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Source: (consider it) Thread: Praying to the Porcelain God and Other Joys of Intoxication
Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

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quote:
it makes me beautiful and glamorous and fucking hilarious - just ask me.

In your case I'll bet it's true. Please meet me and Silent Acolyte at happy hour.
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The Rhythm Methodist
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# 17064

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iamchristianhearmeroar wrote:
quote:
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.

I suspect many people who casually get drunk, do so from a combination of supressed inhibitions and impaired judgment - with perhaps the specific situation they find themselves in playing a role.

Personally, I have never experienced drinking socially in the delightful manner you go on to describe. Nor can I ever recall vomiting due to drinking too much....though I spent many years vomiting - routinely and relentlessly - whenever I hadn't imbibed enough alcohol to keep me 'stable'. Ultimately, that's one of the issues with a drink problem - one has to treat the symptoms of alcoholism with alcohol, or suffer the consequences.

I retired from active alcoholism many years ago, but - if I'm honest - I still struggle to understand how people can enjoy a couple of drinks and then stop....although I'm assured that is normal. In my drinking days, I would have no more contemplated that, than I would have considered going to bed with a woman - and then leaving after the foreplay. I guess it comes down to how we see the purpose of alcohol. I never once touched it with any other intention than to get drunk, and yet others successfully use it as an enhancement to social interaction. My own social interactions have been greatly improved by its absence: attested to by the fact that in the last twenty five years, I've only been to prison for chaplaincy duties!

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Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
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quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
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.
Oh we know in the UK that binge drinking was a known problem back in 1751.

Jengie

--------------------
"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge

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Jay-Emm
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Silly question in the vain of the Op.

Do we know what the culture/language around drink was back then?
In particular I guess was there the culture like the Bill Bailey sketch. Or was it more drinking to forget, or out of boredom, stereotypical addiction.
I've always had the impression of the newly paid husbands going "I'll just have one, then this time I'll head home" rather than considering the money spent a badge of pride or planning on getting plastered. But I'm not sure if that just comes from an inability to imagine people being that neglectful on purpose.

(To be honest I'm not really sure what it is now, in any subset of community)

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Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

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I think you're right, Jay-Emm. I can't imagine anyone setting out with the intention of spending the family's entire pay check on drink.

I think that many people, even after only one drink, lose all the sincere resolve they had twenty minutes ago and start playing the "just one more," game with themselves. If I, who have no biological or social "problem," with alcohol can fall into that pattern once every few years then how much harder for those who do.

Unlike some other temptations, food or gambling, we'll say, this particular vice impairs the very brain we need to be using to resist the urge.

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comet

Snowball in Hell
# 10353

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quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
quote:
it makes me beautiful and glamorous and fucking hilarious - just ask me.

In your case I'll bet it's true. Please meet me and Silent Acolyte at happy hour.
now THAT would be a party! If we didn't all three kill each other in the first ten minutes we'd take over the world.

or maybe get arrested.

I'm down!

--------------------
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

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orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

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quote:
Originally posted by The Silent Acolyte:
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.

Most of the people who think they are the life of the party while drunk are only the life of the party to other people who are also drunk.

I drink, but I pace myself. And so I've often watched parties go from really enjoyable when people are sober or moderately intoxicated, to not very enjoyable as more and more people get to the point where everything they do is uproariously funny and should be laughed at as loudly as possible. I'm quite sure they're happy, but as a person standing nearby who's working to ensure I stay under the blood alcohol limit, being in the company of these happy, chatty euphoric drunks starts becoming a chore.

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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

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orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

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Also, one of the basic problems is that people don't wait for one drink to take effect before they start on the next one.

It's no different to all the tips we get about eating slowly, or pausing before dessert because then it might turn out you don't need/want dessert.

If you're feeling pleasantly buzzed, then it's time to stop for a while because there's a very good chance there's some more consumed alcohol heading for your bloodstream right then and there. Just because one sip happens to coincide with when you suddenly feel you've gone too far, doesn't mean that sip had anything to do with how you're currently feeling. It's the sips 10 or 15 minutes ago, maybe earlier, that are doing the trick.

It takes roughly an hour for your body to process a single standard drink, so you don't need to 'top up' that drink until the hour has passed. Wear a watch. I'm not talking about using a stopwatch and a detailed log, but have an idea of when you started drinking and what the time is now. One can stay near the pleasant buzz range by having 1-2 drinks in the first hour, and then only 1 an hour after that.

