Apr 11, 2006 16:04:10 GMT -4
I don't usually keep liquor in the house, but do keep chilled pilsner glasses in the freezer. They haven't been filled in a while, & I wish I had wine to go w/my pasta recently....but I"m not gonna make a special trip. I was never a heavy drinker in college: social only. Last drink : St. Pat's Day. Next booze: Easter. So many young people are getting alcohol poisoning &/or stumbling into bad cars, neighborhoods, or bodies of water. You shouldn't drink so much that it leaves you vunerable to robbery, rape, or murder.
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BOOZE
Apr 11, 2006 16:23:11 GMT -4
Post by Silent Seraphim on Apr 11, 2006 16:23:11 GMT -4
I thought it was just a British cultural thing, but from Ecto’s post it seems I am wrong. I do think there is a strange obsession with alcohol that seems to have completely overtaken modern society. Personally, I blame stress. I used to work in London, and at lunchtimes and the end of the day the bars, pubs and clubs are always full of people whose only way of winding down is to get off their face on drink and drugs. It’s kind of sad, but that’s the way it is. There are a lot of people my age who are just purely living for the weekend - going to clubs and taking drugs to get away from the stress of working in a high-pressure environment or the boredom of work. They think it is fun, a break from their working lives, and they really don’t care about anything else. The trouble is that it’s not social drinking anymore; it’s drinking to get so drunk that you are passing out and throwing up, and for some strange reason it has become acceptable to do it.
Personally, I think it’s pitiful to see a woman passed out on the floor, throwing up all over the place. I ended up in that state once, one Christmas Eve many years ago. It scared the heck out of me because there are parts of that night I couldn’t remember at all. I had a perfectly lucid conversation with a friend that I couldn't remember having with her. Certain parts of that night are just a big black hole, and to think that there are other women who find themselves in that state, doing things in the streets that they won’t remember, with strangers... It’s not just stupid, it’s dangerous.
However, I don’t think alcohol is all bad, though. Chilled white wine tastes nice with an evening meal, beer is great with Chinese, red wine is great with pasta and a glass of Baileys with crushed ice is wonderful as an after dinner drink or as a little refresher on a hot summer’s evening. Drinking in moderation is perfectly fine. In fact, there are known health benefits to drinking the odd glass of red wine every now and again. It’s the binge drinking culture that is the problem.
I do admit to getting a little tipsy every now and again. I pay for it the next morning, but at the time my reason for having that extra few drinks are that I just find myself in a nice state of mind that I'd like to stay in for the duration of the evening. It is relaxing, and I do feel very friendly, very happy, and very affectionate. Inevitably, I end up waking up with a hangover that Satan himself would be pleased to have created, but you don't really think about that until the next morning when you feel like crap. It does give you a feeling that you wouldn’t get with a soft drink. I have a great time with friends without drinking, but I also have a great time with friends when I do have a drink, so it’s not really about the fact that I have to drink to enjoy myself.
I think you just have to know your limits, and not condemn others for choosing not to have a drink if they don’t want to. I still hate it when I want a normal soft drink and I’m asked why I’m not drinking alcohol, as if I’m slightly insane for choosing to have a normal coke instead of a Bacardi and Coke.
Basically, people aren’t mature or responsible enough to handle drinking, and they do seem to think it’s the only way to have fun, which really is kind of sad.
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 9:08:10 GMT -4
Post by Kingpin on Apr 12, 2006 9:08:10 GMT -4
Very true.
A alcoholic drink is quite enjoyable during a cooked Sunday lunch, and a rum and pepsi/coke is also a nice concoction... even champagne on New Years or a special occasion is perfectly fine.
But you don't have to get drunk to have a good time... have a few so you're loosened up and singing karioke... it's perfectly embarrising but completely harmless.
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 11:05:20 GMT -4
Post by ghostdiva on Apr 12, 2006 11:05:20 GMT -4
I've never been drunk, but everyone in my town thinks its the greatest thing ever...but I don't agree. The first person who tries to drag me into some smoke infested bar is going to get an ear full...I don't understand that appeal at all. One drink with dinner at a special occasion is okay in my book, but if I'm going to spend five dollars on a drink, I'd much rather go to my favorite coffee shop for a peppermint mocha with a shot of espresso! ghostdiva
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 11:54:03 GMT -4
Post by EGBFan on Apr 12, 2006 11:54:03 GMT -4
I really seem to be in a minority in not liking wine. I really hate it, whatever the breed - I know people make a big deal about, like, wine tasting and stuff, but it all tastes exactly the same to me. If it's a special occasion dinner kind of thing, I drink water. People give me and other members of my family wine for Christmas and we spend the rest of the year trying to get rid of it. When I drink alcohol, it's Bacardi Breezer, which is the same as drinking orange Fanta or Tango only it makes you drunk. Or vodka and Diet Coke, which is the same as drinking Diet Coke only it makes you drunk. I do admit to getting very drunk on my eighteenth birthday; I also got pretty drunk at a couple of friends' parties in the year we were all turning eighteen. (I was younger than all of them and drinking illegally by a few months.) You learn by experience, don't you, and I haven't been drunk since. When I'm drunk I say very embarrassing things very loudly - or at least, that's what happened the last time. I do remember it - I've never been drunk enough to forget what I did. There aren't very many alcoholic drinks at all that I like the taste of. I experimented with a few different licquors when I was, like, thirteen. My father is a heavy drinker (too heavy if you ask me), and we were living with him in those days, and there was a cabinet with a shelf in it so full of booze that it one day collapsed. Before this happened, my brother (then about fifteen, if I was about thirteen) and I decided that we'd try and find out what all the fuss was about. I took a swig from a couple of bottles of lager and a seriously mega bottle of whisky; my brother gave up after the first sample. I didn't enjoy any of it, but... I dunno, perhaps I enjoyed the feeling of being rebellious. I had drunk before then: I had one glass of champagne at my cousin's wedding when I was about a month off turning twelve. That was disgusting too. It was also my first experience of a white wedding - not a good day for firsts. But you don't have to get drunk to have a good time... have a few so you're loosened up and singing karioke... it's perfectly embarrising but completely harmless. I'd, um, kinda like to see that, Ben.
