|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Praying to the Porcelain God and Other Joys of Intoxication
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
Why? This is my biggest question, why get drunk?
Understand, I am not a tea total and am no priss. I understand the lure of mild intoxication, but not the draw of violently emptying the contents of one's stomach, the blinding headache, blurred memory, nauseous, slow motion Hell of a next morning. That limits are pushed occasionally, understandable. That limits are pushed intentionally..... ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
I am not speaking of alcoholism mind, that is a different thing. Nor the "I just wish to forget today, tonight". I am speaking of purposely getting destroyed, for fun.
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
My wife of 10 years told me she wanted a divorce.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
|
Posted
Because it feels good?
It may not feel good in the morning but often, in the moment, the feeling of drunkenness is quite pleasant.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
The Silent Acolyte
Shipmate
# 1158
|
Posted
lilBuddha, it sounds as though you are a miserable puke of a drunk. A drinker ought to know his limit and stop before what you describe ensues.
It doesn't happen often for me, but some of us are happy chatty euphoric drunks, who after the back-slapping, hale-fellow-well-met camaraderie of community intoxication settle down to sleep the load off, waking up somewhat subdued the next morning.
[ 31. May 2014, 17:24: Message edited by: The Silent Acolyte ]
Posts: 7462 | From: The New World | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
|
Posted
Once, in my youth, I had two roommates. When it came time for us all to go our separate ways, we thought it fitting that as part of dissolving the household, we should properly dispose of all the liquor.
--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
|
Posted
There's a culture in which the ability to do this is praised.
There's also the thrill of intense experience. People who cut themselves or run marathons might seem to have similar motivations.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Signaller
Shipmate
# 17495
|
Posted
I am teetotal, always have been. I tell people it's because I don't like the taste. Really, I can't stand the thought of not being in control of myself. What I might find myself saying or doing, and the potential consequences, scares me.
Watching the effects drink has on other people has only ever confirmed this feeling. So no, I can't understand why anyone should want to get drunk.
I am very glad that I have never needed it as a prop.
Posts: 113 | From: Metroland | Registered: Jan 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Chocoholic
Shipmate
# 4655
|
Posted
In my case it's cos sometimes I fancy a gin, or glass of wine, much like I may fancy a curry or some chocolate.
But the alcohol in the nice tasting drinks lowers my willpower and so it's easy to have a second (or third) which doesn't happen as much with non alcoholic things, although I can be just as bad with biscuits, which don't cause a hangover.
Posts: 773 | From: London | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
I don't do it any more. I'm happy with a couple of glasses of red, maybe three if pushing the boat out.
I can't quite remember why I used to do it. Not social pressure, there have always been some in our circle who didn't drink or just had one or two - and they never get any pressure.
I must have enjoyed it. But I've done some silly things whilst drunk in the past, so I'm glad both my sons drink in moderation.
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Gareth
Shipmate
# 2494
|
Posted
I think it is no different from ordering the strongest curry on the menu, buying the most powerful car you can find, being the loudest person in the room, and all other unsophisticated ways of showing off.
Not that there's anything wrong with showing off, obviously. It's just that it is always fun to sneer at other people's methods of showing off when they aren't as sophisticated or clever as your own.
--------------------
"Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope."
P. J. O'Rourke
Posts: 345 | From: Chaos | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Late Paul:
Because it feels good?
It may not feel good in the morning but often, in the moment, the feeling of drunkenness is quite pleasant.
Ditto!
I feel so good I'll have another.
Then another.
Then "Oh to hell with it, it's months since I got really sloshed. I'll wipe the slate clean of trauma, insult, existential angst, etc". Btw, I do delineate the "etc" coz the rest are besetting phenomena so I could always use them as a starting point so they're worthless to include I suppose. But it does calibrate them back to zero which is helpful.
Of course I am also a New Zealander.
--------------------
She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
deano
princess
# 12063
|
Posted
Do it long enough and the symptoms the OP described go away. Which means you can drink a bottle of whisky a day and still be a functioning person. In fact some people NEED to do that. It brings its own problems.
Heavy drinkers don't NEED to of course. They are just heavy drinkers.
--------------------
"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
lilBuddha, it sounds as though you are a miserable puke of a drunk.