Which isn't that hard to do if you're doing something besides drinking. The biggest problem with English-speaking drinking culture is that we've turned drinking alcohol into an event in its own right, not something that accompanies other activities (like a meal).

My drinking motto? If I'm having a good time, I'd like to remember it.

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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

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Zach82
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# 3208

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I like getting blotto with my friends every now and then, with Easter, Christmas, and New Years Eve being the primest times in my opinion. And I can't see why that's so bad.

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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Also, one of the basic problems is that people don't wait for one drink to take effect before they start on the next one.

It's no different to all the tips we get about eating slowly, or pausing before dessert because then it might turn out you don't need/want dessert[snip]
...
My drinking motto? If I'm having a good time, I'd like to remember it.

Precisely.

I read somewhere that part of the problem is the more you drink, the less you actually feel the effects-- the result being that people feel drunker than they are at the outset of drinking, and feel more sober than they are when far down the drinking road. This accounts for the people who stagger toward their car mumbling "I am ok, I can do it..."


The time I got stupid drunk I deliberately drank in such a way that I would not feel the buzz reduce in the usual time. I also remember panicking because I seemed to continue getting drunker after I stopped drinking-- chugging water didn't seem to help. I still had enough booze in my stomach to keep intoxicating me.

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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.

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orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

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quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
I like getting blotto with my friends every now and then, with Easter, Christmas, and New Years Eve being the primest times in my opinion. And I can't see why that's so bad.

The original question on the thread is: why is it so GOOD?

I can't see it. Honestly.

Not when people get so drunk that other people have to tell them what it was they actually did while drunk. Is 'getting blotto' up at that level?

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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

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Zach82
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Because getting together with friends to drink and eat is fun. Nothing mysterious about it. I also think roast dinner and games of cribbage are appropriate ways to keep the Lord's Day.

I don't think kicking a ball around an overheated lawn is all that much fun, but the fact that some people like playing football isn't all a huge mystery to me.

[ 02. June 2014, 04:04: Message edited by: Zach82 ]

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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice

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orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

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Getting together with friends to eat and drink most certainly is fun. I do it.

But 'eating and drinking' is not the same as getting blotto.

I had a birthday party/lunch with extended family yesterday (mostly my brother-in-law's family). It was awesome. Home-cooked Thai food. Lots of conversation. 2 glasses of wine. No-one got plastered. THAT'S eating and drinking. That isn't what the thread is talking about.

[ 02. June 2014, 04:31: Message edited by: orfeo ]

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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

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The Silent Acolyte

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# 1158

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quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Oh we know in the UK that binge drinking was a known problem back in 1751.

Christopher Cook's book, Alcohol Addiction and Christian Ethics gives a decent brief history of alcohol abuse through the ages, with a recent focus on UK stats and studies before it goes on to discuss the ethics.
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Galilit
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# 16470

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That book would be where you got your theology from, then??! Sounds like it should be "required reading"!

By the way, count me in on that party!

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She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.

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IngoB

Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700

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quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Wear a watch. I'm not talking about using a stopwatch and a detailed log, but have an idea of when you started drinking and what the time is now. One can stay near the pleasant buzz range by having 1-2 drinks in the first hour, and then only 1 an hour after that.

For social drinking, in particular among youngsters, it is more important to learn the ancient art of "nursing your drink". Slowing down the drinking itself has two distinct advantages. First, physiologically it means that there is no alcohol concentration spike that would lead to a sudden loss of control. Second, your peers will be mostly checking whether you have a drink in hand / in front of you, they are less likely to keep track of how many you have poured into yourself. Knocking back a pint and then waiting about an hour is physiologically less advantageous and socially more awkward.

quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Which isn't that hard to do if you're doing something besides drinking. The biggest problem with English-speaking drinking culture is that we've turned drinking alcohol into an event in its own right, not something that accompanies other activities (like a meal).

There's nothing specifically English about that, I certainly spend much of my late teenage and early adulthood years drinking alcohol on weekends with my peers for "fun" - in Germany. It's a social thing, an obvious extension of an adult activity to a proving ground for adulthood.

