Oh, and Hugo, I did later say college was about making you a well rounded individual. I just don't feel drinking is required to become that well-rounded person. I'm a reasonably well adjusted individual with friends from all stages of my life who has been married for 22 years and, except when he gets his troll on here, is normally a reasonable and fun guy. I don't drink around others hardly at all and I rarely did in college and I never drank until I was of age, so High School (where CM is at) was completely sober for me. Yet despite the sober high school and mostly sober college, I got a solid education which lead to a solid career, had fun and made lasting friendships.

I'm sorry, i think i misunderstood your point as

"Never drink and don't socialize with those who do"

It's perfectly fine not to drink as long as you don't think it gives you some kind of morale superiority over us drunkards. That's one of the worst things you can do.

But i think someone such as CM should try drinking at least once before he knocks it as much as he does. Or at least smoke some pot, which is usually a bit easier to get in High School and is (in my humble opinion) the inttelectual's high.

I'd love to join the poker game but guessing I'll always be in the wrong time zone :-( I also like the idea of skypeing while taking hallucegenic drugs - nice one draug!

*Facepalm* Suggesting we do hallucinogens wasn't my *intent*. :-)

@Hugo - I drink now and did on occasion in college. I was just saying that not drinking doesn't have to make one a social parriah. And I don't think *anyone* should encourage someone else to do something, especially something illegal (CM is an American high schooler, therefore underage for drinking and mary jane is still illegal in most states).

I would encourage him to stay true to his beliefs for now, especially as studies have shown that up to the early 20s, alcohol and pot can have a permanent or long term affect on one's mental faculties as the brain is still developing.

And I think it morally and socially irresponsible of you to encourage him to break the law. Not only that, but it is considered contributing to the delinquency of a minor for you to do so.

Laws are for squares

^I sure hope that was a troll. But it did make me chuckle.

Also, pot isn't a true hallucinogen, it's primarily a deppresent. And if CM happens to live in Cali, he wouldn't have too much of a problem getting a persription for it if he suffers from any kind of depression/ migraines/ chronic pain.

Actually, I believe he has Asberger's. I wonder if that would get him the prescription. But I have to ask why someone with a depressive condition would want to be further depressed by taking a depressant. Or is it actually an anti-depressant?

And we were also talking about shrooms over Skype when we referred to hallucinogens.

I think "depressant" was poor word choice on my part.

Pot has the amazing ability to slow things down, and make things more tolerable and enjoyable. It allows you to look into the deeper meaning of just about any form of art and allows you to understand some very abstract concepts.
For me, it brings me back to a certain childlike innocence that i feel a lot of people lose too early on. It's a truly amazing anti-depressant, it allows you to just exsist and enjoy the present. Something which is very difficult to do otherwise.

@Draugnar, abgemacht, invictus, et al

First of all, -1 to everyone for the +1'ing each other circle jerk.

Second, I think the source of you disagreement is less fundamental ideology or something and more dependent on your environment.

Where you go to school, and when you went to school, are liable to change what you experienced. I know at my own university there is a lot of partying and if you would like to not feel totally alienating by the throbbing mass you should probably be flexible on the okay I will come drink with you guys thing.

That's is just the reality but I do think you were over interpreting Invictus. I dont think he was saying "CM YOU SHOULD DRINK OR ELSE YOUR LIFE WILL SUCK"

I do think he was just being honest and telling him that the fact is a lot of people like him, who say they wont ever do something like that, do, in college, because a lot changes in college. That's all, really.

About drinking with work friends, I dunno, that depends where you work too and how old everyone is. This is not meant as an insult or anything of the kind but draugnar the people you may become friends with at work are probably older than the people invictus might befriend at work - this has probably something to do with your different experiences.

And so on.

I second the guy who said dont judge people because they drink, dont judge people because they dont.

I personally am very glad I decided to drink, despite it being initially under peer pressure. It is an experience unlike any other and if what you want out of life is to live it and experience what there is, you should do it. If you are more concerned with prolonging your life as long as possible, dont.

This is always the calculus we each must make - where do you begin to value quantity over quality.

There is no doubt in my mind that drunkards and druggies have a lot of fun for a while. But they die sooner. Not only that, when you begin to miss out on other things because of one thing, you may have gone too far.

Also yeah meh at the law. You haven't lived if you haven't run from the cops at a party lmao.

I drink, but the "advice" from the drinkers on here is absolutely asinine. If you don't drink, good for you. Don't let these chuckleheads make you feel worse for not drinking. Drinking is a cause of a large number of social ills, far more than any benefits it provides. If you can't meet people without drinking, you have a shitty personality.

Anyway I didn't drink until I was legal. Saved myself a lot of empty calories and money, and there is nothing glorious about getting in trouble for the police for something like alcohol. The machismo on this forum needs to be rung out like a wet paper towel. It's unseemly.

lol i wouldnt call what we have been saying advice putin.

more of a sharing of our personal experiences. when speaking with cm it also becomes this sort of thing: "this is how i experienced it, perhaps you will experience something similar"

thats all. for me anyway

All this talk of shrooms made me vomit some more, thanks.

