desh | (no subject)

These days, I think my main complaint about alcohol is its centrality to life. I notice that as I'm getting older and more of my friends are of legal drinking age, I find myself having to explain that I don't drink more often than I used to, not less. And when the choice that my friends make to drink (and by that I mean more than one or two drinks) becomes more frequent or more desirable, I start to feel more seperated from their lives.

And I'm starting to wonder about my former reasons too. I used to hate alcohol because I hated seeing my friends drunk or otherwise acting less intelligently than they're normally capable of. I decided that I needed to accept it more, because it wasn't healthy to hate a large part of the lives of most of my friends. And I have accepted it, or so I thought. Now I wonder if I'm just telling myself that. I know of several people for whom I have a lot of respect, who frown on the drinking thing as much as I used to, when it was newer to me and when my friends were less responsible about it. What they have to say resonates with me, and now I'm not sure if I'm being honest with myself.

JL, don't worry, I'm not upset with you.

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I know the feeling. I don't drink at all anymore as it gives me more discomfort than pleasure. When I first insisted that I didn't drink my friends found it hard to accept but they appear to have become accustomed to it now.

K.

PS Is it OK to add you as a friend? I've enjoyed reading some of your journal entries. Please let me know.

Yeah, go for it. Nice to know I'm entertaining. Welcome.

Strangely enough, I've actually relaxed my stance on alcohol somewhat. Although...It's still different if someone makes a couple of blenders of mixed drinks and we all have one or two from when our stupid random housemate tried to have a party (which is not allowed in this house) in the living room wirth the coronas that he'd filled our fridge with (which is also not allowed in ths house). Last year though, any alcohol usage at all anywhere near me made me profoundly uncomfortable, so I have relaxed somewhat.

A lot of my friends here just don't get our (me and my closest friends here) attitude to drinkiing. They drink to get drunk, period, and they don't get the attraction of having a few mixed drinks (which are yummy and social). I don't get the attraction of drinking to get drunk, nor the atraction of beer. It's gross.

So why do you actually dislike the whole thing? When I used to super-hate it, it was because alcohol was never a part of my family's life at all except for the one time my parents brewed mead--with disasterous results--and I hadn't really seen any examples of people making it a responsible part of their lives. I figured, to have it be a non-issue, it had to just not be a part of my life. I see it differently now, although there are still times when I'd rather be able to just avoid the whole issue.

Yeah, that's the thing. Having a couple of social drinks is totally different than getting drunk. I'm still not questioning my decision not to do it myself, but I'm also not questioning my opinion that I don't mind when my friends do it. So the question remaining is, what's with the people who only drink socially, not to get drunk, but drink beer? They say they like the taste. What's up with that?

So why do I actually dislike the whole thing? A lot of my attitudes to things that were verboten when we were younger haven't changed as I've gotten older, because I was such a goody-goddy and never questioned authority. I'm now okay with my friends smoking pot, but still won't touch it myself. I'm still somewhat uncomfortable with sexual stuff, even though sex is normal and healthy. Still hate cigarettes. Even driving was more difficult for me the first time than for most. But with alcohol and getting drunk, I guess I just can't get past the fact that people are deciding to chemically alter their personality, frequently for the worse, when I like them perfectly well the way they are.

Your parents brewed mead? Only you, Penny. That's awesome.

Hate pot--the smell makes me exceedingly nauseous, hate cigarettes--I can't breathe around cigarette smoke. Mead's gross, why would I want to drink something the aftertaste of which reminds me of the smell of nail polish remover? (But then,I also rarely drink soda, because why would I want to drink something that could remove the paint from my car and has no nutritional value? I like milk and juice!)

I hear the comment a lot from random people around me "I hate the taste of alcohol, I just drink to get drunk."

Personally, I care not much for alcohol. It is expensive and only leads to bad things, like proposing sex to your girlfriends mom.

When I go to the bar, I have a drink or two while my friends each drink a pitcher. I don't like the taste of beer and I can't understand how anyone does.

Drinking is fine, but people should try not to look forward to drinking. Bars are good for pick-up lines, like "excuse me miss, does this rag smell like ether to you?" or my favorite "Taste this. Does it seem like it has GHB in it?"

Also, heroin is fantastic.

At some point in my life, I am finding an opportunity to use that GHB line. Fantastic, if you can get past the horrific part.

"Let's go steal some beer;
Oh! Let's go steal some beer;
Let's go steal some beer, my friend,
Let's go steal some beer!"

-Beck

I didn't get drunk last night. I was helping 512 get rid of their alcohol. And I don't feel bad about it.

So THIS is what you've been hiding from me, Deshie-poo. I always knew there was something.

Anyway, good topic to bring up, especially since you live with 3 roommates, 2 of which drink almost never and 1 of which drinks seldom and never in the room. I am myself in the former category.

I think very similarly to you on this subject, in fact. I don't drink heavily myself, and I am not entirely comfortable with the fact that some of my acquaintances do. However, the alcohol itself is not to blame. My personal take on the matter is that drinking is fine, social drinking (i.e. a few yummy cocktails, as mentioned earlier) is fine, too, but excessive and repeated abuse is bad. I'm sure that statement is so general that no one can disagree with it. But, it brings up the important distinction that drinking isn't inherently bad: it's the abuse that's bad. That is what troubles me about too much drinking: that my friends are hurting themselves.

And that is what, in my overly verbose opinion, makes that discomfort grow between you and your friends. I'm not offering you any solutions, since I frankly don't have any, but that's the problem right there. It's not that you're not being honest with yourself about having accepted your friends' drinking habits, it's that you care about them and either a) distancing yourself from them is a way to cope with the fact that they are hurting themselves or b) this distancing is due to your unreconciled beliefs that you accept their ability to make their own decisions but you also do not want to see them hurt.

Either that or I've been spending way too much time in PSYC-001. I need to play some video games.

--Jeffie-poo

P.S. I didn't know you had a livejournal?

what about the simple fact that beer tastes like piss? thats a very good reason for me. That and im totally a girl when i drink, all i ever have are like rum and cokes, whisky sours and whoo whoos (vodka+peach schnapps+cranberry)

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