Charlie Sheen thinks Being Sober is boring.....

[Travis]

The problem is being sober isn't boring, some of my most entertaining moments have been learning in class, absolutely sober ( not that i can say the same for some college students, but i digress.). But being sober, is less entertaining than being inebriated.

Maybe for you. My experience with alcohol was terrible. I never considered it fun. All it did was make me sick.

Both a drinking and non drinking situation could rank a solid 10/10 on an entertainment scale, but certain situations, sans alcohol are simply less entertaining than they would be with alcohol.

I think you need to change your social circle if everyone you know who drinks is a loser alcoholic. literally everyone i know drinks, and when we drink we get **** faced ( to give a bit more detail, i drink seldom, once ever 2 , maybe three weeks, but when i do it is toward a purpose. ) , and none of us are what could be described as ' loser alcoholics'. You have to know that your situation is incredibly uncommon, the vast majority of people in north america have no problem with liquor and imbibe fairly frequently, and a large majority of those people are not ' loser alcoholics'.

My friends don't drink. That is our common bond. Most are like me former Mormons who are now atheists. The rest had parents who were alcoholics or drug addicts.

Since most people I know are Mormons the only people I know that do drink are my family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) who are all loser alcoholics. I started a thread on how many are in prison right now in Community.

Your view of alcohol is slanted, either through personal views, or your incredibly unique social situation. " Disorientation and vomiting" makes it seem you get your knowledge from the effects video games try to implement when a character drinks, versus real life experience.

No that was my real life experience. When I finally tried it when I was 25 years old I went straight from sober to vomiting and sleep. It happened every time so I gave it up. That was my try at normalcy. I accepted that I'm a freak and moved on.

You very well may have a circle of friends who are all prone to alcoholism, and shouldn't drink. But you can't use this incredibly unique situation to paint the product itself as silly , evil and unentertaining .

There was a six year period of my life when I actually advocated a return to prohibition. Oh those silly days of my youth.

And this isn't to take a jab at you, simply to inform you that good times, successful people, and alcohol are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Like I said: I've heard of it (that good times, successful people, and alcohol are not mutually exclusive concepts) I've just very rarely actually seen it. Even when I was in college you could draw a line between those that partied on the weekends and those that actually passed the class. And I don't judge people just for their use of it. Some of the family alcoholics I have are pretty high functioning despite being hammered every awake moment.

That's my experience, too. No one in my circle of friends is what I would consider an alcoholic; some drink fairly regularly in moderation, some (like me) drink seldom but to excess (drunk, though not sick-drunk) for the fun of it.

The few self-acknowledged alcoholics I've known react strongly and negatively to the idea that anyone could possibly drink alcohol in moderation so that's always my first suspicion when I read something like that from Travis above. Maybe the same reaction can be generated by overexposure of a nondrinker to alcoholism, too.

Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be a non-drinker surrounded by drunk people? All they want to talk about is unrealistic stories about sexual encounters with cheerleaders/models (maybe drunk women talk about something else but I haven't been around them) and I'm trying to talk about anything else. Maybe it'd be different if some of them had gone to college but, as it stands, none of them even graduated high school. And that's why they steal cars for a living.

My family...I'm so proud of them.

 

[Babbylonian]

Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be a non-drinker surrounded by drunk people? All they want to talk about is unrealistic stories about sexual encounters with cheerleaders/models (maybe drunk women talk about something else but I haven't been around them) and I'm trying to talk about anything else. Maybe it'd be different if some of them had gone to college but, as it stands, none of them even graduated high school. And that's why they steal cars for a living.

That unfortunately sounds like you find yourself surrounded by drunk jerks as opposed to general drunk people. While there's always a certain amount of ribaldry when I've gotten faced with a bunch of dudes, some of whom do become overly boisterous, I find we usually talk about the same things we always do (which could be anything) but with a higher volume and faultier logic...and funnier jokes (not really, but we laugh more anyway).

When I get together with my family at my sister's place, mainly on holidays, I'm usually encouraged to get a little drunk because otherwise I can become sullen, thinking I'd be having more fun elsewhere (either that, or I just hate breaks in my routine). Everyone else is stone sober but they enjoy my company a lot more once I've gotten a few shots of vodka down my gullet.

