I'm 19 and drink alcohol all the time. does that bother you?

[ButterflyBlood]

since so many in the pot/prostitution/beer thread said the drinking age should stay at 21 I'm curious. Does the fact I'm drinking a beer right now in my room where I will not drive anywhere tonight bother you? Are you pissed off by all the parties I went to last year in walking distance from the campus, 2 of which I puked afterwords (of course they were all in walking distance or I had a ride from someone over 21 or who doesn't drink, I've never driven a vehicle the same night I've had any alcohol)

[KCDem]

1. um, how old? n/t

[ButterflyBlood]

3. 19

n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. As long as you aren't posting or breathing that breath in my face fine

Alcohol in small quantities doesn't bother me...people who can't handle their alcohol are an obnoxious pain in the ass.

[tjdee]

22. Jeebus there's nothing worse than a girl who can't hold her liquor.

When you're sober, you get a real good look at what's going on, LOL--I went to a frat party my freshman year and it cured me of any desire to get drunk like some of those girls, whew.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

34. boy, girl, man woman, dog, cat..I have no love of drunkeness

call me a stick :D

[RecoveringAsshole]

40. You are a stick

[Cheswick2.0]

56. is there some reason you are posting meaningless blurbs

to all of NSMA's posts? Did you get your butt kicked under another screne name or something?
Or perhaps you actually have something to contribute and are just having a hard time expressing yourself?

[smallprint]

4. I'm and drink alcohol?

Can'm and you write?

[otohara]

5. As Long As It's Not Coors

stuff is nasty

[ButterflyBlood]

15. ha ha, it is

primary beer on this campus though

[JVS]

30. Drink something better than that

Grain Belt or Schell's

[Cheswick2.0]

6. so you are sitting alone in your room drinking on a monday night?

and the biggest thing you can think of is whether or not someone here is pissed off?
Maybe you should be more worried about how you are going to feel during your first morning class.

[ButterflyBlood]

14. no classes until 3 PM

the only time I've felt bad the next day anyway was a Sunday (the night after I slept on my floor after I passed out there)

[maxanne]

7. nope

it's up to you. I happen to know where the road goes, though. Have you had any blackouts yet? Any alcoholism in your family? How's your tolerance?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. You know well that even if that were the case you wouldnt get an honest

answer..it's the nature of the beast.

[maxanne]

9. I know,

nothingshocksmeanymore. I can't help myself.

[RecoveringAsshole]

44. I resemble that remark!!

What are you the alcohol police too??

[ButterflyBlood]

12. no, no, good

[maxanne]

47. high tolerance

(meaning you can drink a lot more than everyone else) is a warning sign that you could develop alcoholism.

[ButterflyBlood]

51. well it's not a lot more than everyone else

just average.

hey morning after, and I'm feeling fine, how about that. Now I just need to get back to sleep. It appears I have a far worse problem with checking DU everytime I wake up than drinking...

[Coyul]

10. ...not at all...

But (isn't there always a but?)
Aren't you, by asking us what we think, at least a little worried aboiut your own use of alcohol?

I am drinking a Beer (40 oz.) while I write you now. If I had it to do all over again, I would have drank a few less beers, and spent more time working on what is really important, and the older I get the more important things I see I should have spent my life doing.

Good luck, enjoy your college years, DON'T LET ENIBRIATION KEEP YOU FROM A SUCCESSFUL LIFE.
But (isn't there always a but?)
Don't forget to have a good time along the way, and Don't let yourself forget what made you drink in the first place!

Just MHO

D

[xJlM]

11. I couldn't care less

You sound like a responsible drinker. Just be aware that a lot of older folks know about the problems alcohol can bring to a young life, and that may be why you would see some disapproval. Myself, I haven't had a drink in over thirteen years, but during my younger days I thought I was the man of steel, or something.

[TrogL]

13. wha' ?

Keep the noise down, i'm trying to have a 'lost weekend'

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. yes it does bother me

I have seen the heartache it can cause when it gets out of control


Think about it

[gyopsy]

17. Doesn't bother me

I'm also an underaged drinker and it doesn't bother me in the least as long as you don't drink and drive.

[1monster]

18. No, but it should bother you....

and I don't know about your school, but the colleges around here expell anyone who is caught drinking underage. Perhaps you should rethink your position on breaking that particular law.

