Sunday, March 08, 2009

in which i am totally uncool

I read this quote in Em's college's newspaper. It's been bugging me all weekend. It's from an opinion piece by a senior girl.

"When you limit our opportunities for binge drinking, you limit our opportunities for fun."

God, her parents must be SO proud.

I am not a drinking prude. I like drinking. I drink. I think the alcohol laws in this country are stupid. I give my kid a glass of wine if she wants one. I drank in college. I smoked dope in college. I will never be vice-president as i did inhale.

But this notion that binge drinking is the only way to have fun scares the crap out of me.

I found out a few weeks ago that a young person i know who is attending her first semester of college ended up in the hospital having to have her stomach pumped from drinking.

THAT sounds like a laugh riot doesn't it?

A mom i know came home from a weekend spent at her child's college with a story about one girl who got so drunk she passed out and shit and pissed herself in the dorm hallway.

Ha ha haha! Boy, that's funny, no?

A boy froze to death after passing out outside in winter.

I can't even joke about that being fun.

I just wonder when the object of drinking became to get so drunk that you pass out? Have you ever passed out or blacked out from drinking?

I haven't, so maybe it really is fun.

31 comments:

Robin said...

years ago, i had black outs from drinking. it was not fun and eventually i realized this was a problem and stopped. i hardly ever drink now.

what worries me is besides all the problems that come with binge drinking is the possibility of it leading to the next "thrill"...drugs.

we have a real problem here in Ohio with people, especially young people, getting hooked on heroin. it's cheap, it's easily available and they die.

they die.

not fun at all.

Anonymous said...

You know what limits your opportunities for fun? Dying really limits your opportunities for fun.

Very uncool.

Tony and I were having a discussion tonight about his sister who was married to an alcoholic and is now living with an alcoholic, though she denies he is one. Some people (apparently) don't understand that not all alcoholics have the same m.o.

TTQ said...

look how well i turned out. rehab is expensive..

jaded said...

Once. I was old enough to know better. I guess it would fall under the black out category, but I remembered what happened after my memory was refreshed...and no, it wasn't this week , but it would be appropriate.

thailandchani said...

College kids and booze! It's amazing that something so stupid would be published in a college newspaper. Meh!


~*

Anonymous said...

College is meant to be about learning -- like learning how much you can drink before it affects your judgement and then sticking to those limits. But that doesn't sound like the girl's opinion piece is about defending their right to learn about themselves -- it does sound like the point is to drink until you pass out.

I don't get it.

What gives today?

Is it all a slippery slope? Lordie, what'll they be up to by the time mine get to college? Maybe I won't let them go.

The Real Mother Hen said...

Oh I feel really sad to read your examples here. Binge drinking and all the silly acts aren't fun.

Are you ok with your kid smoking dope? I have not touched any pot before though... even in college. Now I wonder how did I survive through college without doing any serious drinking/ smoking pot etc?! No wonder my friends say I'm a boring person! No shit!

Mrs4444 said...

I drank and smoked til I puked, a few different times, and then I just stopped (no epiphany or anything, just grew up, I guess.) Is it any worse for kids today than it was when we were there? (I don't remember!!) It's pathetic, all the same.

meno said...

robin, wow. Herion. My kid goes to college in Ohio. Maybe i should forbid it.

de, that is the truth. Death is the end of fun.

ttq, i am glad to say that i don't know about the cost of rehab.

jaded, if you make it through this time without passing out, then you are to be commended. A hero.

chani, i couldn't believe what i was seeing. What a quote. What an idiot.

daisy, i think keeping them home is a fine option.

mother hen, i guess i feel i can't really point any fingers when it comes to dope smoking. But i don't do it amymore and haven't for years. I grew up and learned. I'm boring too.

mrs.4444, i can't say i never puked from drinking, a few times i have. But it was NOT fun.

Princess in Galoshes said...

I've gotten pretty drunk, but never passed out. Of course, my parents never made alcohol a forbidden fruit, either, so I never felt the need to rebel to the point of taking myself that close to death, either.

Cheesy said...

Cripes///

I think some of it has to due with this generations sense of entitlement... Seems to be the route of a lot of excesses~

QT said...

Hmmm. Yes, I have blacked out from drinking, but I didn't set out to when the night started. I have not ever passed out.

I think not enough parents teach their kids to drink responsibly so they go into a night of drinking with no clue as to how much is enough. Also, when everyone else is cheering you on to do stupid stuff, well, there ya go.

Marshamlow said...

It always bothers me when I agree in any way with the puritanical crowd, what are they called now the moral majority or republicans? Scary stuff binge drinking. A "friend" of mine who is very puritanical recently hurt my feelings when she said it seemed unfair that my daughter is not a drinking, having sex and doing drugs with me for a mother. As compared to her other friends who are more morally pure and have kids who are out binge drinking etc.

I don't think that all of the kids who end up blacking out have that intention or goal in mind, I think sometimes it is hard to know when enough has been had. My alcoholic brother drinks until he has accomplished his mission of no longer feeling, this often ends in having to have his stomach pumped. I wonder if those kids who end up passed out and live to tell the tale do it again?

Mignon said...

Shoot. My long comment was erased. In fewer sentences:
That girl is an idiot, but binge drinking is not what you'd think. Four drinks in 2 hours for a girl. So in college all my friends and I were binge drinkers two or three days every week. According to definition, we were also alcoholics. And several were A students and athletes and girlfriends and boyfriends and holding down part-time jobs. I'm not condoning it, just re-characterizing binge-drinkers.

I was a prude in high school, resulting in a much faster and more dangerous alcohol-education in college. I won't make the draconian mistakes my dad made - I want to be a parent like you.

Scott from Oregon said...

