apparently drinking is not for me

[Zoe Girl]

Wow. I have pretty much never been to a happy hour, and then someone I work with asked me and I thought it would be fun. So I went to the bar literally next door to my school, looked around and didn't see parents. I was planning on iced tea but I drink about 3 times a year and decided this could be one of those times. And there is a reason. I had a fun time and then felt horrible for hours afterwards. My friend talked to me on the phone and I was just chilling in my car (I have a pillow and blanket for emergency naps), I wasn't planning on driving for a long time and then she explained how long it was going to be before I could drive so she gave me a ride home. I will get my car later today.

I was thinking about how people do this all the time, and how my daughter did this for years, and how do people do it? I did feel better after a stressy week to simply be around people for awhile, but not with alcohol again.

[razz]

Appoint yourself the designated driver and feel good and avoid alcohol at the same time.
I cannot deal with alcohol either so now just how you felt. I give myself a taste if it is a very new flavour - a thimble full and that is it.

[Zoe Girl]

It was just so tasty, but obviously there is a reason I don't drink. I have been the DD since I was 20, so I think I will do that again.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm sure if I overindulged now, I'd feel just as bad. I have a jigger of brandy (usually in a mixed drink) about once a week for medicinal purposes. ;)
When I was a young adult, I used to overindulge regularly--so I know what a hangover feels like. But I could bounce back from anything then. When I read drink recipes I think they all sound delightful, but at the rate I imbibe it would take a couple of lifetimes to sample them all. Oh well.

[iris lilies]

Being the designated driver us a swell thing! That's always Dhs role because he doesn't like to drink.

[catherine]

I don't like hard liquor at all but I do enjoy the occasional glass of wine or beer. However, I am the DD in my family, so I'm not likely to overindulge.

As they say, moderation in all things, and that's pretty much my motto when it comes to alcohol.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I've never had the kind of body that can't bounce back from any abuse at any age, it's always reacted strongly to what I put in it, whether I get enough sleep etc.. I used to have greater caffeine tolerance though. I drink once in a while at a party or something, rarely and not a ton. The only negative effect of a moderate amount of alcohol on me is some sleep disturbance, but I do take sleep seriously.

[early morning]

I was just chilling in my car (I have a pillow and blanket for emergency naps), I wasn't planning on driving for a long time and then she explained how long it was going to be before I could drive so she gave me a ride home.
Just a heads up.... in Ohio - not sure about other states - just being in the car with your keys can get you arrested and convicted for drunk driving. In case anyone comes here and wants to sleep it off in their car, be aware, lol. As a kid, I drank a lot, often. I have never had a hangover, and never got sick. I just sort of outgrew enjoying being plastered. I almost never drink now, and I've developed what I call an intermittent alcohol allergy. SOMETIMES, with some drinks - and it can be the second glass from the same bottle, or the first swig of a beer, I've never been able to pin it down - my face gets red and puffy, and my neck itches - lasts about 15 minutes, then goes away. My doctor is confused too. So, it's easier to not drink much, and to drink at home so as not to scare others.... :|(. I would be a designated driver, except I really hate drunk people if I'm not one of them:devil:

[Rogar]

I had my wild and crazy years, which thankfully are just memories (or lost memories). The young people I know of seem to be smarter these days. They mostly use uber, taxi or designated driver. Seems like most of them have learned a lesson from a friend or acquaintance who has paid the penalty. I don't know if they are the exception or the rule, but young people seem more responsible than my days. At least when it comes to drinking and driving.

[Zoe Girl]

My friend did tell me on the phone to not have my keys in the ignition, even if the engine was off. So I listened but it was getting cold.

[SteveinMN]

The young people I know of seem to be smarter these days. They mostly use uber, taxi or designated driver. Seems like most of them have learned a lesson from a friend or acquaintance who has paid the penalty. I don't know if they are the exception or the rule, but young people seem more responsible than my days.
I think it is becoming more the rule than the exception. All through college, DD and her gang/posse/squad either had a Designated Driver or plans to not drive (stay where they were drinking, arrange a pickup, etc.). This not more than a generation after her parents and peers' parents regularly drove impaired from campus to campus. It's good to see that level of responsibility.

[Zoe Girl]

I don't even let any of my kids drive on New Year's Eve, they can stay where they are, stay at my house, just stay off the roads for a long time. It is your own driving and other people as well. But they have been good about not driving to the best of my knowledge. The big deal here now is weed, and recognizing that it is legal and you can still get in trouble for driving impaired.

[SiouzQ.]

I just came to the conclusion that I cannot have even one drink anymore because it screws up my sleep so badly. I have been in a terrible slide down the past few weeks because they changed my schedule at work from all 6am morning shifts to throwing in a couple of day shifts in - so one day I might work from 12-8 and then have to be there at 6am the next morning. In addition, this was the month I was experimenting (kind of forcing myself) to quit being such a hermit and start going out more. All these schedule disruptions have kicked off a major mood reaction, sleep deprivation, spiraling thoughts, etc.

There are a bunch of steps I have to (re)take (doctor's orders, because I really don't want to go back on medication) in order to get back on track - wean myself from drinking so much coffee, stop taking sleep aids, continue to exercise, and I have decided on my own to not drink anything alcoholic for the time being. It also might boil down to giving work a doctor's note that they can't schedule these types of inconsistent shifts for me; this is the same thing I am dealing with that I dealt with the first year I worked at WF when I would be scheduled to work all three shifts in one week. My body and mind just cannot do it...I am nervous about going to HR about this. I never did it before because at some point the person doing the scheduling just started giving me all 6am shifts anyway so for a few years it was fairly consistent and it worked out pretty good for me (not that I love getting up at 5am mind you).

