To those who waited....?

[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.

[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]

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]

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

Easy. The Bud Girls aren't overweight, chain smoking, 3 time divorced old hags. That first couple years of being drunk IS fun, the longer reaching effects don't start showing up immediately.

[Turf1600]

That doesn't answer the why risk it guestion. I guess like everything else - people have the "it will never happen to me" mentality.

[LINUS]

That doesn't answer the why risk it guestion. I guess like everything else - people have the "it will never happen to me" mentality.

Exactly, and for the most part I think it doesn't happen. Maybe I'm wrong, but I see a lot of people who it DOESN'T happen to.

Sadly, even just knowing a couple people it does happen to is a pretty compelling reason to keep your self good & honest about your habits.

[Turf1600]

Exactly, and for the most part I think it doesn't happen. Maybe I'm wrong, but I see a lot of people who it DOESN'T happen to.

Sadly, even just knowing a couple people it does happen to is a pretty compelling reason to keep your self good & honest about your habits.

The people I know who have these kinds of problems are pretty much not seen by anyone - per the drawbacks of their habit.

[LINUS]

I'm just thinking of my greater extended family - must be a minimum 40 of us, maybe 50 or so for 4th of July picnic, not including people under 21. We've only got one (working on 2 I think) full blown alchoholics, but 3-5 are normally seen with a beer in hand, but hold down decent jobs & such. I guess 50% of us drink to varying degrees, and say a dozen are the type that get a glass of champange at weddings, nothing more. Then there's about half a dozen, maybe a few more that don't drink at all, mostly all are just choice - I only know one as a true recovered drinker.

It would be interesting to see if that's the average demographic for others here.

[Turf1600]

I'm just thinking of my greater extended family - must be a minimum 40 of us, maybe 50 or so for 4th of July picnic, not including people under 21. We've only got one (working on 2 I think) full blown alchoholics, but 3-5 are normally seen with a beer in hand, but hold down decent jobs & such. I guess 50% of us drink to varying degrees, and say a dozen are the type that get a glass of champange at weddings, nothing more. Then there's about half a dozen, maybe a few more that don't drink at all, mostly all are just choice - I only know one as a true recovered drinker.

It would be interesting to see if that's the average demographic for others here.

What do you think it would take to kick those 2 people's alcoholism up a notch? If they lost their job? husband? every day events are often the difference maker between your run of the mill alcoholic and extreme cases.

[LINUS]

What do you think it would take to kick those 2 people's alcoholism up a notch? If they lost their job? husband? every day events are often the difference maker between your run of the mill alcoholic and extreme cases.

Both are men, I agree on what it would take - some good trigger would throw them clear into full blown bad spots. I know they have both been approached & they know they are being watched, but as long as they keep status quo, I guess that's all anyone can do until they ask for help. The real tight family (15 or so) of us all call each other on our bullshit & are dead real with each other about life, and despite that we all know it's going to take a fall to get either guys to snap back. Worse yet, it's a father & son, so they kind of enable each other when they hang out together. Sadly doing good stuff with each other turns into a time for them to get overly drunk together. At least they don't fight, they are both 2 of the kind of drunk that just go mellow & passout somewhere. At least they won't drive when drinking, they might be drunks but they call one of us or a cab.

It might be enabling bad behavior, but I'll go get my uncle & cousin everytime vs. letting them think they ought to drive. Moral high roads are BS when you are at a funeral to me.

[PiercedE30]

Sex: hell no I don't regret it (at least not yet, knock on wood).
Drinking, drugs, etc: Yes. Back in HS I started drinking, smoking, pills, etc. I got deep into smoking, ecstasy, amphetamines, binge drinking on a regular basis, just to name a few. Unfortunately all that carried over into my first year of college, and eventually got worse. I actually ended up doing some coke, LSD, a shit load of mushrooms, etc. Going to college, doing all this, being on my own for the first time and not having to answer to anyone was a smack in the face. I eventually failed out of school and had to leave. After that, I said no more.
I moved back home with my parents and decided that I had wasted about 3-4 years of my life being fucked up. I got a job working construction and have been clean since. I will drink the occasional beer every now and then, but that is about once every two or three months, on average. When I am around someone that is about to light up, I leave. Plain and simple. If I could take back doing all that, I would. I know I would be better off. But at the same time I'm glad I went through it all because what happened has shaped me into a better person and I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't of gone through all of that.

Jon

[FredK]

What do you think it would take to kick those 2 people's alcoholism up a notch? If they lost their job? husband?

No. If they bought a few basketcase E30s.

[Jscotty]

Understand that not all women who use their naked body to make money were victims of molestation, rape, or some other violation as a child, however, MOST are. That might not apply to your girlfriend, mother, sister, aunt, or wife and they very well could be an exception to the rule citing that they just enjoy being naked in front of men for money.

But I would also suggest that if you go to a strip bar and ask any stripper how much they like doing thier job they will just shrug and say, "Oh, its just a living." You would be hard pressed to find 2 strippers in a club on the same night telling you how much fun it is to have horny guys salavate over them 12 hours a day.

[BeirBrennerE30]

I know a few strippers... the both like to and say its fun and better than most jobs that require a similar amount of intelligence (working at mcdonalds/walmart)

as for the original question... in highschool through undergrad i did just about everything that didnt involve a needle... I dont think i turned out bad and i dont regret doing anyting other than some questionable girls that my friends kinda got on me about.

my advice... do whatever makes you happy at the moment and keep high standards with girls and only go up (never date a girl uglier than a previous girl)

[dvs909]

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.

i raced go-karts for 4 years as a kid, can i use that as my excuse for my speeding problem?
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