Ummm, a few pukers, but no blackouts.

I always thought to myself "damn, I crossed the threshhold and this sucks" while kneeling over a smelly toilet bowl with urine linoleum floors...

Schmoopie said...

People were binge-drinking in Missouri 20 years ago when I was in college. The first college party I went to (a few nights into the first semester) they hauled a guy away in an ambulance to have his stomach pumped. So I guess it's been around for a while. Booze is a cheap, easy way to think you are having fun.

Then you grow up and figure out what really does make you happy.

meno said...

princess, plus if you get sick once, you realize that it's NOT fun.

cheesy, i can't really say if it's any worse now than when i was in college. I was not cool, so i didn't hang out with partiers.

qt, do you long to repeat the experience? Group thikn is dangerous.

marsha, i cannot belive your "friend" said that to you. That's totally outrageous! Yay for Mandy.

mignon, i hate it when my comments get erased. Always the brilliant ones too. I guess i thought binging meant drinking til you puke or pass out.

scott, not a proud moment is it?

schmoopie, wow. way to start college off with a bang!

Anonymous said...

meno, my first time drinking 'seriously' I, three of my high school buddies and my little brother got drunk playing Uno (you know, Draw 4 means take a full shot?) I ended up passing out and learning at the same time that I wasn't cut out for drinking. I also made myself so sick on drug-store brand bourbon that I still get sick just smelling the stuff. Learned myself an important lesson that night.

Anonymous said...

never drank that much, many MANY hangovers, til I realized what caused it, but no black outs. I can't recall how many concerts I attended way back in the 80's (my formative years) where there were people passed out in puddles (puke, pee, you name it) in the corridors of the arenas. I always thought that was such a waste...think of how much money they'd have saved, if they'd just put the record on the stereo (WAY before cd's) and got shit faced at home. with the added benefit of not having to worry that your friends will be too wasted to remember to scrape you off the floor and drop you in your yard.

thankfully for all of us, you've done a much better job with em than that girl's mother did with her.

caro said...

In all honesty, I overindulge at times. But now I do it around the dinner table with the chi-chi poo poo red wine that goes so very well with the chi chi poo poo gourmet meal most of my foodie friends enjoy making so much. Of course, I know when I've exceeded my limit and never drive home when I am in that state but... drunk is drunk.

crazymumma said...

hopefully, said article will be a wake up call to the parents.

Dick said...

No, I never have drank that much at once and I don't plan to start now. My son who is a cop said part of the reason for the increase in heron use is they start on RX pills but can't afford them. Heron is cheaper but they have no idea how powerful it is nor how to use it semi-safely.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a big woman now and when I was young I weighed next to nothing which means, one drink was probably my limit. That didn't stop me though and I drank until I blacked out on more than one occasion. The first time I blacked out I woke up with a cough, sore throat, cough.

I talked with my daughter about this lately too. She's not very big and I suggested that drinking until you can't remember what's going on is pretty scary and not good for your body. She agreed but part of the problem with alcohol is that it impairs your judgment, it's insidious. The trick is to limit yourself when you're not drunk but that requires foresight, something most teens don't have a lot of.

Kind of a long winded answer with way more information about me than you ever wanted to know:)

Unknown said...

Now I'm really not looking forward to the teenage years...

Mona Buonanotte said...

In my younger days I blacked out and passed out from drinking more times than I care to think about. It;s a wonder I'm still alive. I'm already bombarding my kids with stories from the news about how terrible binge drinking is and drugs and sex and blahblahblah. I will continue to be a wet blanket too, and no one can stop me.

meno said...

Irrelephant, i still cringe when i smell rum, so i know that you mean.

holly, i just goggle at the people who end up in their own piss and vomit repeatedly. You think they'd learn. I guess such is tha nature of addiction.

caro, oh, i'm not saying i don't get happy, sometimes really happy, but i don't get to the puking/passed out stage. That's no fun.

crazymumma, i hope so, but at that age, what can they do?

dick, oh that's scary.

deb, that was interesting though, and not too much information. Size does matter!

d-man, hi! I hear there is a hormone you can give them to prevent puberty. Start administering right away is my advice!

mona, was it fun? Or was it just the getting there that was fun?

Anonymous said...

Maybe nobody actually answered your question about whether black outs are fun...

Blacking out is not fun, especially because you can't predict when it will happen - different types and amounts of alcohol act differently each time - and people cannot tell that you are blacked out - you continue to be actively doing things.

As Mignon pointed out, there is now a definition for "binge drinking" known as the 5/4 (five drinks for males, 4 for females). Before that, a binge usually referred to a drinking event that lasted for days.

Four drinks would not put me out, but I'd definitely be in asshole territory.

fullonmommy said...

Yes I have to say I've done that. I did it in the fall, actually. Just bad judgement and a need to tip over that edge.
However sometimes I find that if you don't do it young, you end up doing it when you're older and then it really looks bad.
Young bodies can take that abuse thank goodness...hopefully your girl doesn't hang with that crowd.

TTQ said...

Did you read my responnse to that I wrote back at ya on my post "I never did get into Yale" or any ivy league because I was busy blacking out?

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I guess I'm lucky in that I am allergic to booze. After exactly three sips of wine, my throat closes, so I have never been drunk enough to pass out. This was a social liability in college but adult life has been more forgiving.

I may be a control freak, but it really doesn't sound like anything I would enjoy.

meno said...

de, nobody did, so thank you. I didn't want to have to find out using the empirical method.

lp, no, she doesn't, and i never did either, but i still worry. I'm not sure about your theory. I wonder if anyone has studied that.

ttq, just read it. Thank you.

hearts, allergic? Man, i have to say that is an excellent thing to be allergic to. I don't think i would enjoy blacking out either.