 

[Travis]

Take also into consideration that I have a terrible problem of seeing things as stark black/white good/evil. I've worked on it with my therapist (back when I could afford one) but it still predominates at times. My obvious unique social situation (who else mostly has former Mormon atheists as friends?) only feeds into it. As such I still tend to classify alcohol into the "evil" category and then tend to think of people that use it as weak willed. Not a good thing to do but I'm working on it.

Here's a fun fact: when I was a kid I used to deny myself pleasurable things to try and build character. The big thing was cookies. I loved them and my mom thought I was nuts insisting that she buy them and get everyone else eat them to tempt me while I held out and suffered. I also prevented myself from watching my favorite TV programs on random nights (determined by coin toss) and would instead do things I hated. I was not a normal ten year old. However I took that attitude to college where I was determined to never do anything "fun" while there (no parties, only plain oatmeal for breakfast). That was when I got on my weird "bring back prohibition" kick for awhile.

Nowadays I actually drink diet sodas which, compared to the rest of my life, makes me a regular hedonist.

 

[dudalb]

Just about the only positive thing to come out of the horrible tragedy in Japan is that it has gotten the spotlight off Charlie Sheen.

 

[Aepervius]

Just about the only positive thing to come out of the horrible tragedy in Japan is that it has gotten the spotlight off Charlie Sheen.

Yeah, that is the best proof of god existing I ever saw in 39 years of existence.

 

[qayak]

Just about the only positive thing to come out of the horrible tragedy in Japan is that it has gotten the spotlight off Charlie Sheen.

It's goiong to take more than an a shake and rinse in Japan to kick the Sheen trainwreck out of number one in America.

Having watched most of his interviews of late, I have to say that everytime I see him I am reminded of the Jacquin Phoenix on Letterman publicity stunt.

Whether it's scripted or not though, he is one entertaining MoFo . . . even when I haven't been drinking.

 

[Rasmus]

Maybe for you. My experience with alcohol was terrible. I never considered it fun. All it did was make me sick.

Is there something like an alcohol allergy? How much of what kind of alcohol did you have?

My friends don't drink. That is our common bond. Most are like me former Mormons who are now atheists. The rest had parents who were alcoholics or drug addicts.

Why would the former Mormons not drink once they are no longer Mormons?

Since most people I know are Mormons the only people I know that do drink are my family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) who are all loser alcoholics. I started a thread on how many are in prison right now in Community.

If there are only Mormons where you live then I see that those who *do* drink might have problems with it. (How would they know how to drink responsibly? And once you've comitted the sin of drinking, why should you stop and why should the amount you drink make a difference?)

No that was my real life experience. When I finally tried it when I was 25 years old I went straight from sober to vomiting and sleep.

How much did you drink?

It happened every time so I gave it up. That was my try at normalcy. I accepted that I'm a freak and moved on.

See above re an actual allergy.

There was a six year period of my life when I actually advocated a return to prohibition. Oh those silly days of my youth.

Like I said: I've heard of it (that good times, successful people, and alcohol are not mutually exclusive concepts) I've just very rarely actually seen it.

No, not if all the people you know are Mormons that do not drink.

Even when I was in college you could draw a line between those that partied on the weekends and those that actually passed the class.

Your college seems to be just as strange as your social situation.

And I don't judge people just for their use of it. Some of the family alcoholics I have are pretty high functioning despite being hammered every awake moment.

That sounds like something you can easily be judgmental about though.

Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be a non-drinker surrounded by drunk people? All they want to talk about is unrealistic stories about sexual encounters with cheerleaders/models (maybe drunk women talk about something else but I haven't been around them) and I'm trying to talk about anything else.

Are you suggesting that these same people would be more fun to be around when they're sober and their conversations would be so much more interesting then, too?

Maybe it'd be different if some of them had gone to college but, as it stands, none of them even graduated high school. And that's why they steal cars for a living.

My family...I'm so proud of them.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Take also into consideration that I have a terrible problem of seeing things as stark black/white good/evil. I've worked on it with my therapist (back when I could afford one) but it still predominates at times. My obvious unique social situation (who else mostly has former Mormon atheists as friends?) only feeds into it. As such I still tend to classify alcohol into the "evil" category and then tend to think of people that use it as weak willed. Not a good thing to do but I'm working on it.