Ever the poetic turn of phrase, TSA. Never been drunk, though. I've had to deal with the aftermath of those who have.
quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
A drinker ought to know his limit and stop before what you describe ensues.
I agree and that many seem not to is what prompted this thread.
--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
|
Posted
To be able to control your drinking in a lot of cases takes a lot of trial and error. In my case a lot of the latter.
But I have never gone out with the intention of getting drunk, and have never understood the intention of getting drunk.
--------------------
Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
|
Posted
I remember reading a book in the 90s about an ex-heroin addict. I don't know if you were in the UK at the time and/or remember the anti-drugs PSAs of the time but the character in this book commented that one thing they got wrong was that they made it look so miserable - grey, sickly-looking people in dingy, dirty apartments, talking about how they could "handle it" and are "just a bit sick today".
The thing they left out he said was how good it felt. Sure there were downsides, plenty of them and very serious, but if there wasn't some real pleasure to be had then people wouldn't do it. Refusal to admit that simple fact weakened the effect of the campaign - the people who needed to hear it most didn't feel it reflected their experience.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
|
Posted
Late Paul wrote:
quote:
The thing they left out he said was how good it felt. Sure there were downsides, plenty of them and very serious, but if there wasn't some real pleasure to be had then people wouldn't do it. Refusal to admit that simple fact weakened the effect of the campaign - the people who needed to hear it most didn't feel it reflected their experience.
Yes, anti-drug propagandists often seem to be "high on their own supply", as it were, actually believing the canards they put out about how people do illegal drugs because "they have an emptiness in their lives" or "peer pressure" etc.
Whereas, in reality, people do drugs because they get a mental kick out of them, same as with legal drugs. Sure, to some extent, it might fill some ill-defined "emptiness", but you could say the same thing about any number of trivial pasttimes.
And peer pressure is the most ridiculous concept. It might explain why people start doing a drug, but it hardly explains why they would continue(in the absence of some positive feeling). I dislike with intensity the physical effects of alcohol, and I can assure you that no amount of peer pressure has made me want to take a drink since I started foregoing the "pleasure" over a decade ago.
[ 31. May 2014, 19:11: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
And peer pressure is the most ridiculous concept. It might explain why people start doing a drug, but it hardly explains why they would continue(in the absence of some positive feeling).
Isn't the point that the combination matters? You're not going to be persuaded to drink, because you dislike it. But consider someone who enjoys a mild buzz. Left to his own devices, perhaps he'd have a couple of beers and stop. Add in a bit of peer pressure - he's got to stand his round, we've got time for one more before we go, let's get some snacks and another round, and so on, and he's been drinking steadily all evening and now the pubs are chucking out.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
|
Posted
Ref the OP I've never understood intentionally getting puking drunk, but in my misspent youth regularly did it by accident. I like beer. If I'm out, I'll drink beer. After a while I don't notice how quickly they're going. And I feel fine. So ... redo from start until I think "Oops, should have stopped three pints ago. Best go to the loo". Even knowing this it has taken many years to get to the point where I keep count and then stop, or switch to a non-alcoholic drink. With one or two spectacular exceptions.
so for me it was a combination of personality, physiology, and the fact that the beer was rarely more than a secondary focus. The focus was friends, beer was a context I paid little attention.
Mrs Snags OTOH has an off switch. She gets just about tipsy fun, then her brain won't let her drink anymore. I find it fascinating, and somewhat admirable.
--------------------
Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
But consider someone who enjoys a mild buzz. Left to his own devices, perhaps he'd have a couple of beers and stop. Add in a bit of peer pressure - he's got to stand his round, we've got time for one more before we go, let's get some snacks and another round, and so on, and he's been drinking steadily all evening and now the pubs are chucking out.
I am a Kiwi, and as Galilit alluded to above, we have, or at least we are constantly told we have, a 'drinking culture'. Despite this, the worst hangover I have ever had, by a country mile, was contracted in London - thanks to the system of 'rounds', which is not at all usual here. It means that a.) you are quite likely to lose track of how many drinks you have had, b.) there IS some sort of pressure to go on, if others still are, especially if your round is still to come, and c.) people who weigh about 50kg (me, at the time) are very, very disadvantaged by a system where everyone at the table has the same number of drinks in an evening. Why didn't you just stop? I hear someone say. Well, as Snags said, what you are actually doing is socialising, as best you can amongst the noise and smoke, and there is a drink at your elbow. It never empties. You don't really notice. But by god, you notice the next day.