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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

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orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

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quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
For social drinking, in particular among youngsters, it is more important to learn the ancient art of "nursing your drink". Slowing down the drinking itself has two distinct advantages. First, physiologically it means that there is no alcohol concentration spike that would lead to a sudden loss of control. Second, your peers will be mostly checking whether you have a drink in hand / in front of you, they are less likely to keep track of how many you have poured into yourself. Knocking back a pint and then waiting about an hour is physiologically less advantageous and socially more awkward.

Yes, this is very true, and is really what I meant. I wasn't envisioning simply swigging the drink down fast and then waiting for ages. I do try and drink fairly slowly - and that's what conversation is good for. The checking the watch only happens when I'm thinking about getting the next one.

Quite frequently I'll be idly fiddling with an empty glass for a while before even thinking about refilling it, enjoying the glow of the last beverage. And my typical pattern after the first 2 alcoholic drinks is to alternate with non-alcoholic ones.

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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.

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Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
# 273

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I think those who will drink the weeks wages fall in another category. I say this having a Great Grandfather who was one (the tale is told of my Grandfather having to get my Grandfathers wages off him before he had a drink) and also a former boyfriend who is one. They seem to be able to drink or not drink, but actual control of the amount is not possible.

As these examples shows it is not a phenomena of a particular age but rather it is a form of alcoholism. This is not true of all alcoholics, but it does appear to be true of some.

Jengie

--------------------
"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge

Back to my blog

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The Silent Acolyte

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# 1158

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quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
For social drinking, in particular among youngsters, it is more important to learn the ancient art of "nursing your drink". Slowing down the drinking itself has two distinct advantages. <and the rest...>

Whence comes the laudable style of taking one's bourbon straight-up with water back.

Further, there is a disturbing modern tendency to provision glasses for martinis and Manhattans of positively oceanic capacity. Either the contents lose the cold before the drink is consumed or else the liquor is too quickly bolted down.

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burlingtontiger
Apprentice
# 18069

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As someone else pointed out, drinking heavily is a feature of British society - and that is regardless of social class. The ability to drink heavily is worn like a badge of honour.

In my twenties I would drink with friends till 3 a.m. a couple of nights a week and still be on the 7.30 train to work with no real problems. In my thirties I would drink a bottle of wine 4-6 nights a week with no obvious problems.

Now, at 43, I dislike being drunk. I don't like the feeling, I don't like the lethargy, I don't sleep well after drinking. It makes me eat far too much - usually something spicy or cheesy that gives me heartburn. I get a nervous 'butterflies in the stomach' feeling throughout the next day. I am going off it rapidly and only occasionally drink at home now. I am down to an afternoon in the pub every 4 or 5 weeks, with a friend, and I down pint after pint of water afterwards to counter the effects. I have also lost 6.5 stone in weight, so that is a real bonus.

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"If this goes on, my beloved 'earers, it will be my painful duty to rot this bargee"

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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528

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I think physiologically I must be weird, then. I don't feel any glow or effect from alcohol (bar facial flushing, which only takes half a glass or less) until I'm right on the edge of having had too much. When I drink my single glass, or even two, I'm doing it for flavor and nothing else. Because nothing else happens.

(thoughtful) I wonder if this accounts for the family alcoholism?

[ 02. June 2014, 14:02: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]

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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!

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Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

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quote:
Originally posted by Galilit:
By the way, count me in on that party!

Absolutely!

Orfeo's not invited. [Razz]

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Karl: Liberal Backslider
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# 76

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Aye, the conversations with Ralph down the Great White Telephone are the problem I have. Don't mind the feeling a bit pissed sensation, but the nausea, whether it results in a puking session or not, I can totally live without.

I drink beer because I like beer. I too don't understand getting arseholed as an aim, because for me steamed = feeling rather sick. More an occupational hazard.

[ 02. June 2014, 14:47: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]

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Might as well ask the bloody cat.

Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
I too don't understand getting arseholed as an aim,

This phraseology evidently plays differently in different places.

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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/

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Jane R
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# 331

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Twilight:
quote:
Orfeo's not invited.
That's OK, he can come to my party. Especially if he brings some Thai food. [Cool]
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lilBuddha
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# 14333

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quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
Twilight:
quote:
Orfeo's not invited.
That's OK, he can come to my party. Especially if he brings some Thai food. [Cool]
Or mine, because he won't have to be drunk to enjoy it.

