Drinking

[LLBDTiberio]

I've always had problems controlling how much I drank, coincided with some bad stuff in my life etc.
Got professional help and have now been alcohol free for about a year.
Generally ppl should be able to control how much they drink, like space out the drinks and have water in between.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Clubs, when you're sober, are horrible horrible places. Maybe the best thing to do is only drink as much as your friends?

Totally agree on the first part, I've gone into a few clubs sober and realised just how horrific it is. Maybe I'm going in with a different mood since I'm aware that I'm not drinking but for whatever reason it is just not the same.

However for the second part, I don't think that is quite such a good idea, people can have very different alcohol tolerances and drinking as much as your mates might not help at all. It is something that most people have to learn though (occasionally) bitter experience but you will eventually find your level and forget how it differs from anyone else, they aren't doing the drinking, you are.

 

[hamesy]

However for the second part, I don't think that is quite such a good idea, people can have very different alcohol tolerances and drinking as much as your mates might not help at all. It is something that most people have to learn though (occasionally) bitter experience but you will eventually find your level and forget how it differs from anyone else, they aren't doing the drinking, you are.

I agree with that. I've got a few mates who try and keep up with me on a heavy drinking session only to fail half way. They think that if I can drink that much, they can aswell.

 

[uber soldat]

Instead of binge drinking just stick to spirits, spend your money wisely. If you go t total you will never be able to enjoy a refreshing gin and tonic!

Dont turn into a ponce and not drink!

erm he would be a ponce if he drank "Gin and Tonic", a ladies drink

 

[The Dread Pirate]

Sobriety is good in moderation IMHO however if your of the ilk that actually get hangovers learn your limits!

 

[Stan_Lite]

erm he would be a ponce if he drank "Gin and Tonic", a ladies drink

I quite enjoy a G&T now and then. You calling me a ponce?

 

[alexakasloth]

As people have said drink in moderation. One thing I hate about alcohol, people use it as an excuse to do things they wouldn't normally do 'oh it's because I was drunk'

 

[aaazza]

Interesting thread. I am 22 and in my last year of uni. I don't drink, I've tried alcohol before and I don't have a problem with other people drinking, I have just never acquired a taste for it.

I've always been the subject of jovial peer-pressure since I was about 17 when it comes to this but all my mates accept the fact that I don't drink and don't give me a hard time because they know I will nearly always come out regardless and usually give them a lift

I know a few people that can't have a good time if they don't drink etc. That has never really applied to me, I'm the one bouncing round in a club for most of the night, even to music I wouldn't listen to at home, the way I figure it is, life is too short to sit around in the corner, regardless of whether I'm drinking or not.

aaazza

 

[MookJong]

Just get a grip of yourself and learn when you have had enough.

Your still young and probably not had enough experience with alcohol to treat it with respect, it's a powerful mind altering substance that can be one of lifes greatest pleasures or lead you to wreck and ruin, depending on how you use it.

There is no need to give alcohol up, just learn to control yourself.

 

[Jive-Zombie]

If you can't drink in moderation then don't drink, but I don't see why you would forgo the pleasures of both drinking and of being drunk altogether just because there is an extreme at which drinking becomes a bad thing.



Your waistline and liver would choose diet coke, probably.



Who on earth has to pretend they're drinking in order to be accepted by their friends :/

Eh?

If i ordered that i'd probably get laughed at.

 

[Shicky]

drive there then and get it for free? (Most clubs around belfast were doing promotions of that sort) or just get water? Have non of your mates drank diet coke before or something? Too hard for half sugar or whatever it is?

Im quite good on alcohol, only 20 but have had many rough nights on it so know my limits. I think mood controls what state you end up in. For example house party and drinking games = messed up, clubbing with mates = stick to limits just about, NYE while in a stinking mood due to relationship issues = put in bed by a mate.

Im in full agreement that clubs are generally horrible places when you're sober.

 

[Stan_Lite]

Eh?

If i ordered that i'd probably get laughed at.

You need to find new mates then dude.

Seriously, if your "mates" are the sort of people who make fun of someone because they choose not to drink alcohol, you need to ditch them - I would.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Eh?

If i ordered that i'd probably get laughed at.

Are you that in thrall to what other people think of you? My mates would laugh at me for ordering a Diet Coke* as well I'm sure but stuff 'em, it isn't them drinking it and I'd tell them that straight to their faces, generally I find people respect you more for making a decision and sticking to it rather than caving at the first sign of pressure but maybe that is just me.

*nb, I wouldn't actually order Diet Coke but only because without it tastes about 1/10 as good as ordinary Coke so substitute in any soft drink here.

 

[Gackt]

I tried alcohol quite young, only the odd taste - and I hated it. I grew up and kept the hate of it - before I went to University I was straight out "I'm not going to touch a drop of alcohol" - first night there, I had a few Vodkas and Coke. I started drinking - it was hard not to, one of the most integral parts of student culture and life is that you drink, and you drink lots. If you don't, you find yourself outside alone a lot.