--------------------
The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
And peer pressure is the most ridiculous concept. It might explain why people start doing a drug, but it hardly explains why they would continue(in the absence of some positive feeling). I dislike with intensity the physical effects of alcohol, and I can assure you that no amount of peer pressure has made me want to take a drink since I started foregoing the "pleasure" over a decade ago.
Not ridiculous at all. You would not believe the amount of pressure put on Vietnamese men by other men to drink till drunk. Mr. Lamb has had a helluva time getting them to stop pushing beer etc. at him--he has one and stops. In the early days he almost got beat up for saying "no thank you". I can see how weaker personalities would fall to that amount of pressure, easily.
This is why, if you're at a Vietnamese wedding or party, you'll do well to leave the reception as soon as you're full. The young men will be out of control in an hour or so. And right now we're trying to sort out a case where one brother-in-law got loaded and shot the other one four times from the chest to the knees. (He lived, but the consequences are huge and affecting about fifty people in the extended family.) Just why, God?
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Late Paul:
It may not feel good in the morning but often, in the moment, the feeling of drunkenness is quite pleasant.
I would say that being buzzed is pleasant. Being drunk is more ... dramatic and/or silly. But being puke drunk is nasty and scary.
I can't recall a single time where I actually intended to be so drunk as to be sick. Buzzed, sure, even drunk sometimes. But getting to the throwing up stage was always a case of "mismanagement".
--------------------
They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Galilit:
Of course I am also a New Zealander.
Ah ... so that's my reason!
Though pretty much all else you say. I don't think I've ever drunk to get drunk. I have drunk to have fun with friends, I have occasionally drunk to "forget about life for a while" ... either way there have been myriad times (often at clergy gigs!) when I have put myself beyond a safe limit, and too many times, increasingly long ago now thank God, when I have reached the room-spinning, body-sweating, never again ooops up come my stomach contents stage. I think, long ago, I probably drank myself to oblivion once or twice, though on one occasion I fear a nasty drug ingested unknowing may have been the catalyst for passing out: either way the result was nasty, and I really have only myself to blame.
I'm older sadder and happlier married these days. I know my triggers, tend to pull out before the alcohol creates its own vortex. Perhaps, too, my liver is more leathery: I hope that's not the reason. It's been a good many years since I created a hangover.
I never drank (what the hell is the past tense?) to get drunk. It happened as others said because the control of a drug lapsed. I make no excuses.
--------------------
shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
|
Posted
Lamn Chopped wrote:
quote:
Not ridiculous at all. You would not believe the amount of pressure put on Vietnamese men by other men to drink till drunk. Mr. Lamb has had a helluva time getting them to stop pushing beer etc. at him--he has one and stops. In the early days he almost got beat up for saying "no thank you". I can see how weaker personalities would fall to that amount of pressure, easily.
I live in Korea, which has a similar drinking culture, especially centred around the workplace. A woman actually went all the way to the Supreme Court to defend her right to refuse to go out drinking and still keep her job. She won, but the actual practical effect of the ruling has likely been minimal.
So yes, I am aware of the cultural forces at work in some places. My dismissive comments about "peer pressure" were meant strictly in a western context.
Is there really anyone in the west who can say "I don't want to drink, but my career/social life/etc will be severely damaged if I don't"? Back in Canada, I worked for some pretty enthusiastic imbibers, but, even on company outtings, I was never subject to excessive cajoling in regards to alcohol.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
And peer pressure is the most ridiculous concept. It might explain why people start doing a drug, but it hardly explains why they would continue(in the absence of some positive feeling).
Isn't the point that the combination matters? You're not going to be persuaded to drink, because you dislike it. But consider someone who enjoys a mild buzz. Left to his own devices, perhaps he'd have a couple of beers and stop. Add in a bit of peer pressure - he's got to stand his round, we've got time for one more before we go, let's get some snacks and another round, and so on, and he's been drinking steadily all evening and now the pubs are chucking out.