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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Aye, the conversations with Ralph down the Great White Telephone are the problem I have. Don't mind the feeling a bit pissed sensation, but the nausea, whether it results in a puking session or not, I can totally live without.

I drink beer because I like beer. I too don't understand getting arseholed as an aim, because for me steamed = feeling rather sick. More an occupational hazard.

Yeah , I too was reflecting on the new vocabulary I am aquiring.
The nausea you describe is among the first symptoms of mild alchohol poisoning. As orfeo said, if one chilled out and waited a bit between each drink, this is one if the signs one should cool it. Because, poison.

Your central nervous system might enjoy the ride for a bit,but when you pound your system with alcohol, the rest of you body HATES you. Every nasty thing refined sugar does to your body happens with alcohol abuse, because alcohol is very, very processed sugar-- weight gain, cellular compromise (as in, water gets sucked out of you cells to compensate for the level of crap you just put in your system), blood sugar fluxuation, and of course, your liver really, really hates you. Binge drinking alone can do enough damage to the skin to make a 25 year old man look 50.

--------------------
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.

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moron
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# 206

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Unsurprisingly Vincent Furnier sums it up well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq4j1LtCdww&feature=kp

And where is Frank Zappa when you need him?

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Barnabas62
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# 9110

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Party Invitations; lovely idea but not exactly serious discussion. A little more Purgatorial, please.

Barnabas62
Purgatory Host

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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

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Karl: Liberal Backslider
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# 76

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quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Aye, the conversations with Ralph down the Great White Telephone are the problem I have. Don't mind the feeling a bit pissed sensation, but the nausea, whether it results in a puking session or not, I can totally live without.

I drink beer because I like beer. I too don't understand getting arseholed as an aim, because for me steamed = feeling rather sick. More an occupational hazard.

Yeah , I too was reflecting on the new vocabulary I am aquiring.
The nausea you describe is among the first symptoms of mild alchohol poisoning. As orfeo said, if one chilled out and waited a bit between each drink, this is one if the signs one should cool it. Because, poison.

Your central nervous system might enjoy the ride for a bit,but when you pound your system with alcohol, the rest of you body HATES you. Every nasty thing refined sugar does to your body happens with alcohol abuse, because alcohol is very, very processed sugar-- weight gain, cellular compromise (as in, water gets sucked out of you cells to compensate for the level of crap you just put in your system), blood sugar fluxuation, and of course, your liver really, really hates you. Binge drinking alone can do enough damage to the skin to make a 25 year old man look 50.

Alas, I don't think I process alcohol well; it may be genetic - the Mother Backslider can't drink more than half a glass of wine before she starts getting flushed. I get nauseous well before I get what many people call drunk; I've been sick many times, but never blacked out, never forgotten what I was doing, danced on tables, been unable to walk...

As a side issue, I think in the UK at any rate we have more slang terms for being drunk than anything else. I've barely started working my way through them...

[ 02. June 2014, 20:07: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]

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Might as well ask the bloody cat.

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Pyx_e

Quixotic Tilter
# 57

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Amateurs.

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lilBuddha
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# 14333

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Response to B62
Actually, I was attempting to make a point, though perhaps too subtlety.
One should not need, or expect, alcohol at a gathering to enjoy it. I have been to very similar gatherings with, and without, alcohol. And the perceptions, even before drinking commenced, were marked different.
If your friends are not tolerable sober, get new ones.

[ 02. June 2014, 20:28: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]

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rolyn
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# 16840

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quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
It's hardly a new problem.

Oh we know in the UK that binge drinking was a known problem back in 1751.

Indeed , not a new problem . It's what gave Wesley his mission .

Maybe I should have said it's a recurring problem . People in their 20's and 30s with alcohol related liver damage probably isn't a new problem either, but the number now, and in the future, occupying NHS beds might well prove to be.

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Organ Builder
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# 12478

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I haven't been truly drunk for years; that was when I was still learning my limits by trial and error. Of course, there was that one particular night when I was in college which meant I haven't been able to face a Screwdriver in over 30 years...

On the whole, though, I like a little wine or booze because it relaxes me. It allows me to stop being such a taciturn wallflower. I don't need a lot--just enough to loosen up the social graces. Then I can talk to people comfortably, and I usually find we both enjoy it--especially since I only need one drink to put me in that "happy place".

