What are the effects on you when you drink alcoholic beverages?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was thinking about this question this morning, after a very busy day that involved going to a family friend’s wedding and banquet. (and a grad banquet afterparty, as well) At the banquet, I had two glasses of wine (plus lots of soft drinks). Now, I kno that Asian people have less tolerance for alcohol than, say, Caucasians. My sister tried to explain this to me once, but I don’t remember what she said.

At any rate, on the way to the grad afterparty, I knew my face was, if not red, sort of flushed. My sister said it wasn’t obvious, which is good. (she had three or four glasses of wine) The three of us were in the car, and I could feel the alcohol working its magic in me.

I laughed maniacally (probably louder than usual, too), had my fake British/Australian/whatever accent become mor pronounced, commanded traffic lights to turn green, and made up totally inappropriate song lyric parodies to whatever was on the radio at the time. (mostly involoving booty, poop, and all that immature stuff)

Of course, I didn’t do any of this stuff at the afteparty, but instead was maybe a bit louder than usual. (which still isn’t a match for my sister) My voice was scratchy, too… as if I hadn’t used it in a while. (especially this morning when I was trying to phone somebody)

I should add that I don’t drink all that often, and the last time I did, I remember getting tongue-tied. (yesterday, I was searching for the right word to say, as well)

So what about you? Any adverse side-effects? Any stories?

F_X

2

I can only take about two fingers of anything before I call it a day. The only exception is White Zinfandel.
If I drink at night, I’ll be awake all night.
If I drink more than the aforementioned two fingers, my legs will be heavy and my face will flush.
Never had much of a tolerance for the stuff.

3

I think it would be funny if there was a drunk thread. Have a few people start a thread totally sober, then continue drinking so we can see the progression of them getting totally f-cked up.

hehehehehehehe :smiley:

4

I go completely insane, drink for years, abuse everyone who comes near me, spend money I don’t have, get really paranoid, get divorced, lose everything, alienate family members, become very ill, nearly die, go into detox, attend AA meetings, get sober and avoid alcohol for the rest of my life, I hope.

5

Man, I’ve got a TON of stories…unfortunately, I don’t remember any of 'em…but my wife does…

But I’m much better now…

6

An unshakable english accent. I used to think that it was some sort of genetic memory kicking in, but F_X’s admission makes me wonder about that.

Specifically, an East London accent. It creeps up on me gradually, and once I become aware that it’s there, I can’t find my own voice to save my soul.

Once, it nearly got me severely beaten in a pub in Edmonton.

I was becoming increasingly self-conscious and embarassed by it, thinking that the folks I was with must have thought I was being a pretentious knob.

Finally, I exclaimed, “Will somebody please help me get rid of this obnoxious english accent?!”

What I was unaware of was that the next table was occupied by about a dozen british soldiers, in uniform and everything. (Why, I have no idea.) Three of them stood up, and the biggest and scariest of them put himself in my face and said “Wot obnoxious english accent?”

I guess I explained myself well enough, because at the end of it, they bought me a pint, and a good time was had by all. But it could have been very ugly, indeed. :eek:

7

To (sort of) echo Larry: I normally have a faint southeast Texas accent that people around here don’t even notice. But alcohol very reliably brings out the drawl, y’all.

It doesn’t really even take a lot - one or two drinks, and I’ll start to hear it. It happens involuntarily, and it’s difficult to make myself not do it. And I don’t mean slurred words or any speech effect you might associate with drunkeness. It just accentuates my accent.

I think I’ll pass on the stories.

8

Alcohol puts me to sleep. Half a drink, and I start to feel the effect in my legs. More than one, and I want to curl up and snooze. So I don’t usually drink when I go out, or if I do, it’s one glass of wine and that’s it. Apart from my own low tolerance for the stuff, I’ve been around too many drunks and I don’t find them entertaining at all.

I was a cheap date - mostly I’d have ginger ale all night. These days, I have water.

9

My experience is the same as FairyChatMom’s; I get sleepy if I have more than two glasses of wine. I like to buy a couple bottles of wine from Fresh Fields and have a glass of wine every night for a couple of weeks.

10

Hey, guys: I said the accent was fake! I have never been to either Britain or Australia in my life, though I’ve heard plenty of those real accents when I’ve been out and about.

For some reason, I couldn’t really sleep last night. Could have been the wine, could have been too much thinking. Then again, it could have had something to do with the fact that I was sleeping on the couch at my brother’s.

Looking at my post, I think maybe the alcohol is still having a little bit of an effect on me, less than 24 hours later. Please automatically correct all my typos. :o

LolaCocaCola, why don’t you start a thread like that, and then we can watch “The Progression to Getting Totally Smashed, as channeled through various Dopers”? :smiley:

You know, I should start doing what medstar does… then I’d have something handy for those times I feel like having a drink. (like when my mom calls, unwanted people email me, I feel depressed, etc.)

