Earlier this month me and boyfriend went on a week long vacation, partly to be alone, and partly to visit his family. The first part of the vacation was nice but once we got to his family's place I couldn't be happy. I felt so out of place... they are religious and I am not, they are family oriented and I am not, they like to eat around a table together and I am not used to it. I was there for like 2 or 3 days and on top of feeling out of place I was dreading going out to eat mexican food with them for dinner. I think steem was blowing out of my ears while I was ordering the least fattening thing I could find on the menu and drinking water while everyone was enjoying their freaking margaritas. And they somehow felt the need to ask me how old I was and said that next year things would be different.
As of now my opinion is still that there will not be a next year. I didn't like eating at that restaurant with them last year and I didn't like it this year. I am pretty sure I wont like it next year either. See I would not have minded so much that they were drinking without me if it weren't for the ongoing conversation among Everyone But Me that maybe I should drive them home, and saying things like "is that what a buzz feels like?" Tell me something. Why the fuck am I labled an adult, yet treated like a child?! After spending the first twenty minutes in the bar area with them, my temper began to reach its max capacity. If they said something they thought was funny, I didn't laugh. My face was stiff. My voice was loud. My muscles tense. Can somebody for once, freaking have some decency and not leave me out, and THEN expect me to fucking drive them home after leaving me out?!
There won't be a next year because I still don't forgive them for leaving me out a year ago. And I certainly don't forgive them for a few weeks ago. It's a matter of principal. I don't think they deserve my company and I don't deserve theirs.
I haven't even mentioned to part about them ASSUMING that I was Christian. Hello, people? You might want to ask me what my beliefs are before telling me we are going to church on Sunday. I am not religious, I am not anti-religious. Just let me be while I figure it out... argh. I've tried the Catholic thing and the Christian thing. It just didn't work out and I could not bring myself to believe. As of this point in my life the only thing I am pretty sure about is that we are Probably not alone. Thats all. No stories, no specifics on who the "others" may be, and no idea about "power." If I were supposed to believe in "God," I feel like I would have been deathly certain about it by now and I am definately not.
So don't tell me we are going to some religious ceremony that I have to kneel and stand and walk down an isle and eat bread and drink wine and cross my forehead with holy water at. And don't make me sit at your family table and make me hold hands with you and recite a prayer that, by now, I have completely forgotten. I have already tried to embrace that and it hasn't worked out. Let me be, people...
So back to the alcohol thing. I find it extremely annoying being just shy of the legal drinking age and being treated as if I have never had a drop of alcohol in my system before. I think I'm still going to resist celebrating my 21st birthday. I find it common and stupid and, yes, immature to celebrate it by doing the free drinks thing at a local bar and waking up the next morning completely oblivious of anything I did on my birthday. If I could twist it into a version I'd like better, I'd prefer a wine tasting or something of the sort for my bday. Not drunkness. And I wouldn't fucking drive anywhere because I drive everywhere and I am so tired of it.
Let me give the general US some advice. If you believe your kids should follow the law and not drink until after their 21st birthday, don't expose them to other cultures. And moreover, if you do decide to expose them to other cultures, don't try and restrict them to the american culture after that because they will resent you for it. I almost feel like I should permanently leave the country for a nation that is more realistic. How can you expect someone to drink responsibly at their 21st after having taught them nothing about alcohol except saying things at school like "its a drug just like tobacco." Why not teach them constructively?
I did a little research and found out that not only is purchasing alcohol in this state illegal if you are underage, but consuming it is also illegal. If we must insist that the age remain 21, we might want to consider altering the law so that the consumption part is no longer illegal. That way parents could teach their kids legally before they reach their 21st birthday. Maybe then the temptation to get fucking hammered that day wouldn't be so great. Or maybe a law that says you could have one drink a day. I'm sorry, maybe that sounded lame to you? How about a legal drinking age that nobody follows? Thats lame too.
As of now my opinion is still that there will not be a next year. I didn't like eating at that restaurant with them last year and I didn't like it this year. I am pretty sure I wont like it next year either. See I would not have minded so much that they were drinking without me if it weren't for the ongoing conversation among Everyone But Me that maybe I should drive them home, and saying things like "is that what a buzz feels like?" Tell me something. Why the fuck am I labled an adult, yet treated like a child?! After spending the first twenty minutes in the bar area with them, my temper began to reach its max capacity. If they said something they thought was funny, I didn't laugh. My face was stiff. My voice was loud. My muscles tense. Can somebody for once, freaking have some decency and not leave me out, and THEN expect me to fucking drive them home after leaving me out?!
There won't be a next year because I still don't forgive them for leaving me out a year ago. And I certainly don't forgive them for a few weeks ago. It's a matter of principal. I don't think they deserve my company and I don't deserve theirs.
I haven't even mentioned to part about them ASSUMING that I was Christian. Hello, people? You might want to ask me what my beliefs are before telling me we are going to church on Sunday. I am not religious, I am not anti-religious. Just let me be while I figure it out... argh. I've tried the Catholic thing and the Christian thing. It just didn't work out and I could not bring myself to believe. As of this point in my life the only thing I am pretty sure about is that we are Probably not alone. Thats all. No stories, no specifics on who the "others" may be, and no idea about "power." If I were supposed to believe in "God," I feel like I would have been deathly certain about it by now and I am definately not.
So don't tell me we are going to some religious ceremony that I have to kneel and stand and walk down an isle and eat bread and drink wine and cross my forehead with holy water at. And don't make me sit at your family table and make me hold hands with you and recite a prayer that, by now, I have completely forgotten. I have already tried to embrace that and it hasn't worked out. Let me be, people...
So back to the alcohol thing. I find it extremely annoying being just shy of the legal drinking age and being treated as if I have never had a drop of alcohol in my system before. I think I'm still going to resist celebrating my 21st birthday. I find it common and stupid and, yes, immature to celebrate it by doing the free drinks thing at a local bar and waking up the next morning completely oblivious of anything I did on my birthday. If I could twist it into a version I'd like better, I'd prefer a wine tasting or something of the sort for my bday. Not drunkness. And I wouldn't fucking drive anywhere because I drive everywhere and I am so tired of it.
Let me give the general US some advice. If you believe your kids should follow the law and not drink until after their 21st birthday, don't expose them to other cultures. And moreover, if you do decide to expose them to other cultures, don't try and restrict them to the american culture after that because they will resent you for it. I almost feel like I should permanently leave the country for a nation that is more realistic. How can you expect someone to drink responsibly at their 21st after having taught them nothing about alcohol except saying things at school like "its a drug just like tobacco." Why not teach them constructively?
I did a little research and found out that not only is purchasing alcohol in this state illegal if you are underage, but consuming it is also illegal. If we must insist that the age remain 21, we might want to consider altering the law so that the consumption part is no longer illegal. That way parents could teach their kids legally before they reach their 21st birthday. Maybe then the temptation to get fucking hammered that day wouldn't be so great. Or maybe a law that says you could have one drink a day. I'm sorry, maybe that sounded lame to you? How about a legal drinking age that nobody follows? Thats lame too.
posted by mythreefeet at
4:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home