Another pleasant side effect is that things stop hurting. You don't reach 55 in my family without a certain amount of arthritis. It doesn't make the pain go away, but it allows one to focus on something else. I've always suspected that in the absence of other effective pain relievers, a goodly portion of our 19th century forbears were using drink (or laudanum) as an analgesic.

Even so, apart from vacation or the odd party I tend to drink on a very regular schedule--one martini after work on Friday, and a bottle of wine split with my partner with dinner on Saturday.

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How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people.--E.F. Benson

Posts: 3337 | From: ...somewhere in between 40 and death... | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged
Twilight

Puddleglum's sister
# 2832

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quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
One should not need, or expect, alcohol at a gathering to enjoy it. I have been to very similar gatherings with, and without, alcohol. And the perceptions, even before drinking commenced, were marked different.
If your friends are not tolerable sober, get new ones.

Of course, but don't make the mistake of thinking that those of us who understand the pleasurable side of getting wasted occasionally have never had any sober fun. I think I've had a total of three drinks, each one at separate times, since I quit smoking 14 years ago. I knew the first thing I would do once the silliness began was bum a cigarette from someone.

I come from tee-totaling Methodist/Presbyterians and to this day it doesn't occur to me to have alcohol at family gatherings. Wine is a maudlin tear jerker for me so, no matter how pretty it looks in my crystal glasses, we don't serve it.

It's interesting to me that I have relatives on my Catholic husband's side, who are fond of saying smugly, "We don't drink," who actually have wine or beer almost every day.

I guess what they mean is, "We don't drink to excess," or to my way of thinking have never enjoyed the fun of a real pub crawl with a bunch of crazy friends. For all their superiority, I think my liver is probably healthier.

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orfeo

Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878

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It was very fascinating once being at a wedding where a sizable number of guests didn't drink (and it was known beforehand that this was the case).

There was a fair amount of Maison, a very nice non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice which you used to be able to get, not sure if it still exists (and probably just an Australian brand anyway).

Which the guests who DID drink also started having.

I can only speculate as to why. Did they feel pressure not to drink? There was plenty of wine available. Or was it that the usual pressure to drink was absent, and that they realised they had the choice to switch?

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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528

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Might depend upon the known reason(s) for abstaining--at my wedding we had one glass of champagne only, for a toast, as over half our guests were Vietnamese Tin Lanh (sort of extra-Baptist) and we (non-VTL folk) didn't want to freak them out. They in turn pretended not to see the champagne bottles, and the pastor, my brother-in-law, did the toast (in white grape juice). It was nice to see everybody bending over backward to make everyone else comfortable.

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Alas, I don't think I process alcohol well; it may be genetic - the Mother Backslider can't drink more than half a glass of wine before she starts getting flushed. I get nauseous well before I get what many people call drunk; I've been sick many times, but never blacked out, never forgotten what I was doing, danced on tables, been unable to walk...

Alas, nothing; your body is helping you out.

C.S Lewis had a litte thing he wrote about how the body goes out of its way to warn us about bad habits--our first sip of alcohol is foul, our first hit of a cigarette sends us into a coughing fit. We have to argue with out bodies for a while before it submits to binge drinking.

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Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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ExclamationMark
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# 14715

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It can be very interesting if you aren't drinking, watching the behaviour and listening to the words of those who do.

I don't drink alcohol now. Didn't have a problem with it and enjoyed the occasional glass: I've just lost the taste and find it brings on a migraine at high speed anyway. I'm also not convinced that it's the best witness for a believer -- it can lead to people saying and doing stuff, that in the cold light of day they will realise is unhelpful and inappropriate.

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Gareth
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# 2494

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What I don't understand is the concept of preloading.

Back in my day we arrived at the pub or club sober, and then finished off with scotch back home if we felt we needed more to drink. At least then we knew we'd get home...

Three of the four deaths in the rivers in York this year were young people on a night out...

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"Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope."
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Posts: 345 | From: Chaos | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433

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quote:
Originally posted by moron:


And where is Frank Zappa when you need him?

*Ahem*

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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351

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Pre-loading is just a combination of the mindset that says "It wasn't a good night if I remember it" and the cost of alcohol in pubs/clubs. Way cheaper to get through some cheap cans/wine/spirit before going out so you don't "need" to drink as much at your chosen venue.