So cheers to all, and bottoms up! :smiley:

F_X

11

It’s actually kinda interesting the way alcohol has different effects on different people. Also, any given individual usually has different reactions to the three main groups: beers / wines / spirits.

In my case…

Beers. No hangovers. No upsets. But total memory loss. No idea what happened, who was there. Quite amazing amnesia.

Wines. As above.

Spirits. Any quantity, no noticeable effects. I seem to be able to cope with any amount.

Anyway, this is all ‘past tense’ cos I don’t drink now. Don’t miss it at all.

12

First sleepy, then amorous, then silly and an accent…Southern or British. I rarely get to stage three…too many years married to an alcoholic have made me very conservative in my drinking. It’s always been something I could do without, so I almost always do.

13

What’s up with the English accent? That’s just weird. I already have the accent, so I don’t really get that.

When I drink I laugh a lot. And am usually just generally happy. I tend to argue philosophy.

Nowadays I have terrible memory loss the next day. It’s even retro-active - I can’t remember details of what happened a few hours before I started drinking. Which is why I tend to wake up feeling vaguely guilty the morning after, even when I didn’t do anything.

Sometimes, I fall over and hit my head on plant pots.

And I can confirm that Ringo has the most Southern of all accents when he drinks. It’s great.

14

I also get an accent. A Southern one. I don’t know why. I have been to the South a few times to visit relatives, but I have never lived there.

I also trying to show-off my intellect. I will easily resite the alphabet, backwards (Something I am not sure I could do sober), contemplate the universe, explain Calculus exations and the like, etc. Odd, because, normally, I don’t consider myself to be that intellegent.

15

It takes a bit for me, but my Oklahoma accent really starts to kick in after 4 or 5 beers. I also get very talkative, and much more outgoing (I’m naturally kind of shy), but I don’t generally stagger or slur my words unless I’ve had more than 8 beers or so.

I’m an amiable, gregarious, happy, pretty articulate drunk. Quite fun to be around, or so I’ve been given to understand.

16

Hrm . . .

Well, besides almost dropping $20,000 USD in Canada, getting married, divorced, re-married, and re-divorced by the same chick at the same church in the same fifteen minutes, and that whole Peruvian assassination flap :smack: [sub]we won’t even mention the Finnish Marines . . .[/sub] usually I find that my teeth are the first sign that I’ve hit the skids.

Man, when my teeth go numb, life gets bad for the Eastern Bloc.

Tripler
But boy howdy do I love that vodka.

17

Would you settle for a mushroom thread?

18
  1. I get loud & silly, laughing a lot. It’s fun.
  2. I get very serious, warm & affectionate to my friends, professing my love & gratitude to them. Lots of hugs & kisses.
  3. I get introspective, feel like a lousy excuse for a human being & start crying.
  4. I pick fights with the same friends from #2, asking why they waste their time with a bum like me. Sometimes I physically assault them, and lose their friendship.
  5. I lose my job / drop out of college because I’m too busy drinking & trying to stay in #1 & #2.

So I haven’t drank/used drugs for a few years now. since then I have been able to hold a job, keep a girlfriend, get married, buy a house, get, train & keep a dog, get educated enough to get into a decent career field, get credit, get in debt, support my inlaws, get a divorce. I couldn’t do any of those things when I was drinking.

19

I should further add that “loud and silly” could probably describe me when I’ve had more than a glass or so to drink. Haven’t had more than the two cups of wine to drink, either. Definitely haven’t had a LOT of drinks at one time, so I can’t say whether I’d continue to be a “happy drunk” or turn into a mean, ornery one with more alcohol.

Francesca, I know the English accent is bizarre stuff. However, that’s what happens. :shrug:

If I were to drink and then post (woudln’t take a lot to get me drunk, really… my sister calls that being a “cheap drunk”), I’d probably flirt a lot, make really weird jokes in equally odd posts, have more typos than usual, etc. Hmm… maybe I should try that sometime. :smiley:

F_X

20

Same for me, these days. I often don’t even realise I’m getting drunk until too late. Spent Saturday feeling very guilty, although I know I didn’t get drunk until after leaving the staff summer do, I’m still expecting lots of smirks today. I know I said one or two things I shouldn’t in the pub after, but am hoping it’s all forgotten.

I tend to pick up the accent of the person to whom I’m talking even when sober - drinking can make that worse.

When younger I seemed to be better at pacing myself (I guess being poorer helped), and could feel the alcohol affecting me and could (if I wanted to) slow down.

I still have my homing instinct, fortunately. I’m not sure that bodes well for the Londope, since it’ll be an awfully long walk.