Sorry ZoeGirl, I didn't mean to hijack your thread but I can certainly relate to where you are coming from in so many ways! My days of partying seem to be long over. Once I get my work schedule straightened out my next project is to try and figure out how to have at least a little social life somehow...

[Zoe Girl]

No problem! Your thoughts brought up other things for me as well. I am dealing with really long hours and I just keep trying to get them under control. Part of it is when I need to be at work so early but can't really go home, and taking a nap is necessary at times but a desperate measure to sleep in my car. I deal with depression and some hermit behavior as well, so that is a major reason I don't drink. Depression does not mix, So I have been trying to also get out and then I feel like it would be fun to have a drink (not feeling my colleagues are pressuring but also I don't always need to be the odd one out), then I feel kinda crappy for awhile and the depression is back.

[Teacher Terry]

In Nevada if you are in the car and have access to your keys you can get convicted. YOu can just be sleeping with the car off be or running the engine to stay warm and it does not matter. The only way you can sleep in your car drunk and not be arrested is to lock your keys in the trunk and not have another car key with you. The first time I had a client tell me he got convicted this way I did not believe him but when I checked he was right. I think that is not right.

[Kestra]

I am not a good drinker either. I can handle 1 drink if I'm eating carbs, and still feel a little sick. I can't have a second or will be quite ill and not sleep well. The BF is under instructions to not let me have a second one (the first makes me think a 2nd would be fine). We just got back from Vegas and he was amused thinking that we're the only people who go to Vegas and don't drink. Well, he had 1 beer. I had nothing. Eating weird food was hard enough on my body; I didn't think adding alcohol to the mix was a good idea.

[early morning]

Teacher Terry, I agree that's not right. When someone is trying to do the right thing and NOT drive while drunk, they should not risk a drunk driving conviction. But that's how it is here, too. Once (back in my misguided youth) one of my friends put his keys in someone's mailbox so he wouldn't get busted for sleeping in his car. But that someone found the keys and took them inside, and he wasn't sure what mailbox he'd stuck them in (he was drunk, after all...) and he ended up walking home for his other set of keys. And he did get rousted by the cops, but since there were no car keys, they didn't arrest him, although they threatened to ticket him for having an abandoned vehicle or some such nonsense. Yeah, getting that drunk is not something I miss.

[Zoe Girl]

That is nutty, how exactly do you get the keys out of the trunk? It is one step from drinking and owning a car. I would have stayed in my car a long time rather than drive, but I wouldn't appreciated getting arrested for NOT driving.

And abandoned vehicle for avoiding drunk driving!

[catherine]

That is nutty, how exactly do you get the keys out of the trunk? It is one step from drinking and owning a car. I would have stayed in my car a long time rather than drive, but I wouldn't appreciated getting arrested for NOT driving.

And abandoned vehicle for avoiding drunk driving!

I know two people who were convicted for being drunk while sleeping in a car with the key in the ignition (car was not running), but I believe that if they had had the keys in their pocket that would have been a different story.

[Williamsmith]

In Pennsylvania this is the law:

3802. Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance.
(a) General impairment.--
(1) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the individual is rendered incapable of safely driving, operating or being in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
(2) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the alcohol concentration in the individual's blood or breath is at least 0.08% but less than 0.10% within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or been in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
(b) High rate of alcohol.--An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the alcohol concentration in the individual's blood or breath is at least 0.10% but less than 0.16% within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or been in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
(c) Highest rate of alcohol.--An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such that the alcohol concentration in the individual's blood or breath is 0.16% or higher within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or been in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.

The applicable part of your discussion is actual physical control. DUI enforcement has become very aggressive. Groups such as M.A.D.D. Have pressured law enforcement over the years by lobbying legislatures, publishing statewide statistics, basing federal and state funding on arrest statistics, and generally calling attention to the carnage caused by drunk drivers.

When I started my career in the early 80s it was not uncommon for an inebriated driver to get a ride home. It quickly changed to the point that arrests were being made that challenged the constitutional notion of probable cause. A sleeping person in the drivers seat of an auto that was running whether on a road or a trafficway will get you arrested. Car running and subject in passenger seat or back seat with a little investigation and determination that the subject in the back seat drove there or turned the car on. Arrest. Without the car running but in the car with the keys in the pocket.....getting thin but again possible. A lot of these cases end up in appeals. Therefore I rarely made such an arrest.

There were plenty of drunken drivers on the road to keep me busy so bothering people who had enough sense to sleep it off......not the way I rolled.

[Zoe Girl]

There were plenty of drunken drivers on the road to keep me busy so bothering people who had enough sense to sleep it off......not the way I rolled.

Good, I hope more officers are busy enough with actual impaired people who are driving their cars instead of worrying about people who are making a good judgement call to not drive.

Another point, having taught 3 kids to drive, is that if your child has a permit you are responsible and under the same rules. My dad once wanted my son to drive so he could drink. Nope, I said no. I spent a few years taking keys away from him after I got my license and that was enough.

[Williamsmith]

I will say this in defense of the zealous enforcement officers........investigating tragic death after tragic death off innocent people at the hands of a drunken or impaired driver will cause some officers to make it sort of a crusade.