Partying, Drinking, and etc.

Parties and drinking...

I highly recommend them.

 

don't get booze for others bad situations always tend to arise from it, i only got off with supplying underage because im underage. with drinking its hard to know your own limits, because alcohol dosn't hit you imediadtly, but the trick ive learned,
1 avoid drinking games
2 after you had 3 or 4 beers wait twenty- thirty mins to see how drunk you feel
3 if you have an idea when drunk, just first think would i do this sober, tend to keep me out of trouble
4 if you throw up you've gone to far and should stop

main party rules i've ever seen is just don't throw up on carpet, and don't break anything.
you don't have to drink at parties, you could do drugs lol joke, idk
i've been the only sober guy at parties before, i found it to be less fun, but i didn't make an ass of myself.

 

Party etiquette - don't take other people's drinks unless it's a communal 30-pack or they offer you one. Don't fuck up the person's house/apartment/etc.
Doing something stupid - you'll be buzzed, then very buzzed, then drunk, then hammered. Stop somewhere before "hammered" and you won't do anything too dumb.
Minority - yes, most people are there to drink.


Is the drinking age in Canada 19? It's 21 in the US...I'm 21 and my roommates are < 21 and I don't buy them drinks. I don't want to get busted or be responsible for them if they get alcohol poisoning or do something dumb while drunk.

 

It isn't really too awkward to be sober at parties as long as you know some people. People have medications and mono and other diseases all the time and choose not to drink, and some people don't drink for personal reasons. One of the things you should hopefully find in college is that people have grown up and respect you a bit more.

Also, remember that the point of drinking isn't to get drunk. It might be a nice side-effect, but you should drink with your friends and get drunk if it happens, not drink to get drunk with your friends.

If you say you're only going to have one more, stop there. That one more is sitting in your stomach already waiting to hit you.

Don't try drinking at a party for the first time. Find some liquor and drink with people you know and trust to take care of you until you know your limit yourself. A party is not a good place for that.

Your situation is a bit special too, since your father is an alcoholic. Alcoholism has been shown to be genetic, so you'll have to watch out for that. I've seen too many of my college age friends start falling into alcoholism due to genetics, so make sure you've got someone watching out for you.

Also, count your drinks on your hand with a marker or something. Unless you've got a large tolerance built up, you should really never go past 5 in a night probably. Remember, you're supposed to be getting buzzed, not wasted. I've spent a couple nights throwing up, and it isn't fun.

 

Everything in Moderation. in Moderation.

 

If you really want to, it's best to try drinking at first with only a few friends, so you can be comfortable and see what your limits are. The first time I got drunk to the point of throwing up was in my apartment, when it was just me and three other friends(they weren't the usual party/drinking types either). The other time was when I had a lot of something good that I didn't know the alcohol percentage of. It's a bad idea to "test your limits" at any type of largely social event.

Anyways, after that, I knew what my limits were so I almost never have more than that at party's and such.

 

Freshman year high school me and about 5 or 6 other friends went to a house party. It was alright until my friend liked and everyone saw that she had eaten pizza.

 

I think having an alcoholic father can also help people realize to not drink though. That is how it is for me. We have similar fathers - assholes that get too drunk, and because of that I think it's one of the big reasons I've chosen to not drink very often. Hopefully it will be a reason you don't drink or don't drink very often.

 

i know what you mean sort of, i lived in three pubs, and it sort of put me of drinking aswell, i do it some times, but very very rarely. what most people dont get when thier drinking that is you have more fun if you can remeber the night. i've been blind drunk its not a pleasnt experinace and one id rather not repeat.

 

Fixed that for you

 

Don't feel like you have to drink, but at the same time if you decide not to drink don't put yourself on a pedestal because you aren't. That was a huge issue with my friends, and people that are drinking can sometimes be very paranoid, multiply the effects if they are on drugs.

On top of all the information that everyones giving you, I think that it's good to know that if you do decide to drink, and get drunk to remember a few things... if you can.