I got drunk one night after a five hour train journey from home, I hadn't eaten and I was tired - the people on the bottom floor of the halls were playing some drinking game and I just sorta joined it. 14 shots later I was a little worse for wear. A few more shots and I was having trouble sitting down. On the floor. Against a wall. Eventually threw it all up, felt like I was going to die, world spun and for two days I was hungover and sick as heck.

After that I didn't want to go near a drop of alcohol. Since then, I've drunk twice. And both of those have been stupid mistakes.

I remembered why I don't like to drink. It ruins people's lives. It's harmful to your health. It reduces your judgement. It makes you do stupid things, such as cheat, fight and just generally be an idiot. It's popular (I know that's a very cliche argument for why not to like it, but I often don't like to follow a crowd, I prefer to do things my own way instead of what everyone else is doing). It's expensive. It's a bad thing to get sucked into. It's also a bad encouragement for younger generations.

I could find no reason, and can find no reason to drink. If people need to drink to relax, then fine, that's their own problem. I can see why a lot of people do though - it's not nice to be excluded because you have better judgement. I think it's as bad as, if not in many cases, worse than smoking.

 

[Fire Wizard]

If i ordered that i'd probably get laughed at.

As much as I think that the above is completely ridiculous (Sorry Jive-Zombie ), I can imagine I would have the exact same attitude and I would order something a bit more, well so called manly drink.

This isn't really because I would be worried what my friends thought but mainly other people around me as I do with everything else.

 

[Jive-Zombie]

Seeing as i have no-one to laugh at me i don't really know why i posted that ;S Having OCD and AvPD doesn't really help either.

I will order that if i ever do get the chance.

 

[D.P.]

drive there then and get it for free? (Most clubs around belfast were doing promotions of that sort) or just get water? Have non of your mates drank diet coke before or something? Too hard for half sugar or whatever it is?

Im quite good on alcohol, only 20 but have had many rough nights on it so know my limits. I think mood controls what state you end up in. For example house party and drinking games = messed up, clubbing with mates = stick to limits just about, NYE while in a stinking mood due to relationship issues = put in bed by a mate.

Im in full agreement that clubs are generally horrible places when you're sober.

I'm pretty sure a int of even diet coke is worse for you than a pint of quality beer.

 

[Stan_Lite]

Sanctimonious drivel

A few points regarding your post.

Alcohol doesn't ruin people's lives and it doesn't make people do stupid stuff. It's when people abuse alcohol that problems occur. Alcohol, used sensibly, can be an extremely pleasurable experience. The fact that you seem to be unable to use alcohol in a sensible manner does not make it a bad thing and certainly doesn't mean that those of us who are able to use it in a responsible manner shouldn't continue to do so.

As for being "excluded because you have better judgement", I re-iterate what I said earlier:

You need to find new mates then dude.

Seriously, if your "mates" are the sort of people who make fun of someone because they choose not to drink alcohol, you need to ditch them - I would.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I remembered why I don't like to drink. It ruins people's lives. It's harmful to your health. It reduces your judgement. It makes you do stupid things, such as cheat, fight and just generally be an idiot. It's popular (I know that's a very cliche argument for why not to like it, but I often don't like to follow a crowd, I prefer to do things my own way instead of what everyone else is doing). It's expensive. It's a bad thing to get sucked into. It's also a bad encouragement for younger generations.

I think you are missing a hugely important part of the equation out here - drinking can be a lot of fun. And alcohol doesn't do any of those things alone, it may facilitate some of them by lowering inhibitions but if you are strongly morally against doing something then it is unlikely that alcohol would make you do it - it merely reveals that your professed beliefs aren't quite as strong as you thought. It isn't necessarily harmful to your health, in moderation previous studies have accepted that alcohol is fine as part of a balanced diet and can reduce the risk of various conditions such as heart attacks etc.

I could find no reason, and can find no reason to drink. If people need to drink to relax, then fine, that's their own problem. I can see why a lot of people do though - it's not nice to be excluded because you have better judgement. I think it's as bad as, if not in many cases, worse than smoking.

Excluded for having better judgement? Who gave you the high horse? They might want it back at some point. Maybe you don't mean that in quite the way it sounds, well I'd hope not as it sounds rather unnecessarily supercilious and sanctimonious.

Sure, alcohol can be worse than smoking but then so can abusing almost any substance.

//edit, Stan beat me to it and rather more succinctly as well.

 

[D.P.]

These people that say they don't like the taste of alcohol, what are you drinking? Meths? Anti-freeze? Undiluted industrial alcohol?

Pure Ethanol (drinking alcohol) has pretty much zero taste. Anyone who has statedt pure distilled alcohol like you to make your on liquors from or used in biology has no noticible taste.

Alcoholic drinks don't taste of alcohol, they taste of wahtever else is in the drink. Be that a load of nasty residue in cheap vodka, or the sweet taste of cherries, or fresh sueezed orange juice, or the smoky peatiness of a single malt or the complex taste in wines and real beers.

I agree, cheap vodka, wine and lager is foul stuff. But good stuff tastes devine.
Drink quality, not quantity.