You don’t like the shame of double-posting, yet you still hit submit twice. 
Yeah, I really don’t get it either. I mean, it can be fun, but like once a year at a time such as New Year’s. However, even then I think it’s stupid to get so drunk that you’re completely inebriated. I’m too young to legally drink (15), but I have, and for awhile I did way too often. It was so I could feel cool or something, even though I only ever let a few people know. Then I came to the realization that it was dumb to do that. I understand something such as a drink to unwind a little after a stressful day at work, but when my friend says “I want to go get drunk,” I just don’t understand. I just don’t get how the evening ending in puking your guts out makes for a good time. Then again, maybe I’m just boring, because I don’t smoke weed either, though many of my friends do.
When you’re drunk (at just the right level) everything is funny. The world’s a funny place. Bad jokes are hilarious. Other peoples bad speech is hilarious. Trivial Pursuit is an absolute blast.
Of course it helps when you go into getting drunk with having fun in mind. And lucky me, I don’t feel bad the next day, just a little dehydrated, easily fixed. As a whole though I rarely drink. Haven’t had a drink in … 2 or 3 years.
It’s the people who only go out to drink on Amateur Night (New Years Eve and St Pattricks Day) who often get ridiculously drunk. Most of us who drink fairly often know how much and what combination of drinks we can drink without getting sloppy.
Getting a good buzz on can be fun but like anything else, it takes practice to do it right.
Even with all the responses of people describing how enjoyable being drunk is, I still don’t get it. How can you willfully get yourself into a position where you are not in control of yourself? Maybe the fault lies with me being too suspicious of myself and others, but the whole thing sounds waaaay too risky. I don’t trust myself not to try driving, or to see if I can fly, and I don’t trust others not to take advantage of the situation. Sure, there’s a difference between being slightly tipsy and completely drunk, but I once again don’t trust my uninhibited self to stay on the right side of that line. And, for those who would still respond with the advice of living a little and letting go, I would like to remind you that I have not yet revealed my age.
You really shouldn’t encourage us underaged lemmings, seeing as we have no willpower of our own. :rolleyes:
So many good points made here that I’m not even going to attempt to quote, I’ll just share my own views.
Why do I drink? To “let my hair down.” To loosen up. To escape the inhibitions and doldrums of daily life. To get silly and laugh. Because I like–really like–the taste of alcohol. Also, for the ego boost: I can hold one helluva lot of liquor.
My father thought soda was bad for you, so I drank a lot of beer growing up. My sis and I were also allowed to drink other stuff, in moderation (as in “yes, you can have a sip of whiskey or a weak mixed drink; no, you cannot get tipsy and you absolutely, positively cannot drink anywhere except at home”). I’ve thrown up from drinking exactly four times in my entire life: once, from eating birthday cake on top of four double Manhattans; once, from going from a cool bar out into the hot sun; once, from drinking on an empty stomach, and once for no perceptible reason at all except that maybe I had an acid stomach and the pizza was a bad idea. I have been hungover twice, both times from champagne.
I know when to stop: when I can’t walk well, when I’m getting too dizzy, or when I’m sleepy.
It’s called “partying” for a reason, you know: it’s fun.
I’ve know three or four in that category. Thing is, while they’re still drinking they won’t admit in public they don’t like to drink. Pretty sad situtation.
A light feeling of relaxation after drinking two or three good beers, or a few glasses of good wine - that’s quite nice.
Being very drunk, wasted, falling over, throwing up etc - that’s nasty.
That’s why I drink responsibly and in moderation. It’s the pleasant middle ground between teetotalism and out-of-control crazy blind roaring drunk land.
HoldenCaulfield - I think that people who drink are “scared of” people who don’t drink because they can sometimes be a wet blanket (unless they are a designated driver). Drinking is most fun when you are with a group who drinks to about the same level of drunkenness. You generally don’t want someone who is at either extreme around. A sloppy or angry drunk ruins the mood just as quickly as a sober person with a sourpuss look on their face.
I’ve noticed that things that happen in the drinking world are a lot diferent in the sober world. For example, that really good looking and interesting girl you met at the bar and had a great time with really isn’t that good looking or interesting when you go out again.
I stopped drinking in college, mostly (a handful of drinks in the intervening years) and definitely haven’t been drunk in 6 years. The last time I had any contact with drunks was chauffeuring around three drunken bridesmaids and a drunk bride, all of whom were strangers to me. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like being sober around a bunch of drunks. I was thoroughly miserable. I wanted to just abandon them but felt a moral obligation not to. I was so relieved to return to my hotel and cuddle up with my husband.