Such as, don't parade the fact that you are drunk, say it once and then get over it because not many people will actually think better of you if you are. Same goes for denying it, it's generally safer to assume you are rather than convince your friends/randoms that you aren't - again it goes to the non-parading attention to yourself.

Getting drunk for the first time is a bit of a tricky thing, because generally speaking everyone is at their most annoying the first time they get "wasted". Which is why its a good idea that if you do, to do ti first with a close group of friends, or at least have a good friend who is going to be sober/practically sober to look after you. Friends are fine to look after each other, especially if it's one of their first times they've gotten drunk.

But yeah, you obviously have a really large history of dealing with alcohol from a differenting perspective, and it looks like your toughest challenge is to just try and separate whats happened at home to whats happening around you. It can be easy to over-react when you have been through what you have described.

As for supplying for under age... that's your call. If you have close enough friends they should understand if you don't feel right doing it. I did it and it was good, but eventually got annoying because they would always ask me midway through the night to resupply them, which is why its a good idea to make it clear that if you do, you'll only do it before the party/night began because it's a killjoy having to drive/walk out to a liquor store by yourself midway through a party.

 

Just bring a case of pepsi or coke with you

 

I'm going to concur with the rest here, and say that not drinking is totally OK. and even if you drink, it's good to put a limit and stay with that.

After a long and rather sad history with an alcoholic uncle and the stress that put on my family, I didn't drink at all on the first few parties I went to. Though fear of accidentally getting drunk and outing myself was a huge factor as well...
I never had any people giving me a hard time for not drinking, though. At most I got a few people telling me: "come oooooonnn...", but when they saw I was serious, they gave me a coke just as happily.
I did find that, even if you're not thirsty, it helps having a glass or bottle of soda in your hands. It does reinforce the idea that you're having fun and participating, and makes you seem less like the odd one out. You'll be a minority, but no one will notice anyway.

I definitely would say don't drink for the first time while at a party. Maybe try a sip (just the one), or even try one bottle of beer when with just a couple of friends, but crowds of people you barely know are not the place to experiment with liquids that affect your judgement.

Personally, I set a hard limit on how much I'll drink. After two glasses, I'll just switch back to coke or other soda. I've found that after two glasses, I start to notice I've been having alcohol (even if no one else can notice that about me), and that's far enough for me. I never feel a need to discover my limits or what happens if I drink more.

Above all, don't feel obliged to stay if you're not having fun. Go talk to the other people who aren't drinking (in most of the parties I went to, at least the host was not drunk and looking out for his guests, which often made for good conversation), or, if necessary, make sure you can crash in someone else's room.

 

I never drank at parties. Still don't, really. It wasn't an issue then, and it isn't an issue now. As pointed out, "lording it over" the drinkers is never a good idea. Don't make it an issue, and it never becomes one. I second the notion of bringing sodas with you if you're not sure they'll be available - something I do to this day.

For reasons that elude me, there's this belief that "everybody needs to get completely shitfaced at least once in their life". At the risk of "lording it over everybody", sorry, I never did. And I don't think I missed out on anything. So don't feel you have to.

Lex

 

Quoting for truth a second time!

Usually, if you choose not to drink, people won't give you a bad time, although you'll get a number of people offering you drinks because they're operating from the idea that you'll be drinking and just need a drink. It's more of a misguided courtesy than anything else, and it's one I know I've been guilty of in the past (our parents raise us to be better hosts than we think!). If it becomes too much of a thing, then accept the offer for a drink, and make it one that you can easily carry and won't change appearance if you don't drink it. Beer is great for this. Just carry around that beer and chat or play games or do whatever. If you have a drink in your hand, no one will think anything of it, no one will keep offering you a drink because they feel as though they're being a bad host, and you'll be the only one responsible if the drink makes it into you.

 

So strange to think the drinking age is 21 in the USA... I'm not sure I could get through Uni there

 

The drinking age is 21 the same way the speed limit is 55 mph. Nearly everybody ignores the law, and nearly everyone gets really indignant if they get caught breaking it.

Lex