Drinking

I've been thinking a lot lately about drinking. Maybe first I ought to explain my history.

All through high school I was a good girl. I never drank. I hung out with friends who loved to do things like play ping pong and Jenga. Yes, I dated a drummer in a band and became somewhat of a groupie in that sense but I never had a drop throughout my whole high school career. When I talk to other people, it seems this is a very rare thing.

In college I drank very rarely and never did drugs. I almost prided myself on how much money I was probably saving because I never went out to parties or bars and spent money on drugs and alcohol. It wasn't until my senior year, when I was twenty-one, that I finally started going out with friends to drink.

Now, I would say I am a very social drinker. I pretty rarely drink at home alone or go out alone to drink, and I even more rarely drink to the point of getting drunk. I'm pretty great at knowing my limits and when to stop.

So having said all of this, I've been struggling lately with being able to understand those who don't seem to have a limit or have any desire to stop drinking before they become exceedingly drunk. These are people who become drunk to the point of becoming obnoxious, weepy, or needy.

I like to think of myself as a person that has a pretty high tolerance for others, but when I feel that others are not being responsible for themselves to the point that it is affecting other people, I get annoyed. Maybe it's that I am getting older and feeling the pressure and responsibilities so I don't have a lot of patience for the crazy naive drunken binges of others. Okay, maybe I'm being harsh. But I often have to wonder at alcohols amazing and powerful effects over so many people. It has the ability to change personalities, to make people forget, and to make them lose control of their emotions. Maybe I'm just too much of a control freak or have too high of expectations to be okay with that.