Here's a fun fact: when I was a kid I used to deny myself pleasurable things to try and build character. The big thing was cookies. I loved them and my mom thought I was nuts insisting that she buy them and get everyone else eat them to tempt me while I held out and suffered. I also prevented myself from watching my favorite TV programs on random nights (determined by coin toss) and would instead do things I hated. I was not a normal ten year old. However I took that attitude to college where I was determined to never do anything "fun" while there (no parties, only plain oatmeal for breakfast). That was when I got on my weird "bring back prohibition" kick for awhile.

Nowadays I actually drink diet sodas which, compared to the rest of my life, makes me a regular hedonist.

No more, please; I shall start to weep.

 

[sadhatter]

Maybe for you. My experience with alcohol was terrible. I never considered it fun. All it did was make me sick.



My friends don't drink. That is our common bond. Most are like me former Mormons who are now atheists. The rest had parents who were alcoholics or drug addicts.

Since most people I know are Mormons the only people I know that do drink are my family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) who are all loser alcoholics. I started a thread on how many are in prison right now in Community.



No that was my real life experience. When I finally tried it when I was 25 years old I went straight from sober to vomiting and sleep. It happened every time so I gave it up. That was my try at normalcy. I accepted that I'm a freak and moved on.



There was a six year period of my life when I actually advocated a return to prohibition. Oh those silly days of my youth.



Like I said: I've heard of it (that good times, successful people, and alcohol are not mutually exclusive concepts) I've just very rarely actually seen it. Even when I was in college you could draw a line between those that partied on the weekends and those that actually passed the class. And I don't judge people just for their use of it. Some of the family alcoholics I have are pretty high functioning despite being hammered every awake moment.



Do you have any idea how annoying it is to be a non-drinker surrounded by drunk people? All they want to talk about is unrealistic stories about sexual encounters with cheerleaders/models (maybe drunk women talk about something else but I haven't been around them) and I'm trying to talk about anything else. Maybe it'd be different if some of them had gone to college but, as it stands, none of them even graduated high school. And that's why they steal cars for a living.

My family...I'm so proud of them.

All i can say is your social situation is terribly unique, and it has caused you to have a skewed view of drinking, much in the same way someone raised in an area with high gang activity by minorities may have a poor view of them.

The only thing i agree with you 100% on is that it really sucks to be around drunk people when your not drunk. I don't do it. If my friends have been drinking they know well to either bring some, or not come over. Not because of any " I really want to get drunk" kind of feeling., but because drunk people are indeed obnoxious if you arn't drunk.

I can understand where your feelings come from, but honestly to paint all people who drink like that because of your incredibly unique situation is a bit short sighted.

 

[sadhatter]

Take also into consideration that I have a terrible problem of seeing things as stark black/white good/evil. I've worked on it with my therapist (back when I could afford one) but it still predominates at times. My obvious unique social situation (who else mostly has former Mormon atheists as friends?) only feeds into it. As such I still tend to classify alcohol into the "evil" category and then tend to think of people that use it as weak willed. Not a good thing to do but I'm working on it.

Here's a fun fact: when I was a kid I used to deny myself pleasurable things to try and build character. The big thing was cookies. I loved them and my mom thought I was nuts insisting that she buy them and get everyone else eat them to tempt me while I held out and suffered. I also prevented myself from watching my favorite TV programs on random nights (determined by coin toss) and would instead do things I hated. I was not a normal ten year old. However I took that attitude to college where I was determined to never do anything "fun" while there (no parties, only plain oatmeal for breakfast). That was when I got on my weird "bring back prohibition" kick for awhile.

Nowadays I actually drink diet sodas which, compared to the rest of my life, makes me a regular hedonist.

You know i have the same issue, to a bit lesser of an extent, mostly with hard drugs. So i can empathize.

And don't get me wrong, i am not promoting drinking, some people shouldn't, and if you feel you shouldn't, don't. But in the same sense, i have to say drinking does not make one a bad person.


Coming from someone who had to lose 180 pounds or so, i can also understand denying yourself things. Sometimes to achieve a goal, one has to view things in a certain way. With me it was food, and to this day i still carry a bit of that view when it comes to overeating.

But liquor, well, honestly i feel that it can and does bring people together. Personally my conflict resolution skills become second to none, and i have stopped more fights, ( sometimes literally, and only out of 70% goodness of my heart 30% boredom.) and came to more common ground, drunk that i have sober.

Some people act like turds, and it sucks you have been exposed to them, but don't let that taint your view of everyone who drinks. People who suck tend to be attracted to substance abuse because they don't really have much else. But that doesn't mean everyone who likes to get baked/drunk/etc is a bad person. A drunk sadhatter, is an effective non violent alternative to a bouncer at a party, while honestly, sober, i would probably just mind my own business.