Ah, I dunno, maybe. But I'd still be pretty of skeptical of anyone who, while admitting that he liked drinking, claimed that he only did it to excess because of peer pressure. The fact that he enjoys it to begin with would, for me, be the most plausible explanation for his decision to keep doing it all night long.
And, of course, you could reverse the equation. Maybe being among drinkers gives him the opportunity to indulge to a degree that he really enjoys, but would be taboo if he were drinking alone or with a more moderate crowd.
Admittedly, I'm biased, because when it comes to alcohol, I've always been very either/or. Back in the day, if I got plastered out of my skull on a pub crawl, it was because I wanted to, not because anyone was making me.
[ 01. June 2014, 03:30: Message edited by: Stetson ]
--------------------
I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
But I'd still be pretty of skeptical of anyone who, while admitting that he liked drinking, claimed that he only did it to excess because of peer pressure.
Well, the sickest I've ever been was at a New Year's party when I was 17. The culprit was a "fruit punch" which I think ended up being 1/3 rum, 1/3 vodka, 1/3 lemonade and a dash of fruit juice.
I like a drink, but I didn't like that drink. I drank it because I was 17 and at a party, and I was handed a drink by a girl I fancied. And, like anoesis, there have been plenty of times that I've been socializing with friends and had a couple more than I intended to, because I was caught up in the moment and not really paying attention.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
This is going to sound totally naïve, but how in the hell do people manage to drink so much without living in the toilet? If I did that with water or tea or something, I'd totally be dashing for the toilet every five minutes.
I suppose I could see it with spirits, but beer... ????? People must have kidneys of steel.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
There's drinking and there's drinking. Alcohol has been part of life for me since I was very young, but I never saw drunkiness until I was in my teens. It surprised me. I enjoy a beer or 2. Having a glass just now actually. My now adult children had the same experience.
Alcoholism is a misuse. Among other ways of defining it. That said, when people say they avoid alcohol because of feelings related to control, I wonder about what quantities of drinks and about personality traits.
--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
|
Posted
I have been blessed (if that's the word) with a phobia of vomiting (emetophobia being the technical term). That has usually kept me within somewhat reasonable bounds (though in my college days, when I hadn't quite figured out how much is too much, not always). The basic rule is, when you start feeling good, stop drinking--if three drinks feels good, six will not feel twice as good. It's a lesson some people seem unable to learn.
--------------------
When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
This is going to sound totally naïve, but how in the hell do people manage to drink so much without living in the toilet? If I did that with water or tea or something, I'd totally be dashing for the toilet every five minutes.
I suppose I could see it with spirits, but beer... ????? People must have kidneys of steel.
It maybe TMI but around the first litre and or two (beer, not anything stronger or you're cactus) nestles into place quite nicely. after that, yup, between five and ten minute excursions. Those breaks give you a chance to decide to break the cycle - go light or stop. They also give you a chance to stare at your swaying face in the mirror. By that time it's too late...
Which reminds me ... it's past five p.m.
--------------------
shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
EloiseA
Shipmate
# 18029
|
Posted
I had a long talk recently with a family member who has been sober for a decade and he made some perceptive comments on the 'why' of continuing to drink.
For many years he had what he thought of as a pattern of mismanagement that later became a fluctuating compulsion. Sometimes there was no problem, sometimes he would go out with friends and assume they would eat later and then drink on an empty stomach, sometimes it would be a hot evening and he would drink more beer because he was thirsty and didn’t want to interrupt the buzz with water. No intention of getting drunk most of the time
What did bother him were the hidden motivations behind his drinking to excess because over time he saw a pattern emerge.
The first two or three drinks were pleasure, anticipating the buzz and then the lift of euphoria, the losing inhibitions and sense of fun and ‘life enhanced’.
The next few drinks were intended to prolong that initial euphoria, feeling a little lightheaded and bright-eyed. There would be a little blurriness around the edges but no sense of being drunk.
It would dawn on him that he couldn't recapture that first euphoria and that it was time to stop. His mood would begin to darken, the liveliness and generosity, sense of untroubled fellowship would recede. This brought on a sense of agitation and reluctance to stop -- he would think to himself that one more wouldn't do any harm.
