I haven't put anything on my xanga in the last few months.  I'll try to change that.

NEWS:
I bought a nice purple dress shirt today and it looks nice on me.

til next time,

Peace&Love,
~philly

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to share my thoughts. I found a common statement that was said to me when I turned 20 for the first time* in October of 2008.  For those that didn't know me that well (random people in class and some of my co-workers) and those that did/do (whatev) but for some reason omitted a part of my life out of their minds, the short conversation went along about like this:

Person: Oh! It's your birthday!?
Me: Yep
Person: Well happy birthday! How old are ya now?
Me: Thanks. just turned 20.
Person: Ah, so you still got one more year to go.
Me: ... yea...

Or like this:

Person: Phil! Next year, man. Me and you. Gonna get f***ed up!!!
Me: *fake smile* Yea...

If you haven't caught on, my friends and co-workers and passersby were referring to drinking ... alcohol.  For those that know very little about me or nothing at all, I don't do anything.  Never smoked, drank, or abused drugs of any kind.  The worst I've done was take some medicine for a sinus headache that made me very drowsy.  I'm straight as an arrow.  Ok, I'm not perfect, but in those areas, I'm clean.  Like I mentioned, I haven't taken a single drink in my life. ... Scratch that.  Twice I had a sip of a strawberry daiquiri.  Other than that, nadda.  Part of my reason for not drinking is a moral one and the other is that I've seen the horrors of alcoholism (family stuff), which has made drinking, especially beer and the like, very unappealing.  I guess I have another reason to add to that.  I've made it this far without doing it (besides the couple of swigs) so why not cross the finish line?

For the most part, the people that want to get me effed up know that I don't drink now.  I know at least one friend probably wants to get me drunk but only if it's my decision and not peer pressure situation.  A few others may just be joking around with me.  But a few all of my friends should know better than to tell me they plan on getting me drunk.  If I really wanted to get wasted, I'd have done it by now.  I'm not a guy that goes to parties at all, but I've been around alcohol all my life and a good number of my friends drink, so I can easily procure a few beers if I wanted.  I just don't.  Nothing wrong with that, right?

If I even decide to drink on my 21st birthday, it won't be a crap ton.  The most I'll do is follow the example of one my coworkers.  He ate a lot of starchy (something like that) foods before he went out with some friends, one of whom was understanding and responsible, and got his drink on ... responsibly.  I don't know if he went to different bars but he tried a number of drinks, and he can remember all the drinks he had and the order in which he got them. He wasn't planning on getting wasted and he didn't. He just had enough to make him "feel gooood." He told his responsible friend that he was satisfied and they left.  No pressure.  That's what I'm doing if I decide to go out.  What I'll probably end up doing, if anything, tho, is just going to the store and buying a bottle of something (always wanted to try to Bailey's of Kahlua...maybe wine) and drink some of that with a friend.  And when the time comes and I decide I don't want to drink, I'll buy a bottle anyway just because I can legally. Did the same thing with a pack of cigarettes when I turned 18.

So, to my friends, co-workers and passersby:
No, I don't want to get wasted, smashed, trashed, drunk off my bum, or effed up in any way, shape or form. Thank you for your zeal tho. It is somewhat appreciated.

While I'm on the topic, do you drink? Why? Why not? How much? How often? You don't have to answer any or all of that, but reader feedback is always interesting.

Thanks for reading.

~Philly


*I realized what I typed a few words after and opted to keep it. haha.