 

[qayak]

All i can say is your social situation is terribly unique, and it has caused you to have a skewed view of drinking, much in the same way someone raised in an area with high gang activity by minorities may have a poor view of them.

I think the situation is more imagined than unique. For a guy who doesn't have any friends, and is very socially inept, he sure knows a lot of dysfunctional people.

The only thing i agree with you 100% on is that it really sucks to be around drunk people when your not drunk.

Nah. I did it for years and it was great fun. I had children when I was pretty young and both my ex-wife and I stopped drinking and smoking dope when we found out she was pregnant. During that time I did all my apprenticeship training which consisted of 5 weeks each year away at tech school. During that tiem I was the DD for all the other young guys who did drink. Those are some of my best memories. You can appreciate the humour of the situation much more when you are completely sober.

I can understand where your feelings come from, but honestly to paint all people who drink like that because of your incredibly unique situation is a bit short sighted.

I have several American friends who cannot believe Canada allows bars on college and university campuses. Their feeling is that it leads to binge drinking and irresponsible behaviour and when they go into these establishments they are further surprised to find that the students there are doing homework, shooting pool, laughing and talking without being drunk out of their minds. It has been proved time and again that access =/= abuse even in young adults.

Having said that, I don't think we are getting an accurate story from Travis. I think Travis paints all people like that because it makes him feel better about himself. He always seems to hold the moral highground in such matters by an outrageous amount, never by a fine incriment.

 

[dudalb]

It's goiong to take more than an a shake and rinse in Japan to kick the Sheen trainwreck out of number one in America.

Having watched most of his interviews of late, I have to say that everytime I see him I am reminded of the Jacquin Phoenix on Letterman publicity stunt.

Whether it's scripted or not though, he is one entertaining MoFo . . . even when I haven't been drinking.

Sheen has gotten zero attention except from the entertainment news shows for the past Three days, so you are wrong on the first point.
And as for the "it's all a hoax", Sheen is going to get the crap sued out of him by just about everybody if it is a fake. I am not dneying that some of his reent stuff was scripted, but he is still bat crap crazy.

 

[sadhatter]

I think the situation is more imagined than unique. For a guy who doesn't have any friends, and is very socially inept, he sure knows a lot of dysfunctional people.



Nah. I did it for years and it was great fun. I had children when I was pretty young and both my ex-wife and I stopped drinking and smoking dope when we found out she was pregnant. During that time I did all my apprenticeship training which consisted of 5 weeks each year away at tech school. During that tiem I was the DD for all the other young guys who did drink. Those are some of my best memories. You can appreciate the humour of the situation much more when you are completely sober.



I have several American friends who cannot believe Canada allows bars on college and university campuses. Their feeling is that it leads to binge drinking and irresponsible behaviour and when they go into these establishments they are further surprised to find that the students there are doing homework, shooting pool, laughing and talking without being drunk out of their minds. It has been proved time and again that access =/= abuse even in young adults.

Having said that, I don't think we are getting an accurate story from Travis. I think Travis paints all people like that because it makes him feel better about himself. He always seems to hold the moral highground in such matters by an outrageous amount, never by a fine incriment.

I don't think he is so much lying as seeing what he wants to see. If you have a small group of friends, it is entirely possible that through an unlucky roll of the dice, a huge amount, percentage wise, could be alcoholics. And if drinking is uncommon where you are, and frowned upon, it would make it within the realm of possibility.

That being said, i think that he could easily look at how many people outside his group of friends drink, and see that not every single one of those is a raging alcoholic. This is where i think the bias is coming in. Due to his worry about drink, he refuses to understand this fact, and see his situation as the " Natural 1" it is.

And i still cant get on board being sober when others are drunk. But i have a low tolerance for stupidity when i am not inebriated ( and i mean normal, non induced stupidity as well. ). So i would say that i am not the ideal person to use to judge if drunk people are legitimately obnoxious as hell.

Kinda funny story being, that in the pic that is my display pic, we were having a beach party, and the herd was drinking well ahead of me, prompting me to buy the bottle of banana Vex ( along with a few friends for it.), in the picture to keep up. The irony being the trip turned much longer than expected, and by the time we got back i was almost sober. Prompting some rather quick drinking to avoid annoyance.

