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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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."