Then things would change as he settled into drinking for the rest of the evening – the longing for oblivion would hit him at about the same time as feelings of anger or resentment or sadness would emerge out of nowhere. He would think about old grievances, would want to listen to sentimental music, would remember rejections and failures. Often another person in the group would be in the same headspace and they would bond, try to shake off the melancholy and resentment, the feelings of self-pity, by ‘drinking to forget’.
This was the pattern for a long time and only after he stopped drinking did he do some research and understand that while alcohol (like caffeine or sugar) works initially as a stimulant and then depletes energies, it is a major depressant.
He also said that the anxiety and depression of the next day was even worse than the headache, even if he hadn’t, as far as he knew, done anything ‘wrong’ or offended anyone. The only way to ease the fidgeting and misery was to drink again at some point the next day or evening, just a few drinks to chase away the black mood.
Posts: 55 | Registered: Mar 2014
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Alcoholism is a misuse. Among other ways of defining it. That said, when people say they avoid alcohol because of feelings related to control, I wonder about what quantities of drinks and about personality traits.
Interesting, because my secondary reason for avoiding alcohol is definitely not wanting to be out of control. The primary reason is that my family is genetically predisposed to alcoholism and other addictions (we're American Indian), and I don't want to die young.
Which is why I've never had more than enough to feel a slight buzz, and we don't keep it in the house. Except a tiny bottle if Mr. Lamb needs to give someone Communion.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
This is going to sound totally naïve, but how in the hell do people manage to drink so much without living in the toilet? If I did that with water or tea or something, I'd totally be dashing for the toilet every five minutes.
Want some TMI?
Mr Boogs cares for a bloke who can't move from the neck down, he's 26 and broke his spine in a snowboarding accident. Occasionally he still likes to go out for a pint (or eight) with the lads. Mr Boogs says you can tell he's had enough when the wee in the bag runs clear! (and, yes, it needs emptying a lot!)
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
|
Posted
When I was at university and living at the Anglican Chaplaincy, I was helping a friend who was praying to the Porcelain God. He became slightly melodramatic, held his arms out wide and said in all seriousness "Eli Eli lama sabachthani!". This caused much amusement - but was very distracting when the prayer came up in chapel.
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Candide
Apprentice
# 15755
|
Posted
Locally at least, we see a lot of drinking to justify acting like a complete moron.
I think it is an urge for some, who come from a culture that puts considerable social restraints on people. They apparently want the opportunity to pee in public, show off various indiscreet body parts, and shout and scream loudly at other people.
(In short, acting just one step short of flinging poo at each other).
The next day, simply saying "I was drunk" justifies this behaviour. They are allowed to break society's norms, by putting themselves in a position where the taboos aren't really taboo anymore.
(On a side note - there's been a few interesting cases here, where people simply have behaved as if drunk - slurred speech, poor balance, etc. - to commit acts of vandalism. After which the police have found only low levels of alcohol in their blood, and no relevant illnesses).
Posts: 36 | From: Norway | Registered: Jul 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
|
Posted
When I was at university and living at the Anglican Chaplaincy, I was helping a friend who was praying to the Porcelain God. He became slightly melodramatic, held his arms out wide and said in all seriousness "Eli Eli lama sabachthani!". This caused much amusement - but was very distracting when the prayer came up in chapel.
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
mrs whibley
Shipmate
# 4798
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chocoholic:
In my case it's cos sometimes I fancy a gin, or glass of wine, much like I may fancy a curry or some chocolate.
But the alcohol in the nice tasting drinks lowers my willpower and so it's easy to have a second (or third) which doesn't happen as much with non alcoholic things, although I can be just as bad with biscuits, which don't cause a hangover.
This! But somehow the biscuit thing has diminished with age, as has my tolerance for chocolate. The combination of alcohol and good company, however, is problematic. I haven't actually vomited for over a decade though!
--------------------
I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous - Mike Yaconelli
Posts: 942 | From: North Lincolnshire | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Signaller:
I am teetotal, always have been. I tell people it's because I don't like the taste. Really, I can't stand the thought of not being in control of myself. What I might find myself saying or doing, and the potential consequences, scares me.
Watching the effects drink has on other people has only ever confirmed this feeling. So no, I can't understand why anyone should want to get drunk.
I am very glad that I have never needed it as a prop.
I'm like this too, and I have to say, viewed from the outside drinking is certainly one of the most incomprehensible of human activities. I have to take people's word for it that there's an aspect of it that's very pleasurable, but if you haven't tried it, there's absolutely nothing about watching people drink that would make you want to try it.