And as far as the bars, you know i have an entirely different beef.

I don't get messed up in class, by any substance. So i wouldn't go to the bar during the day.

That being said, ours is a friggen awesome bar, and slightly better than the pub ( about 2 blocks away from the college actually.) i normally frequent. But for some silly reason it is open early and closed by about 5 with the exception of special occasions.

I give this a hearty WTF, i would spend my money there, if i could do it during a reasonable drinking timeframe. But i am not about to go and try to understand pharmacology after taking advantage of their sweet prices on beer.

 

[Joey McGee]

As my avatar and title suggest, I may have some wise and unimportant words to say on the subject.

Our reward system evolved for a reason. There is decent reason to suspect that natural selection has worked on certain groups of boozers, that is, people who could hold their booze passed on their genes more often. This isn't really that hard to imagine lol.

So there is layers of natural facts that affect the overall phenomenon of drinking. Therefore it is impossible to make generalizations about such a thing. That said, let me make some generalizations.

There are two ways to drink. One is that it is a pleasure-enhancer, a faculty-increaser. Two is that it is a pain-killer, an obliterater. You can't really argue against either of them because evolution has left us with some pretty nasty unnecessary internal experiences. If you're out in the woods and you break your leg, 9/10 the pain you go through is helping you. Just study the people who can't feel pain and see what a hell that is. But certain times in our modern lives painkillers are applied because there's no reason for the pain to occur, it's just an evolutionary artifact.

My uncle broke his shoulder the other day and he's not taking the pain killers because he injures it when he can't feel anything and it kills when the drugs wear off. But my neighbor down the street can't get any work done cause of his back unless he has his one blast of hash a day.

I think the only thing that can solve the situation is science, really.

If you're bored without your substance, you're either pickled beyond repair or you need to reshape your brain somehow, get some neuroplasticity going. But I firmly believe that if you shun all drink and drug your body gives you natural highs, altered states, and yes, even psychedelic otherworldly experiences all through the reward system for doing good things in real life. So maybe it's true, there are no boring situations only boring people.

To me, drink is like tricking the body, but the body doesn't mind, unless you skewer it in the process

ETA: I'm not entirely beyond the hypothesis that because nearly all of my ancestors in the last 5000 years were boozers that I'm somehow wired to work more efficiently on booze. Natural selection is kind of a bastard that way and as I sit here having my first glass of the day, it seems incredibly likely, and liberating

 

[dudalb]

Yeah, but it's ad-libbing, not the polished stuff that made the program amusing.
He's opening a traveling burlesque show here.
I wonder if he'll self-destruct on stage.

Hoping to see him self destruct will be a big motive for many buying tickets to see him.

 

[Nightowl2548]

ETA: I'm not entirely beyond the hypothesis that because nearly all of my ancestors in the last 5000 years were boozers that I'm somehow wired to work more efficiently on booze. Natural selection is kind of a bastard that way and as I sit here having my first glass of the day, it seems incredibly likely, and liberating

Just watch some of those Alaska State Trooper shows on the National Geographic Channel where they go into these remote Native villages and see the absolutely pathological way they drink there and there must be something too that. Groups that have never been exposed to alcohol before seem to have no biological resistance to it's most insane effects.

 

[dudalb]

For Qayak's information, at most campuses of the California State University and College System, there are student pubs that serve beer and wine, though not hard booze, and pool tables are standard equipment. I think somebody is playing the "you AMericans are so purtianical" card......

 

[Eddie Dane]

Just watch some of those Alaska State Trooper shows on the National Geographic Channel where they go into these remote Native villages and see the absolutely pathological way they drink there and there must be something too that. Groups that have never been exposed to alcohol before seem to have no biological resistance to it's most insane effects.

That struck me also.

I recently read a book about Siberia.
The native communities there have also been destroyed by alcohol.

 

[DropGems]

Sheen still winning. Could net 7 million on two month tour. Sold out radio city music hall for two dates (12k tix) in under an hour.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_7153.shtml

 

[Joey McGee]

Sheen still winning. Could net 7 million on two month tour. Sold out radio city music hall for two dates (12k tix) in under an hour.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_7153.shtml

In my mind, Charlie will never stop being a loser until he apologizes to earth for his attempts to bring Obama into the 9/11 truth cult. To me, that stands out high and above as the worst thing he has done. Well, besides all of that woman abusing crap that borders on unforgivable.