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On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

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Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neat! Of course, you really should do it without the needless potshots that just arent remotely true. If you had just said that at the beginning,you might have avoided all this needless un-niceness. But it really seems like your goal is to be mean, not engaging. Your loss I guess.

nobody is trying to embarrass you or "take potshots" but when you start objecting to comments because they are off by a rounding error or you start calculating percentages in response to the theme of "this shit has gotten expensive," you're outing yourself

That wasn't the "theme". Like I already said once: you changed the subject to try and argue something different than what was initially said. You've then decided to, as best as I can tell call me an asshole to people in the service industry because I pointed out that you kept changing the argument to something less extreme.

I don't disagree with "drinks are expensive" I disagree that they're commonly $20-30. That's all I've ever said and you seem deeply intent on trying to say that actually 18 or 15 or 12 dollar drinks are also expensive, which sure okay but that's irrelevant!

Like, all I said is that I was amazed at 20-30 dollar drinks, which I still am, you managed to find one bar with drinks at that price point, and when I said that drinks at that price point are rare even in expensive cities, you said "in 2010", when I pointed out that no, even today its difficult to find drinks at that price point, you started taking potshots. It's really weird. And yeah "you're an asshole to bartenders" is clearly just a potshot that had nothing to do with the conversation.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#132
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure, but they are inherently carcinogenic, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t be.

I am genuinely curious - what part of BBQ? We know red meat can lead to an increased risk of colon cancer, but you can still have it safely.

Not only smoked meats, any meat/fish/poultry cooked at high temperature (above 300 ºF) contains carcinogenic substances [1].

[1] https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/d...

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you from and where do you live? My impression is the USA has the worst drinking culture. Many other places in the world have much better ones. UK pubs, Japanese izakayas. I had a pretty negative view of drinking growing up in the USA with MADD's messaging etc. Even though my parents drank socially it just seemed not worth. Then I moved abroad and my outlook changed Here's an interesting talk on some of the…

-- over here in Korea we have everyone beat for unhealthy alcohol consumption -- https://www.themonsoonproject.org/a-sobering-look-at-south-k... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoesik https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/features/2016/2/7/the-country-...

From the first link:

> For business workers, drinking is non-negotiable. Drinks after work strengthen relationships with colleagues, and an invitation to drink with an office superior is a great compliment that should not be turned down. The drinking etiquette, which requires that a person’s cup never be left empty, increases the pressure to drink. Constant topping up makes binge drinking the norm, while refusing drinks is seen as rejecting generosity or denying someone who is trying to help you have a good time.

I've seen that form of institutionalized alcoholism in other countries as well and in many areas up to high-ranking public officials. I wonder what the long-term costs of this culture are.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#135
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, being drunk seems to be like removing your psychological self-defence, which builds trust, especially in a high-stake business relations. But it's not the only way to build trust, for sure, and definitely doesn't justify the damage alcohol does to the body. Not trying to convince you to change your mind, but you seem to be missing some information: I'd wager that for the vast, vast majority of people, "drinkin…

You're right. In post-soviet countries people generally drink to get intoxicated on purpose. In Europe and US, from my experience, drinking culture is much more healthy. I do have respect for that. Yet, if alcohol was invented today it would be clearly classified as worse drug then heroin, for example, and would be banned. Discussing that one country has more helthy heroin mass-consumption culture than another countr…

Alcohol and heroin are not even close in terms of danger and having had a friend who I lost to heroin it sounds odd that someone makes that comparison.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#136
post #113

Quitting alcohol seems to be in vogue these days. I'd like to offer a counterpoint: I love to drink. By the government definition, I'm a very heavy drinker. I have 1 - 3 glasses of wine a night to relax after putting my child to bed. Of course, I do go many days without drinking when life gets in the way. But I certainly enjoy my night time ritual. But what I really love about drinking is socializing over drinks. No,…

I am the same and as an introvert, drinking while in groups helps me socialize with less effort.

The only downside is the weight gain that comes with it.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#137
post #22

Alcohol helped me to gain social wisdom (did not drink before that at all, which I think is the reason I got bit outcast from people)

It’s possible to gain social wisdom without alcohol. Here’s one for free: Surround yourself with people you like. Be the friend to them that you’d want for yourself. That’s all the social wisdom you need.

That's like going to a depressed person and saying "come on, cheer up!".

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#138
post #119
post #113

Quitting alcohol seems to be in vogue these days. I'd like to offer a counterpoint: I love to drink. By the government definition, I'm a very heavy drinker. I have 1 - 3 glasses of wine a night to relax after putting my child to bed. Of course, I do go many days without drinking when life gets in the way. But I certainly enjoy my night time ritual. But what I really love about drinking is socializing over drinks. No,…

It's in vogue because people are realizing they are actively consuming cancer juice... Much like cigarette users had to realize they are actively inhaling cancer smoke... You kind of act like people that don't drink can't go out, have non-alcoholic drinks, and still focus on eachother...

A lot of people also like to signal virtue for fake internet points.

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog"

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#139
post #117
post #113

Quitting alcohol seems to be in vogue these days. I'd like to offer a counterpoint: I love to drink. By the government definition, I'm a very heavy drinker. I have 1 - 3 glasses of wine a night to relax after putting my child to bed. Of course, I do go many days without drinking when life gets in the way. But I certainly enjoy my night time ritual. But what I really love about drinking is socializing over drinks. No,…

> I have 1 - 3 glasses of wine a night to relax after putting my child to bed. I'm sorry but I have to acknowledge that 1-3 glasses a night by yourself is a lot of drinking. I was the same way with weed. It didn't have any major affects on my life until I quit smoking and I realized my life was way better without it. I'm some random idiot on the internet so feel free to ignore my take, but finding ways to relax witho…

We are going slightly off topic here, but may I ask how your life turned better without weed?

When Corona made availability a bit harder I quit last year for several months. But to my surprise I wasn't more productive, wasn't more focused all I got was getting more moody and easier to distact.

I came to accept that weed is self medication against my ADD and depression that works better than I actually expected.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#140
post #60

I never tried alcohol and never felt compelled to. As a kid I wondered what's happening with those drunk people I had a chance to see. So I read some books in library about alcohol (my mother was librarian, so that was my internet back then). It all just made sense and I decided that don't want to even try. I was asked to try alcohol by parents and relatives, I was ridiculed and insulted by classmates (drinking someh…

>I knew how it works

I doubt that, given that you never tried it, nor drugs. No shame in not knowing, though.

Benefits are definitely exaggerated, the addicts, when not on the thing, or on the way to their next hit of the thing, love to apologize for the thing.

I'll be frank with my motivation to drink, it was to kill myself, and self-expression of that I'm so miserable that I'm killing myself. And getting drunk felt good. I think if you never yearned for that, that's healthy. I wonder if we could raise an entire generation in a way that everybody feels that way.

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