Nothing new, either; people used to do it 25 years ago when I was at university, and doubtless before that. It doesn't chime with why I go for a drink, but I understand the logic, if not the practice.

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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433

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I think pre-loading may also reflect a fear of engaging with a crowd without some ingestion of Dutch courage aforethought

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Jane R
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# 331

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Sorry, Barnabas. Like lilbuddha, I was trying to make the point that you don't *have* to have alcohol to enjoy a party.

Gareth said:
quote:
Three of the four deaths in the rivers in York this year were young people on a night out...
I'm from York as well and was thinking of these deaths. Especially Megan Roberts, who was with friends who were apparently too drunk themselves to notice that she wasn't with them any more after they crossed Lendal Bridge. Her family reported her missing several days afterwards.

And I'd have said Lendal Bridge was one of the safest to walk across in York. I find it much easier to understand how Ben Clarkson fell into the Foss.

[Votive]

Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Gareth
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# 2494

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quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
I'm from York as well and was thinking of these deaths. Especially Megan Roberts, who was with friends who were apparently too drunk themselves to notice that she wasn't with them any more after they crossed Lendal Bridge. Her family reported her missing several days afterwards.

And I'd have said Lendal Bridge was one of the safest to walk across in York. I find it much easier to understand how Ben Clarkson fell into the Foss.

[Votive]

Not forgetting Tyler Pearson - who's death was shocking for completely different reasons.

I take my boat on rivers all over England, and the Ouse here is one that demands more respect than most.

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P. J. O'Rourke

Posts: 345 | From: Chaos | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Jane R
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# 331

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No, not forgetting Tyler either; I'm sure he wouldn't have tried to swim the Ouse if he'd been sober. [Votive]
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
moron
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# 206

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quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
Amateurs.

Exactly. Who are those guys?


Churchill once said he took more out of alcohol than it took out of him and who could argue.

But I recently watched Michael Alpert's (Ram Dass) _Fierce Grace_ which was filmed after he was 'stroked'.

He told the story of first meeting the Maharaji who was able to tell him about his recent past - knowing things no human would be likely to know. Anyway, Ram gave the guy LSD and he was unaffected and eventually told Ram he didn't need to bother with drugs because "it's in you".

I take some comfort from that statement.

http://www.ramdass.org/ram-dass-gives-maharaji-the-yogi-medicine/

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Organ Builder
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# 12478

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To be honest, I don't think people in college drink the same way or drink for the same reasons as those of us who have reached "a certain age".

When you are young and you think you are invincible, you do stupid things. If you do stupid things in cars, you may die. If you do stupid things with alcohol, you may die. All of those deaths are tragic, and sometimes it is only the grace of God that allows someone else to live and grow out of that phase.

As someone who will drink at a party from time to time but not always, I find myself wondering who all these out-of-control people are, though. Not to say there aren't one or two who might push the boundaries, but I must be attending a very dull set of parties. I see it used--and sometimes use it myself--as a social lubricant, but I very rarely see anyone over 30 say anything that they would be embarrassed about on the next day.

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How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people.--E.F. Benson

Posts: 3337 | From: ...somewhere in between 40 and death... | Registered: Mar 2007  |  IP: Logged
Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351

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The thing is, some people do make relatively coherent drunks.

Back when I used to tie one on in style, I could often be absolutely [shit-faced][rat-arsed][wankered][bladdered][hammered][loaded][out of my skull]* and yet (by and large) still hold lucid conversations, not get too unnecessary, and absolutely definitely without fail find my way home safely.

Most friends would know that I was a bit merry, but have no idea that shortly after getting home I'd be hurling for England and was actually utterly, utterly bolloxed**.


*Just adding to the slang collection for those who need a few more

**Genuinely, as evidenced by countless conversations with sober and tipsy friends, and blagging it mercilessly with my parents when much younger. Not just the "Aha, nobody knows just how pissed I am" that the drunk mind goes through. I can't do it quite so effectively these days, as the last time I got a wee bit carried away demonstrated.

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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)

Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009  |  IP: Logged
deano
princess
# 12063

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quote:
Originally posted by moron:
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
Amateurs.

Exactly. Who are those guys?
Some of us are retired professionals.

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"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot

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