This is so true for me that I'm very late (like nearly age 50) having it dawn on me some of the reasons why people think it's a good idea. The other day I was involved in a panel discussion about the positives and negatives of using social media, and I made the point that for a person like me with very mild social anxiety, it can be easy to approach and make a brief comment to someone you don't know but whose work you admire, on Twitter, say, who you'd never approach if you were at a cocktail party with them IRL. I painted a thumbnail sketch of my own misery at such events, wandering around trailing in the wake of people I already know hoping I won't have to speak to anyone new, and the panel moderator interrupted jokily, "You need to drink more!"
I said, "I don't drink at all, that's probably the problem!" and only then did it quite belatedly occur to me that they're called cocktail parties for a reason: it's a peculiar kind of social interaction that most(?) people can't manage (or wouldn't want to) unless they're slightly inebriated.
--------------------
Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
iamchristianhearmeroar
Shipmate
# 15483
|
Posted
Why drink to get drunk? Others have already mentioned the reason I would give - because it's fun, especially amongst friends or other safe company.
Have I ever drunk deliberately to get drunk to the point of vomiting? No, and I have no idea why anyone would. (It has been a consequence for me of extreme over-indulgence on occasion, but not for ages).
Have I ever drunk deliberately to get drunk on my own? No, I don't think that I have. That's probably using alcohol as something quite specific: a mental cosh, a means to forget, a self-destruct button.
For me, the pleasure lies in drinking with friends and, at times (although nowhere near as frequently as we used to), consciously drinking enough to make ourselves drunk. It's fun, you loosen up, you laugh more, it becomes more acceptable to do childish things - speak in silly voices, pull faces - that for some reason society frowns on in sober adults.
It has, of course, a shadow side, and not only in one's physical and psychological pain the next morning, but in the kind of behaviour that an excess of alcohol can bring out in otherwise sane, rational people. And yes, "been there, done that" but again not for a long time. But I'm not sure that was the topic of the OP...
--------------------
My blog: http://alastairnewman.wordpress.com/
Posts: 642 | From: London, UK | Registered: Feb 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
bib
Shipmate
# 13074
|
Posted
When you live with an alcoholic partner, it is easy to completely abstain from drinking. The smell and taste of liquor makes me retch, but I find it is embarrassing to refuse the offer of a drink on a social occasion. People just don't understand that some of us hate the stuff, but often no alternative drink is available. I guess my partner started as a social drinker, but now he can't go any day without copious amounts of alcohol and there is nothing I can do or say to change his behaviour.
--------------------
"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Why? This is my biggest question, why get drunk?
Well, it's like this. I go out with friends and have a nice Margarita or some such mixed drink (no wine, as it gives me an instant headache.) Immediately, I get a nice warm fuzzy feeling. All those about me are beautiful and amusing and I just want to embrace every last person including the charming strangers who just walked through the door.
I want that feeling to continue, so I have another. After two, I've lost all cautionary reason while at the same time, discovered a talent for comedy unrivaled by the best comics in the business. Why in the world would anyone want to leave such a heavenly spot on the planet where we are all one with the universe and morning may never come?
I've never been sick either that night or the next day, even after 7 or 8 drinks, just a slight shortness of breath which is probably low oxygen saturation. It does cause lots of trip to the loo but I get to chat with all my new friends along the way. I haven't done this for years and now I'm wondering why not.
Silent Acolyte, I want to party with you, girl.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
it's a peculiar kind of social interaction that most(?) people can't manage (or wouldn't want to) unless they're slightly inebriated.
It was useful for us the other day.
Mr Boogs step sister has been ignoring us for twelve years, since Mr Boogs got back in touch with his Dad after too many years. They were both children when the split happened and she had stayed with 'Dad'. She thought it was all too little too late when Mr Boogs found him again.
It was at an evening meal after his Dad's funeral last week that both Mr Boogs and his step sister had far too much to drink. All their emotions poured out to each other and they had a huge reconciliation. All is much better now.
I don't think either would have opened up without the drink.
[ 01. June 2014, 14:10: Message edited by: Boogie ]
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
|
Posted
Why get drunk? It's fun. I'm old school: I work hard and I play hard. Alcohol is a way to relax, socialise with my friends, and help forget problems.