[ButterflyBlood]

27. policy here (for everyone, not underagers):

1st alcohol offense: warning
2nd alcohol offense: probation (ie, you can get in more trouble for things like noise violations, limitations on visitors, ect.)
3rd alcohol offense: probation extended
4th alcohol offense: moved to another dorm
5th alcohol offense: kicked out of the dorms

also if you have your door locked and you're not being loud no one can come into your room without permission, including RA's.

[NightTrain]

19. Not at all!

You're free to fuck yourself up any way you choose. I only hope that if you spend your life as a raging alcoholic, you'll remain single and not father any children.

[tjdee]

20. You're puking and passing out?

I've never understood the point of drinking until you vomit, and the thought of passing out is scary to me. At the very least, it doesn't sound like much fun. I did some drinking (after 21, at that!) for a while, but I never understood overdoing it (which is what I think you and a lot of younger drinkers do).

It doesn't bother me, it's none of my beeswax, but if you were my kid I'd be worried about why you don't have better things to do than throw up and pass out. But, LOL, I'm a prude and I admit it.

[ButterflyBlood]

29. I was at one of the best parties I've ever been to

so once I was slightly drunk my judgement was impaired for my friends' dare to drink lots of straight vodka shots to work, thus leading to that.

one of the funnest nights of my life then turned into one of the worst nights of my life. :(

[Pobeka]

21. Go a month without drinking any alcohol

Then you can be fairly sure you don't have a problem. If you are the slightest bit worried, or uncertain, you will do yourself a huge favor by finding out now, and "nipping it in the bud" if you do. If you do have a problem, and go much farther, you'll start denying it, and it will become a whirlpool that will suck you down.

[ButterflyBlood]

25. already done

more than once.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

23. If you're looking for approval go somewhere else.

I started drinking when I was just eighteen, and when I managed to climb out of the bottle 10 years later I was damned lucky to have my brains (and liver) still functional.

Teenage drinkers don't impress anyone. My advice is sober up and go find a life before you suddenly decide you're not THAT buzzed, and you go out for an evening drive and kill someone. And if you think it'll never happen to you, then you're in BIG trouble. I've helped bury more than one young kid who thought they were immune, and I don't need to hear about any more of you making a "just one time won't hurt me" mistake.

[WindRavenX]

24. Fine with me

I'm 18 and am a social drinker.
Just watch for tightwad RAs..x(

[ButterflyBlood]

26. mine's cool

she said if we keep our doors closed and aren't noisy she'll always stay out.

[WindRavenX]

28. Well, that's what MINE said..

....then she and another RA went door to door at 1 AM when they knew everyone was home and drinking.
We were having a few beers and watching a movie, and they busted us for having one can of Bud (yes, I know, Bud sucks ass) out in the open.
Just be careful- some of them are backstabbing bitches.

[ButterflyBlood]

35. well she's got anti-Bush bumper stickers on her door

so I'm pretty sure she's cool and not a rule Nazi.

[SoCalDem]

48. Boy.. times have changed.. We used to hang the beer out the

5th floor window to keep it cold :)

But then I went to a party school in the late 60's.. It was party all the time..:)

But then I also blew off a full scholarship, because it was "too much fun" to party, and who wanted to go to class anyway..

Just a word from the wise :(

[WindRavenX]

55. Sound advice

Party hard- study harder.
I've never been a big party person, so I should be ok. Once in a while, it is fun to go out in town with the gals and have a few beverages of choice :)

[TrogL]

31. Drinking age in Canada is 18

most people seem to handle it fine

[last_texas_dem]

32. Not really

I'm twenty, don't drink and don't plan to. But what you do is your business as long as you know whatever consequences you may have to deal with, and don't get behind the wheel or otherwise cause damage to anyone else. I really wouldn't have that big a problem with them lowering the drinking age as I know virtually all people drink underage anyway, but do think it could safely be predicted that vehicle accidents would rise substantially as soon as the new law went into effect. Just my take, though.

[SmileyBoy]

33. I'm not pissed. I just turned 21, and I've been drinking for a few years.

I think the 21 law fucking sucks. Make the minimum 19, so that they can keep it out of the high schools. Also, I never, ever drive when I drink either. There's always a DD on hand.

