Well, I suppose I should start off by saying I’m a college student, I’m 21, and I’m from Wisconsin.
It really varies on how I’m feeling. Football Saturdays begin with me waking up early to tailgate, sobering up during the game (though some people sneak liquor into the stadium), and then drinking afterwards. Sometimes I can pull a Thursday-Friday-Saturday weekend of partying, but I’m an engineering student and I *do have to study. Sometimes I “binge drink,” and by that, I don’t mean having four drinks in one sitting (because I’m a female), because I have good tolerance and what defines a “sitting” anyway? I mean drinking to get tipsy/drunk. Other times, I just have a beer with my pizza.
Beer is generally my beverage of choice–lighter ones in the summer, darker in the winter. I have wine mostly when I’m having dinner with my parents, or once in a while I buy some to accompany a dinner of my own. I’ll drink mixed drinks, but I tend to avoid “chick drinks.”
So, to sum up–how often I drink depends on my courseload, my test schedule, the time of year, and how much money I have. Yes, I overindulge sometimes. I was brought up in a household where wine and beer were drunk pretty much every evening to accompany dinner, and I don’t think that is a problem. It’s probably what I do once I leave college.
About 4 nights a week, generally weekdays, I’ll have a few pints of beer. By a few, I mean somewhere between 5 and 10. Sometimes I’ll drink on weekends as well, but I usually don’t, as that’s my time to relax from work. Always kinda a bad sign when you spend 7.5 straight hours in a bar on a Thursday night.
And yes, I am a damn lush, you wanna make something of it?
Not very much, about a glass of wine with dinner once or twice a month. I have kidney stones and the docs keep telling me to drink beer… but I hate the taste of the stuff. The only hard liquor I drink will be one or two rum-cokes at a party. I just dont see the attraction, and am completely turned-off by anyone who is under the influence.
Personally think the world would be a lot better off without any kind of alcohol (same goes for drugs/tobacco/etc etc)
Retief
Oh yeah the wife (that lovely witch) drinks about half what I do.
When the party gets loud, we’re outta there. QUICK.
I’m a social drinker. I usually spend time with friends and family a few times a week. Generally a glass or two of wine with family; a beer or two with friends.
The stuff I keep at home (a few bottles of beer, a bottle of syrah, a few different types of harder liquor) is for the times when guests want a drink. I never drink alone.
Right now, I pick up a beer at the supermarket on the way home maybe two or three times a week. About once every month or two I’ll go out with friends and overindulge, but I’m getting to the point where I’d rather have quality than quantity.
I was a fairly heavy drinker when I first moved to Japan. Good salary, living on my own, and my apartment was upstairs from a bar with a very friendly mama-san. I’d spend about $20 on beer and sake about 3 or four times a week.
Back when I was 18, I went to a friend’s birthday party and went on a binge that seriously screwed me up. I don’t know how I survived that ordeal (or the 12 hour long hangover the next day)
Now that I’m 21 and can buy alcohol legally, I tend to do it in moderation. On the occasional day off from college and work I’ll sit down and have a beer with a sandwich (goes really well together for some reason). Or once in a while if I’m by myself on Friday/Saturday night I’ll have a few shots of whiskey which relaxes the hell out of me then I’ll conk out at like 9 PM.
Ever since my binge incident, I am very careful about how much I drink around other people. Being drunk around other people is terribly embarassing, and I don’t remember 95% of what I did at the time. I also do not drive the same day after I have a drink, no matter how sober I might feel. Getting a DUI is just not worth it.
I’m a grape whore. Damn stuff just tastes like liquid sex to me. One to two bottles a night, damn near every night. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I try and keep it to 4 glasses, which is a bottle and a third but a lot of it depends on the weather. If it’s nice out I’ll sit on the patio and make future plans for the yard for hours. That’s when I tend to polish off number two. Other nights I just don’t feel like it and won’t have a thing. But they’re rare. I don’t necessarily approve of this habit but the adverse effects are so far minimal. I used to quit for a month or so at a time but when did that happen last… '92? '91?
I used to drink a lot every night when I was working in a restaurant. Now I very rarely drink unless I’m going out with friends or have friends round which is probably less than once a month.
I get the opportunity to drink more than one or two drinks maybe once every month or two. My boyfriend isn’t much of a drinker and he doesn’t care for bars enough to go regularly, so it’s not really part of our collective social life. When I get the opportunity, usually with other friends, I can put it away. And I usually do. Gin and me…it was love at first sight.
It varies a lot. Often it’s nothing. At Dopefests I go a little heavier, but not too much. (I had 4-5 drinks for the entire day during both days of ChiDope)
I used to never drink at home, but that’s change in the last year or so. Now I’ll have a beer or two during a football game (on TV) or drink a beer while watching West Wing, but not every week. Right now I don’t have any beer in my fridge.
Also at home now we’ll occasionally have some wine with dinner.
This is more likely if we have company as Mrs. ShibbOleth can’t drink much. She’s very small and has almost no tolerance, so half a beer can literally knock her out.
At night, if I am feeling hyper or stressed, I might have a glass of cognac or port before bed. This is not very often, maybe 3-4 times a month.
I might go to a bar where I know a few people and have 1-3 beers depending on how long I stay. My average rate of consumption is about 1 beer / hour, which is pretty slow compared to others. Because of this I seldom even get buzzed, much less drunk. Just slightly relaxed. If I have eaten recently I’ll drink whiskey and soda or cognac and soda at about the same pace.
One exception is when I am on vacation. Last month, on my European tour I averaged 5+ beers/drinks a day. And I drank on every day save one. The trip was 15 days, so I consumed in excess of 80 drinks during that period. If I did that all the time I would probably need a liver replacement in a few years. It’s just that the beer and wine in Europe taste so damned good. Fresh from the source, if you will.
That includes PREPARING dinner, by the way. Glass of wine or bottle of beer or a cocktail or highball of some sort (made with plenty of ice, so it lasts and I’m not tempted to have two or three cocktails).
I suppose by the accepted definitions of binge drinking, I’m pretty bad off. However, a drink for me is usually just a sip–usually not even half a shot. I don’t drink much hard liquor either, usually just things whose taste I like.
I’m Dave and I’m an alcoholic. A recovering alcoholic that is, and I have been for quite a while now. I’ve been checking in on this thread now and then and have one observation.
I notice that several people who say they drink as a matter of routine also say they don’t drive after drinking. As one who has been there and done that I must say that I think you are kidding yourself, or us, or both. To describe regular drinking and claim to not drive after drinking is simply not a credible claim to me.
If nothing else, alcohol lowers inhibitions to the point where the individual is confident of being able to handle anything that comes along. In short, the person who is drunk is ten feet tall and bullet proof. And, of course, there is that occasional time when everyone else is so drunk they can’t drive and there are no cabs available. I have gone through all of the above and so have all my recovering alcoholic friends.
Fortunately the odds against any of you being on the road at the same time and place I am is insignificant. And of course even if you did happen to be, my risk wouldn’t be increased at all. We have plenty of local drunk drivers who don’t need any outside help.
Now go ahead an beat up on me and say that there is no prohibitionist like an ex drunk, but I’m pretty certain that what I claim is true.
