A Fallback Excuse for Newbies
If you are new to HSM, and don’t feel ready to explain why you’re not drinking when people offer you a drink, the excuse that is easiest to give is that you are in the last 2 days of finishing a course of antibiotics. That way, you’re not sick, but no-one’s putting pressure on you to drink.
I was so close to breaking.
We met some people in Central Park. I offered them jelly beans. They offered me watermelon. ‘As I went to bite, they said – just so you know, it’s spiked with Vodka…’
I dropped it cold. It never touched my mouth. But close.
Then, at a restaurant with Jules, she gets a bad glass of wine and says, ‘try this, it’s terrible’. I lean in to taste… And then remember. Again, so close.
Australia is defined by its drinking culture. We drink to watch sport, at BBQs, with dinner and at parties. The general narrative of teen life from the age of 14-15 onwards is drunkenness. How drunk did you get and what insane situations did that lead to? Drunkenness is tied to a bunch of teenage firsts.
Once you hit university, the intensity increases. Binge drinking amongst university students is standard. And for lots of people in the workforce, the ‘weekend warrior’ drinking is the high-point of the week.
When I say drinking, I don’t mean European, bottle of wine over dinner and conversation drinking. I mean pubs and clubs, 13 vodkas, withdraw $250 from an ATM and pass out on your bathroom floor drinking.
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