Booze

[jmtorres]

Reminiscence about Vividcons past has led me to the conclusion that my definition of pretty much all levels of inebriation from tipsy to wasted is not the same as other people's. My scale is skewed. Or other people's scales are skewed. I think it might be the latter. I would ask people to describe to me what they think of as drunk--not so much the number of drinks it takes to get them there as the physical state they experience--but I reached a level of cynicism where I don't trust drunk people's self-perceptions. Viz, "It's only when I sit still that I get dizzy, if I'm standing or walking I'm okay," sorry to use you as an example, dear, but seriously, you do not stand or walk nearly as well as you seem to think you do when you're in that state. (I'm using you as a distraction to not talk about the particular drunken incident that set off my grumble tonight. I really am sorry!) Someone said something terrifying the other night about under what symptoms of drunkitude they still consider themselves safe to drive, and I have basically sworn off letting anyone, no matter how much more tolerance than me they think they have, drive me anywhere after having even just-one-drink, because clearly our scales of inebriation differ and I am done being trusting that people know their own limits, as we are obviously using "limit" differently. Also davetheinverted, though a teetotaler, is also no longer allowed to be my designated driver because he is playing Gran Turismo 5 on the streets and if nothing else, I prefer my drinks to stay down. So we drink at home, or we take public transit, or we take taxi, or we take our feet, or I'm the designated driver who doesn't drink anything and is not pretending to be a guest star on Top Gear. (I save that impression for when I'm late for work.)

*takes rantypants off*

*falls down in bed*

Comments

[flourish]

This is generally my attitude: if anybody's been drinking, they don't drive, no matter what! I've known one too many people who appeared to be perfectly OK but were actually on their fifth or sixth drink, and one too many people who just have one but get completely loopy and then insist that they're still OK. No, thank you.

[jmtorres]

For a while I thought my double dose of DARE had made me supersensitve on the subject and I should lighten up but I'm over that.

[laurajv]

My father is like the worst offender in my life in this category. He has no tolerance at all, and after two beers or two glasses of wine he will start saying the most horrible things. But he won't start slurring or weaving until six or seven drinks, so he thinks he's fine.... Ugh ugh ugh.

[jmtorres]

I know! I keep trying to figure out at what state some of my friends think drunk is and I'm wondering if it might be at 'throwing up' and they don't drink until they get that far, therefore they're never drunk?

[laurajv]

I do think it's different for everyone -- the definition, I mean. I had a friend at university who claimed that there didn't need to be penalties for drunk driving, just reckless driving, because he was a perfectly safe driver when drunk. I was all "..." because WHAT.

My maternal grandfather's rule was that you never drink sitting down, because you'll think you're sober far longer than you are, and by the time you stand up it's too late. My rule is that if my lips get numb, it's time to switch to water until I can feel them again, and I have to have been able to feel them for an hour before I will drive. (It is rules like this that keep Keith Richards alive, people! I have heard that Keith has a rule: he will buy a certain amount of drugs for his bender, and when the drugs are gone, the drugs are gone. No buying more drugs until sobered up. Well, he's still alive.....)

[echan]

My maternal grandfather's rule was that you never drink sitting down, because you'll think you're sober far longer than you are, and by the time you stand up it's too late.

OMG this is so true. Alcohol tolerance really does vary based on the activities you are or aren't doing.

[jmtorres]

Yes and no? You, with the only dizzy when you're sitting.

[jmtorres]

Numbness freaks me out as a description of symptomology! I have never experienced numbness! So I assume that is much drunker than I have ever been.

[echan]

I think it's elfling that has some sort of molar numbness or something like that when she's drunk. You could ask her about it sometime. :)

[jmtorres]

Totally freaked out, do not want to know.

[laurajv]

I don't think it happens to everyone! Most of my friends are quite surprised that I experience it, because they never have. For me it happens before I start slurring my speech or stumbling or anything, so I find it a really useful marker.

[jetpack_monkey]

My rule is if I start getting so honest as to start searching out new things to be honest about, I'm probably drunk.

[jmtorres]

You and I have closer to similar drunkness rating scales. Of course we also have similar notions of our own tolerance.

[jetpack_monkey]

What, that we don't have one?

[jmtorres]

Hey, between us, we might have *one.*

[azurelunatic]

I'll chip in, so there might be one and a half?

Though I can level it up by having one drink a day a week before a party so I don't get hit as hard by the party.

[jmtorres]

But why would you want to? It's so convenient to need to spend half as much as other people to get giggly.

[azurelunatic]

I'm more often at house parties, and it's nice to be able to have more than one kind of drink.

[krait]

This is all very interesting and enlightening -- and, yes, terrifying to the point that I will now be doing ALL THE DRIVING THANX if I am out with a certain set of friends again.

(Teetotalers: easily alarmed by people who think "unable to stand" means "still able to operate machinery"!) :D

[jmtorres]

The song "Last Friday Night" seems to indicate some people find it acceptable to get blackout drunk on a weekly basis! I don't even.

[pineapplechild]

When I start telling people things that I wouldn't otherwise, I'm drunk enough not to drive. This handily also covers situations where I'm exhausted or too hyper. Since my drinking habits are a cider with friends once every blue moon at gaming nights, I've never really testing my tolerances enough to really be comfortable pegging my state of inebriation.

[jmtorres]

Hmm. My filters don't totally work that way, so I can't judge.

[pineapplechild]

*shrugs* I've got weird ones myself.

[azurelunatic]

One of my tells is a certain level of typo. I can feel the alcohol in my thighs. It's weird. I have never been past a certain stage of drunk because I stop drinking before I lose more control, because I don't like that.

[jmtorres]

I make typos when I'm drunk but rarely post them. There's just a lot more backspacing than usual. I write some of the cleanest drunk posts in the world.

[azurelunatic]

I make all the normal typos and then more, but can't be bothered to correct. At least, not all of them.

[davetheinverted]

Also [personal profile] davetheinverted, though a teetotaler, is also no longer allowed to be my designated driver because he is playing Gran Turismo 5 on the streets and if nothing else, I prefer my drinks to stay down. So we drink at home, or we take public transit, or we take taxi, or we take our feet, or I'm the designated driver who doesn't drink anything and is not pretending to be a guest star on Top Gear.

It is of course your right to not be driven by anyone you choose to not be driven by, and I would not dream of disputing that. That said, I (and the others who were in that car that evening) have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. My driving was no more abrupt or aggressive than it normally is (and was in fact unusually *less* so at that point).

If the level of inebriation you were at rendered you unusually sensitive to changes in velocity, a more useful response would have been to say something at the time so I could attempt to be even more gentle in my driving, rather than to publicly impugn my skill and judgment days later.


Dav2.718

[jmtorres]

Yeah, Dave, I was unhappy *before* I had anything to drink.