To those who waited....?

[Turf1600]

Just want to add thins in here - my girlfriends mom has spent at least 6 solid months in the hospital since i have known here due to alcoholism. She has destroyed her life and has permanent brain damage.

My point has always been - she never knew it would get that bad when she started. no one does - so why risk it?

[LINUS]

Later in life I learned that anything that you start doing at an early age becomes a part of your entire life. For instance, experts say that its easier to learn a foreign language as a child because it becomes so much a part of you as you are growing and developing. I think the same holds true for having sex, doing drugs, and drinking. I don't know what the statistics are but I would be willing to believe that most people who are drug addicts or alcoholics started doing these things as a teenager or adolescent. Likewise, most women who strip or who are into prostitution were probably molested or forced into an inappropriate sexual situation.

Another example of flawed thinking to me ( and PSLoan too I see)

PSLoan started at the dancer/stripper part - but lots of people go through a lot of changes & stages of life, and even without outside influence for negative habits/vices.

Take weed for example - LOTS of kids smoke (me included) when young, but as you move on & get older most of us stop entirely just for the fact that it was fun when young, but just not normally part of an adult life. I don't want to start the whole weed debate, so hopefully we can just all agree that there are a ton of old Woodstock hippies who don't burn weed anymore, and it didn't take inpatient treatment.

The distinction is the addict doesn't make a choice to stop & move forward with a balanced life - they focus in on what they can do to perpetuate the "good times" with ______ substance, and minimally maintain (smarter ones do even better) the other aspects of life.

Alchohol is so readily available & such a part of most cultures, it seems like the odds are stacked against that one, but it's the exception rather than the rule. If you could take a swig of weed with dinner, it might have been the one that came to be.

I have no problem that the likelyhood of addiction behavior is lessened as you get older, but it's like the whole idea that a fully functional 40 year old with a satisfying life more than likely won't just wake up one day and say "Gee, I really think I'll go try heroin today" - I tend to think that certain personalities are pre-dispositioned to have addictive/obsessive traits, and that the fact that you find _________ behavior is just the eventuality of a certain personality type meeting the first flavor of addiction that they like the short term effect of. Normally this is once you are out of your parents' line of sight or within a couple years of that day.

Main point, I'm no mental health expert - but each person has a different story & I just don't buy your line of thinking.

[Turf1600]

I went out to the bars the midnight I turned 21. I ended up waking up on the morning of my birthday, wondering why I hurt so much. I couldn't even roll over in bed because of the excruciating pain. I started getting text messages from people wondering how I was feeling, and I had to ask everyone what happened and why I hurt so much. My best roommate/friend who was there with me on my birthday didn't remember that night either. He ended up taking me to the health center on campus to see a doctor. I got x-rayed and it turns out I had a broken tailbone.
I also had a track day the weekend after that happened, so I ended up driving the track with a broken tailbone.

-Erik

You must have had an encounter with blunt while you were drunk.

[erik325i]

On my 21st birthday I went out with friends and got so drunk the facts of what actually happened bar hopping that night are entirely stored in my friends memory banks. I only know what I was told.

I went out to the bars the midnight I turned 21. I ended up waking up on the morning of my birthday, wondering why I hurt so much. I couldn't even roll over in bed because of the excruciating pain. I started getting text messages from people wondering how I was feeling, and I had to ask everyone what happened and why I hurt so much. My best roommate/friend who was there with me on my birthday didn't remember that night either. He ended up taking me to the health center on campus to see a doctor. I got x-rayed and it turns out I had a broken tailbone.
I also had a track day the weekend after that happened, so I ended up driving the track with a broken tailbone.

-Erik

[erik325i]

How about not drinking at all? Anyone who needs alcohol to have fun or loosen up needs to figure out what their real problem is.

That's true. I have some friends that chose not to drink, and that's good for them.

I don't need to drink to have fun. If somebody needs to drink in order to have a good time, then there is a problem. I'll agree with you on that one.
I do enjoy drinking though.

I went to Florida for a week for a convention, and figured I would just go to the bars every night after the convention stuff was done. I ended up meeting someone and going out and having a great time all week. I only drank one time, and that's because there was free beer at Sea World.

-Erik

[Turf1600]

Okay blunt, i was not going to reveil your CHRISTmas present but here is a clue:

+

<3

wtf lol

[delatlanta1281]

i drink to endorse my religion.....

I drink to endorse you religion as well.

[Jordan]

I'm currently 24.. and been having sex for 9 years.. so since 15. I consider myself very good at sex. I get off every time.

As for drinking I stole a few shots of liqueur and some malt beverages when I was in HS, but nothing major and never drunk. On my 21st birthday I went out with friends and got so drunk the facts of what actually happened bar hopping that night are entirely stored in my friends memory banks. I only know what I was told.

[Julien]

Okay blunt, i was not going to reveil your CHRISTmas present but here is a clue:

+

<3

[kommissar]

ill gladly swap being facebook friends for you being my facefuck friend.
im going to mount garage door handles on your skull next time we get together

Hah, that reminds me, a friend of mine used to call this girl we went to high school with "handlebars" every time she wore her hair in pigtails. She didn't get the joke until about a month later.

[Julien]

How about not drinking at all? Anyone who needs alcohol to have fun or loosen up needs to figure out what their real problem is.

i drink to endorse my religion.....

[Turf1600]

I didn't wait for anything. I have no regrets.

I think those who wait for things (like drinking) are only hurting themselves. It's good to experiment with some things early. I've seen it ohh so many times where some freshman who has never tasted alcohol will go to his first college party and get completely shitfaced and can't handle themselves. Whereas somebody like me who did drink on occasion through highschool knows their limits better.

-Erik

How about not drinking at all? Anyone who needs alcohol to have fun or loosen up needs to figure out what their real problem is.

[erik325i]

I didn't wait for anything. I have no regrets.

I think those who wait for things (like drinking) are only hurting themselves. It's good to experiment with some things early as long as you are responsible about it. I've seen it ohh so many times where some freshman who has never tasted alcohol will go to his first college party and get completely shitfaced and can't handle themselves. Whereas somebody like me who did drink on occasion through highschool knows their limits better.

-Erik

[Turf1600]

Likewise, most women who strip or who are into prostitution were probably molested or forced into an inappropriate sexual situation.

I'm going to disagree on the stripper part. Bigtime. My girlfriend is a waitress at a strip club - she's as clean as they come. Alot of the dancers are all business. Some make 200k a year and own their own businesses on the side. Granted, she works at the classiest club in houston - which is well known for strip clubs. I'm worried that when she becomes an RN the money wont be as good as it is now. prostitution - not sure about them. But it's unfair to say that "most" strippers are fucked up.

As for me - my parents drank alot and smoked ALOT of pot when I was a kid - and still do. I never liked that - so I never did it. they aren't bad people but they make poor decisions. I also realized very young that once you do something once - it's much easier to do it a 2nd time. Which is why I never tried anything.

[Quik325ix]

ill gladly swap being facebook friends for you being my facefuck friend.
im going to mount garage door handles on your skull next time we get together

Blunt, your comments are one of the best things about this forum.