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 13:14:23 GMT -4
Post by SuperStantzio on Apr 12, 2006 13:14:23 GMT -4
I have to agree with all you about Booze. I'm really not much into driniking even since I've been 21 and I don't plan to drink now. I'm not the kind of person who gets drunk just to have fun. I did try some wine but I spit it out and I didn't like that stuff at all. I rather be sober.
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 14:29:47 GMT -4
Post by Silent Seraphim on Apr 12, 2006 14:29:47 GMT -4
But you don't have to get drunk to have a good time... have a few so you're loosened up and singing karioke... it's perfectly embarrising but completely harmless. ;D There is no way on earth I would get up and sing Karaoke without some alcohol to loosen me up first. Some guys I know won’t take one step on the dancefloor without having a few drinks beforehand. It doesn’t improve their dancing much, but I definitely agree that it does help a bit in certain social situations. I really seem to be in a minority in not liking wine. I really hate it, whatever the breed - I know people make a big deal about, like, wine tasting and stuff, but it all tastes exactly the same to me. I’m the same with Champagne. I can’t stand the stuff, which does become difficult when it’s the only thing available to toast as a celebration. Luckily my sister had sparkling wine for her wedding toast, which I much prefer the taste of. I’m with you on the Bacardi Breezers. I have to be very careful with them though, because they do taste just very much like a normal soft drink and it’s really easy to get carried away with them. I also quite like the odd JD and Coke or Bacardi and Coke. Apart from those and a Bailey’s, I’m not really interested in other types of spirits. I don’t drink Vodka at all. I used to like a Vodka and Orange, but I think it tastes a bit too strong for my liking. A friend of mine loves Archers (Peach Schnapps) and I personally think it tastes disgusting. I think he just likes it because it reinforces the gay stereotype, although I must admit I haven’t yet met a gay guy who likes to drink beer. I’ve also tried Absinthe, which was another drink I really can’t stand the taste of. God only knows how people get as far as to get drunk on that enough to hallucinate, because I could only bear a sip of it. I do remember it - I've never been drunk enough to forget what I did. Trust me when I say you never want to. It was horrible. I’ve only been absolutely steaming drunk on about five occasions, and most of them were when I was a teenager and didn’t really know my limits. The most recent time was a few years ago, when I got very drunk in London after a Gomez concert, and ended up flirting heavily with and kissing my boyfriend’s boss. Not that my boyfriend seemed to mind, or his boss, either. I came home at four in the morning (on a weekday), had to take the next day off work, and missed most of my sister’s birthday that night because I had my head stuck down the toilet. It was the first time I’d had a hangover that actually lasted well into the evening. It wasn’t pretty, and I really wouldn’t recommend it to anybody. I think you do learn from your mistakes, although I do know some people who swear they'll never drink again and the next weekend they are in the same state, drunk out of their minds. I don't really know why they overdo it so often. It really can't be healthy, and it isn't very pleasant for them, or for anyone around them.
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 18:24:35 GMT -4
Post by ECTO-1 on Apr 12, 2006 18:24:35 GMT -4
Don'tcha see, though? That's exactly what I'm talking about. You need to rely on it to get nerve to do things which ain't good.
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BOOZE
Apr 12, 2006 19:47:10 GMT -4
Post by Silent Seraphim on Apr 12, 2006 19:47:10 GMT -4
Well, I suppose I could sing Karaoke totally straight-up sober, but I must admit I would feel a lot more awkward and self-conscious about it. The quality of my singing might be better, though. ;D
Seriously, I wouldn’t say I actually rely on alcohol in order to do things. I do admit I wouldn't have kissed my boyfriend's boss if I had been sober, but I didn't get drunk solely for the purpose of getting an opportunity to kiss him. In truth, I ended up getting drunk that night because he and my boyfriend were both on a mission to get slaughtered after the concert, and I was just along for the ride. We all drank the same things at the same time, and although I was in a worse state than they were, they weren't much better.
I can go weeks without an alcoholic drink, unlike some of my friends. I also spent many years completely teetotal, mainly as a result of the Christmas Eve incident, which put me off of any kind of alcohol for a long, long time. All in all it really depends on my mood at the time. If I fancy a glass of white wine with a meal, or a beer with a Chinese dinner, then I’ll have one. I also have these meals without any alcoholic drinks at all. It really doesn’t bother me. Sometimes when I’m out with friends I’ll have some beers, sometimes when I’m out with them I stick to soft drinks. It all depends on how I feel at the time.
I never go out with the sole intention of getting drunk, and I’m not proud of my drunken episodes. I really wouldn’t recommend drinking to excess at all. You only end up paying for it big time the next morning.
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