Putin +2 (one for each post)

@Thucy - When someone says "Do it or you'll become a social pariah" they are giving advice. Amnd especially when he tells a teenager in high school he should do it or "better yet, smoke pot", he is giving criminal advice and needs to have his head smacked about with a verbal baseball bat.

I didnt think he actually said "you should do it"

maybe i didnt read carefully enough

however the fact that pot is illegal is really not that important.. unless you are a fool. that is also the truth. what is more important is that you should never *tell* someone to use drugs.

but you should also not shy away from telling them *about* drugs, and honestly too.

that means not propagandizing your own experiences to fit the just say no model. if you know what i mean. if that leads to the person doing it where they wouldnt have you can only say that made a more not less informed choice, and the choice is theirs alone.

but when you just *tell* someone to do something you are pressuring them in effect to make a decision that is not your own but is yours and is taken by them in deference to you because of respect or fear or whatever. that is not admirable or desirable.

I should clarify - "unless you are a fool" means unless you are stupid enough to get your ass caught and fuck your life up.

not, like, you are a fool if you think it being illegal is a big deal. in such a case you're not a fool, just misguided.

You didn't read carefully enough. It was there. CM was told to go try drinking or better yet, try pot cause it was easier to get in high school.

lol its not easier to get in high school... but ok

I didn't say it was. That was the logic of the original poster who wanted CM to go start drinking.

If you're going to smoke pot, then you have to wait until you finish your education, and own a house.

@ Conservative Man

At some point in your life, it's pretty likely that you're going to enjoy drinking, at least once or twice. I know you may not think that now, but it's true. Other people throughout your life are going to enjoy drinking, some consistently, some dangerously, some annoyingly, and many socially. It's fine if you're against drinking for yourself, and you can 100% make friends without drinking, but if you approach social situations with the attitude of "drinking is stupid and people who do it are incomprehensible" you're going to put people off. Those people may write you off as square as you write them off as idiots.

If you want to make and keep a broad base of possible friends you don't have to drink (and people who want to make you drink against your will simply won't be your friends and they shouldn't be if you're committed to that ideal). But you shouldn't think that because someone drinks, they can't be your friend. That's a crazy stance.

In a large sense, drinking is ingesting a poison that kills you slowly and turns out to be a fun way to die. In that way, it's suuuper stupid, but who gives a shit if you're having a good time while you're dying?

Many people have a shitty diet, which is also slowly killing them, but they're getting a similar rush of chemicals from their body that makes them want to eat that kind of food. But few people say "OMG, everyone eats McD's and they're so stupid and I can't understand them" because there isn't the same hip social overlay on that sort of behavior.

Don't confuse the perception that it's generally the populars/jerks who drink in high school with the conception that drinking is bad. That conception is fine for a while, if you want to make sure you don't drink, but eventually it's going to put people off. Just keep an open mind about it, and just because a friend drinks that 1) doesn't mean you have to drink to have them like you and 2) doesn't mean they shouldn't be your friend.

Dear God you people are dull.

I drank and partied and had a 4.2 in high school and got into some pretty good universities which I now have the luxury of attending with my expenses fully paid for by scholarships. I drink like a motherfucker till I black out every weekend. I also have a 3.7 GPA in an economics/mathematics dual degree. I'm nineteen and I have an investment portfolio nearing 100k started with 7k of my own capital. I just got an internship with Merrill Lynch . You wanna know how you succeed at big boy levels in businesses like Investment Banking or Government? You fucking network. You know how people love to network? Over a beer. I met the son of a Merrill lynch front office investment banker at a house party and made friends with him. His dad helped me out when it was time to apply for internships. One of my dads friends he met in the Navy when going to a bar in Boston is a Wharton grad and was once a MD for a firm. Guess what that friend he met over drinks and maintained life long connections with helped get me an interview. As a result I am one of the youngest damn interns in the entire firm and I do not even go to a target school.

University is about networking and making friends. Getting a degree is assumed. If you don't want to work at the lower dregs of business you go out and you make friends and you connect with people and you attend social gatherings. Just don't fail out and connect. Loners remain loners and loner don't succeed in the workplace. Learn the lesson now before you fuck up your life.

@mapleleaf

Why in the fuck would you wait untill then?

@gramilaj: It's not the alcohol slowly killing me that makes me not want to drink it. What makes me not want to drink is the idea of not having control over my own actions. I'm scared as to what that would feel like and what I would after I lose control. Oh and also, my dad is an alcoholic, so that is another reaspn I don't want to drink.

@Thucy: "lol its not easier to get in high school... but ok"
Actually, at my high school, It seems pot is actually easier to get than alcohol. It seems that more kids smoke pot and smoke it more often where I live.

pot is much easier to get than alcohol in most high school

You're getting it from some dude in your Lit. class, opposed to a shop owner with his business on the line

So somebody's daddy got him an internship and that's proof that being a falling down drunk will improve your job prospects. Brilliant.

Want proof that America isn't a meritocracy and is run by a bunch of drunken trust fund babies? Look no further than webdiplomacy.

@ Conservative Man
Okay, the rest of the post is still valid. Basically, don't judge people for drinking. Just because your Dad is a drunk doesn't mean everyone else who drinks is a drunk.