[quinnox]

36. No

Why would it? I believe in individual choices and responsibility, as well as consequences. Bottomline, people will do what they want, and will be responsible for the consequences even if they don't accept the responsibility, and sometimes those consequences can be deadly. For example, I read about teens dying of drug overdoses or car accidents and think it is a sad thing, but it is a harsh reality that with actions come consequences, and I recognize and respect that.

[Forkboy]

37. No

but you shouldn't sound proud about it either.I do my share of drinking but it's not something I'm going to tout as a good thing.

[PittPoliSci]

38. yes. knock that shit off.

its not good for you, go sxe. it may be boring, but you'll be easily 80 times as hardcore. EASILY.

heh, i'm just kiddin', do what you gotta do, just do it responsibly.

[proud patriot]

39. Sounds like me when I was your age

My only word is, careful with booze it can kill you .
Be safe .

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. Former college professor speaking

My brothers and I were brought up European style with respect to drinking. That is, on special occasions, we were allowed to have a tiny glass of wine. When we had intestinal upsets, my grandmother dosed us with blackberry brandy.

When we entered out teens, the rellies would serve us drinks with everyone else at family gatherings.

Everyone drank moderately, but getting drunk was a definite no-no. One of my mother's cousins did get drunk one year at a Christmas gathering, and everyone spoke disapprovingly of him for years afterwards.

So as a teenager, I never thought of rebelling by drinking. After all, what's the point of rebelling by doing something that you've been doing in front of your grandparents and great aunts and uncles since you were twelve? When I went to parties, I'd sip a beer.

Now the advice columnists would not approve of this approach, but neither I nor my brothers have a drinking problem. I drink only on social occasions, never more than two per day. The older brother likes wine with dinner, and that's about it. The younger brother doesn't drink at all.

In college, away from all the rellies, I did experiment with, shall we say, stronger doses. But it took only about three or four "axe in the skull" hangovers to convince me that getting drunk was stupid. I haven't been drunk in well over twenty years.

During my teaching days, I saw and heard evidence of a lot of binge drinking. I was a language teacher, and when I asked students to describe their weekends, many of them said that they partied on Friday and Saturday night and spent Sunday being hung over. As if there was nothing else to do on campus.

Binge drinking was so prevalent that one year, when I asked the students what they had done for Halloween, they asked me what I had done. I told them that I had gone to a party given by another faculty member. The students immediately wanted to know if booze had been served. Yes, it had. They then wanted to know who got drunk.

They did not believe me when I told the truth: that not one of the approximately thirty college faculty members at that party had gotten drunk. They insisted that I must be protecting someone's reputation, and that they wanted to know the dirt. But there was no dirt.

It made me sad to think that they couldn't imagine a party where booze was available but no one got drunk.

So the upshot is that if you're just doing the normal adolescent experimenting to figure out what your limit is, fine. However, I would consider the following to be danger signals:

1. Purposely trying to drink so much that you pass out or puke
2. Hanging out with people whose only amusement is drinking
3. Drinking alone a lot because you don't have any friends or because you're trying to forget something unpleasant
4. Drinking so much that your schoolwork suffers, or conversely, being unable to do your schoolwork unless you have a beer in hand.

I observed a lot of students cheating themselves out of the true benefits of the college experience because they were so into partying. Yes, you can party without your parents getting mad, but even a small, isolated college campus offers so much more: plays, concerts, foreign and independent films, a library fool of books, opportunities to learn new athletic or recreational skills, chances to meet students from all over the world, and chances to hear, see, and even interact with famous people.

You will never again be as free as you are now to explore new areas of knowledge and experience. Don't let your normal experimentation with drinking crowd everything else out.

[redeye]

42. Not at all

~Redeye, who started drinking at 15.

[Gore1FL]

43. I drank fairly often at 17

I drank like a fish from 18-20. (I went to UM-Rolla which at the time was given an asterisk in Playboy's top 10 drinking schools -- They decided it was unfair to rank UMR with the "amatures")

Ironically at 21 I slowed, at 24 I nearly stopped. Now as I approach 40, I have a six pack in the fridge that has been there since Feb 2003.

Now that being said -- I don't care if you drink or not at age 19. I also don;t take responsibility if you get in trouble for it.

Drinking (especially underage), like many things, involves risk. AS long as you manage that risk, you'll probably be fine.