I stopped drinking in college, mostly (a handful of drinks in the intervening years) and definitely haven’t been drunk in 6 years. The last time I had any contact with drunks was chauffeuring around three drunken bridesmaids and a drunk bride, all of whom were strangers to me. Let me tell you, there’s nothing like being sober around a bunch of drunks. I was thoroughly miserable. I wanted to just abandon them but felt a moral obligation not to. I was so relieved to return to my hotel and cuddle up with my husband.
I used to feel the same as Azure, back in high school. My friends started to drink early and I didn’t at all like the idea of losing control of myself. When my friends were 17-18, they were partying and getting plastered and making me miserable.
When I started to drink and saw what a hangover really is, I easily adapted because though you feel like shit, you can laugh about what a rollicking lark you had the night before.
Case in point: Saturday we NY Dopers went to the NY Ren Faire. It was God-awful hot. Everything was expensive. There was a lot of walking involved and I have a bad back.
Within 10 minutes of arriving, Biggirl and I found the bar and the laughs didn’t stop all day. Wow. What a great time!
The “fun” of being drunk isn’t worth the feeling like hell the next day. I suppose your version of “fun” changes as you get older.
Not everyone gets hangovers. I have discovered this lately, but some pretty heavy drinkers that I know have never really suffered a bad hangover.
Then of course there are the breed that like a hair of the dog that bit them.
Having grown up around alcoholics all my life (Father: alcoholic. Dead. Grandmother (his mother): alcoholic. Dead. Grandfather (his father): alcoholic. Dead. Uncle (his brother): alcoholic. Convicted rapist. Brother (my brother): alcoholic. Convicted drug user. Could be dead for all I know, as I haven’t heard anything from/about him in over 10 years.), I have yet to encounter this so-called “fun drunk” I keep hearing about. I don’t drink, and don’t care to, because I’ve seen what it does to people. Count me in with the “if you need alcohol to be or have fun, you’ve got problems” crowd.
Also, inhibitions are not, of themselves, bad things. I know that I am capable of doing some very bad things were I to abandon mine. I’m much better off keeping a tight grip on them, thankyouverymuch. If that makes me a wet blanket, well…it’s better than the alternative.
I absolutely love the feeling of getting drunk, I have stopped drinking, so I guess I see both sides.
The reality - alchohol reduces your reasoning capacity and ability to conceptualize - one tends to focus on immediate sensory input.
The fantasy - it provides an escapes from the stress of today, the anxiety of the future and the regrets of the past
The reality - alchohol reduces impulse control
The fantasy - it makes you more uninhibited (sometimes we do end up doing things we are glad about, but more often than not, we don’t)
I wish I could stay inside the fantasy part, but I can’t. My lack of impulse control led me to acting mean to people I didn’t want to. Not to mention that alchohol is a depressant - recovering the next day is hard for a reason. I simple couldn’t invest the time.
YMMV - when I was inside it, I loved it. But the more I realized that it was a false reality, the less it appealed to me.
I don’t see the fun in getting drunk anymore, and yet I still do it. The next day is just no longer worth it. Used to be I could shrug off a hangover in a couple of hours. Now it can take days to recover.
So what do people who don’t drink do on Friday and Saturday nights?
I quite enjoy getting drunk, as it can be very fun.
For a long time in high school and college I didn’t drink, and thought the same way as many posters here. The idea of not having any control over myself was scary. I was worried about doing something stupid, or acting stupid.
Then, one day, I realized that most of the time, everybody is stupid anyway, and I lightened up. It’s not like when you’re sober you’re always perfectly on the ball and making brilliant decisions, and when you’re drunk you’re doomed to screw up. It’s more like a sliding scale, when sober you’re batting about a .350 and when drunk around .275.
When I’m drunk, I still have control over myself. Maybe not as much as when I’m sober, but there are also other things, like bad colds, where I’ve had even less control over myself (at least motor control). I have never driven or even thought about driving if I’ve had anything more than a drink with dinner. I’ve also never gotten into any fights, never been disorderly, and never passed out. I have done things I probably woundn’t have were I sober, like flirt with my now current girlfriend, or sing karaoke, but I don’t need alcohol to have fun. Alcohol can, however, add to the fun when used correctly.
Obviously, there are people out there that have problems with alcohol. It’s something that each person should decide for themselves, and that decision should be respected. People can be preachy and annoying on both sides of the topic. I’ve seen drunk people try to get people who didn’t want to drink to drink, which is very annoying, and I’ve also been with people who were very annoying by making comments and little speeches about not drinking.
But I personally find it to be a useful tool in having fun. Like rollercoasters, or whitewater kayaking, which are two things that I also have fun doing (without alcohol, though).
msmith537: We hang out with other friends who don’t drink, and talk, play games or watch TV or rent a movie, pop popcorn or have fondue or order in pizza or Chinese food or cook a meal together, or go out and have a nice dinner or go to a movie or go to a concert . . .
The options are really pretty much endless when you are in full possession of your faculties. 