In the words of Homer Simpson "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of lifes problems".
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
my secondary reason for avoiding alcohol is definitely not wanting to be out of control.
This is my primary reason. I drink, but I'm very very careful.
I have been tempted a couple of times to give up altogether by the inmates I meet.
The number of people who are in jail for offences caused, indirectly, by alcohol here is huge. And that proportion rises steeply in cases of murder, torture, and so on, often for minor or even imagined slights.
I don't believe for a moment that I'm fundamentally different to people who, under the influence, have done unspeakable things and not been able to stop.
--------------------
Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
My wife of 10 years told me she wanted a divorce.
The two times in my life I reached this point it was something similar-- I wanted a legal version of novocaine.
The second time I was so chemically stupid that I was grateful for the vomit reflex-- if I hadn't barfed, I had enough in my system to kill me.
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
lapsed heathen
Hurler on the ditch
# 4403
|
Posted
Theirs also a reset button thig. You sometimes feel so lost, angry, hopeless, out of rope that short of suicide getting completely plastered achieves the same end. Oblivion. Next day things are never as bad as the seemed before. Of course that's in comparison to a hangover so it's a reminder that all things are relative.
I never understood the macho drinking or the bragging about it but theirs an age when impressing friends is about going further, faster, closer to the edge, drinking is easy and can be done on some spare cash, it becomes a 'thing' for a few years. Oddly once your good at it the fun goes out of it.
--------------------
"We are the Easter people and our song is Alleluia"
Posts: 1361 | From: Marble county | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
|
Posted
I've been drunk a few times in former years, but I wouldn't describe it as a pleasant feeling over and above other feelings of pleasantness .
Having a glass or a can in the evening to take the edge of an arduous day is the way I use alcohol these days.
The binge drinking culture baffles me somewhat . Self-destructive behaviour seems to have found new expression in recent decades . Lack of wars and an unrelenting barrage of health advice ? These may be a couple of reasons . I'm sure it is more complex than this, if a simplistic solution existed it would have been found by now.
--------------------
Change is the only certainty of existence
Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by rolyn:
The binge drinking culture baffles me somewhat . Self-destructive behaviour seems to have found new expression in recent decades . Lack of wars and an unrelenting barrage of health advice ? These may be a couple of reasons . I'm sure it is more complex than this, if a simplistic solution existed it would have been found by now.
And yet. Binge drinking was what brought on, via (over)reaction, the dreadful Prohibition era in the United States. Binge drinking was what made the British government limit alcohol content to 40% (80 proof) around the time of the Great War. It's hardly a new problem.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Why? This is my biggest question, why get drunk?
Well, it's like this. I go out with friends and have a nice Margarita or some such mixed drink (no wine, as it gives me an instant headache.) Immediately, I get a nice warm fuzzy feeling. All those about me are beautiful and amusing and I just want to embrace every last person including the charming strangers who just walked through the door.
I want that feeling to continue, so I have another. After two, I've lost all cautionary reason while at the same time, discovered a talent for comedy unrivaled by the best comics in the business. Why in the world would anyone want to leave such a heavenly spot on the planet where we are all one with the universe and morning may never come?
this! all of this. Twilight described my particular dysfunction perfectly.
except: 1) wine doesn't give me a headache. it makes me beautiful and glamorous and fucking hilarious - just ask me.
2) hangovers. oh yeah, I get 'em. I get 'em real big. I'm a complete sissy about them, too.
My problem is, I'm a lightweight with an abrupt tipping point. I don't gradually go from slightly fuzzy to room spinning. I can be charming and funny and chatty and silly and risk taking - but basically okay - and then BOOM - one more sip and I'm in the fetal position on the floor. That point can be anywhere from 3 drinks to six, depends on probably things like sleep deprivation and stress and what I've been eating.
I HATE being drunk. I try really hard not to hit that tipping point, so I tend to err on the sober side to be safe.
Because of my basic extroverted, lack-of-shame, spotlight diva self, the stories of my antics while under the influence go way back. It's embarrassing. highly amusing, but also embarrassing. So I try to really take it slow so I'm not feeling the need to apologize to the world the next day.
--------------------
Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view