[Shanty Oilish]

45. OOOOH! Naughty naughty naughty!!!

There. Ya happy? :P

[VOX]

46. Your life. Your booze. Knock yourself out.

Just don't drive while lit up, or do stupid shit. Also, make sure that you're not self-medicating a mild depression, since, by your own admission, you "drink alcohol all the time."

[BiggJawn]

49. "ALL" the time? Hope you quit B4 Diabetes gets you...

...like it did me.

No shit, everytime a marriage fell apart on me, I climbed into the wine bottle for a year or so. and I was a heavy beer drinker, too
Last time I did that, my weight ballooned to 330+ and I became Diabetic.
Found out recently that excessive drinking depletes minerals in the body that may be precursors to Diabetes.

Drinking is vastly over-rated, IMO....

[Blue_Chill]

50. NewsFlash hot shot damn near everyone drinks at 19

But at 21 more people drink more often. The point is before you break down the damn completely you will most people (not just you) will have matured to the point in which they will be more likely to behave responsibily.

[FlaGranny]

52. Bothers me that you are drinking (alone?) in your room.

It bothers me because you drank to the point of vomiting. It bothers me because the youngest person that I know of who died from the physical effects of drinking was 21 years old. He died from alcoholic cirrhosis. So, it bothers me because you are damaging your future. It's sad. I am glad you are not endangering anyone else by driving.

[Kamika]

53. Do you feel a need to drink?

Just curious, since you drink alone

[DrDan]

54. doesn't bother me in the least

I am just not sure why you are so proud of your drinking. You sound either quite immature or insecure - not sure which.

[piece sine]

57. Drink to you're hearts content...

buthave comm on sense not to get caught by anyone in a position of authority. Many countries (including the U.S.) had 18 as the legal age for decades on end. If you're old enoguh to vote, I say drink privately and to-hell with the prudes! In fact, have an extra drink and toast the same prudes that would vanquish you. Drive not; but tip a few behind the barn, so to speak.

[Kat45]

58. Not at all. I did the same thing at 19.

Those younger days were the only time I had the time to really drink and party. Once I had to start going to work every day, I wasn't able to do that any more. I don't drink at all now.

I feel that youth is the time to do all that shit. Is there any alcoholism in your family? If there is, I'd be more concerned. As long as you're just partying and enjoying yourself, and drink because you want to and not because you need to, I don't see a problem. I think it's better to get all that out of your system now, before you have to "grow up" and settle down and become a productive citizen.

[radwriter0555]

59. So it's ok with you that GOP corporate sponsors have turned your college

into a money machine? By promoting beer and alcohol, corporations massively profit from exploiting you kids in school. Their sponsored events often additionally host car accidents, alcohol poisoning, comas, date-rapes, unwanted pregnancies, transmissions of STDs, irresponsible behavior with long-term consequences, and even alchoholism, and so on.

No good things come from consuming booze to the point of inebriation. There is no point to drinking alone in your room. You say you do it cause you like the taste? Sure... that's what they all say on the way to AA meetings.

Lecture time? Thrill killer? Reality check? You posted the challenge! :)

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

60. Not really...

I just wish all these frelling college students who go out and drink a lot wouldn't stagger into work at the restuarant I work at the next morning, bleary-eyed and mumble-mouthed, and expect sympathy.
I have none for them, and they call me "asshole" for it.
So, no, I'm not pissed off at you.
Just the fact that I have to deal with the aftermath of that lifestyle every single day at work.

[Deja Q]

61. As long as you get a designated driver, then I really don't have a problem

I'm no longer sure where I should stand on this issue. It could be raised to 35, and we'd still have 40 year old boozehounds causing DUI's and hurting or killing people all over the place anyway. :-( So raising the age won't ultimately resolve the problem.

In Spain, the drinking age is 16 - which was cool since I was 16 at the time when I visited the country... it'd be fun to find out what their DUI problem is like, assuming they have one... As a whole, Europeans seem to be far more intelligent and civilized than Americans. They don't seem to have the racism, gun shootings, and other problems even remotely as badly as we've got it here and yet Europe comes off as at least appearing to have more freedoms than the US...

I think punishments for DUIs should be very severe and the public properly educated on the issue so they don't end up being stupid.

[ScreamingMeemie]

62. Not driving anywhere, I'm fine with it. But I still think the drinking age

should be 21. Hell, it gives a person something to look forward to...snort. :)