So this started as another night sitting on the bloggisphere, unable to sleep. Maybe that's because on every street corner in Dinkytown, there's a party and I could here the music from across the street blasting in my windows (or, as I recently learned, it's called something that sounded like demo wave or d-funk... I don't know, it was late at night and the guy I was talking to was really drunk).
Living in a new part of campus has highlighted a completely different lifestyle - partying. Yes, I have been aware of college partying - I go to a Big Ten school, after all. I've just never been one. Being a junior in college and having not been to a big party is, I suppose, a bit odd in my case. But I've never been a party girl, I've never been overtly interested. I've never been invited to one. But [Львица] got invited to a 21st birthday bash for someone she went to Europe with. And, being the most genial of roommates, she invited me along.
There's an element to drinking that reminds me of something we talked about in psychology, about hypnotism of all things. Some people are more open, more receptive to hypnosis. Others aren't. Drinking seems to be in some ways similar to that, playing a great deal off of your mental state. If you want to get hammered, you probably will. If you don't want to get drunk, you won't. OBVIOUSLY how much you drink impacts this, but there's something more than just the amount but also the mindset. Some people can drink three shots and be fine but drink three shots again on a different night at another party and be totally wasted (and this doesn't have anything to do with amount of food eaten and generally physical things). There seems to be a big mental part. Of course, I'm being a total armchair theorist, which my psych professors would HATE but I don't have time to do research right now. Just go with an idea for now and we'll worry about "facts" and "data" at another time.
As [Львица] put it, the party was a "life tile" - referring to the little tiles you get at the end of the board game "Life," accounting life experiences. It was my first college party, my first drinking experiences not in Europe or not with my parents, my first time doing a shot (rum - a little rough, but not as harsh as I was expecting). It was my first time getting a guy's number. It was my first time realizing that I don't really want to call said guy because I don't know what he looks like, I don't know who he is and I can't really put a lot of confidence in what he was saying because he was pretty smashed. His name was Rocko LB, though (not his real name, his nickname, and not how he spells it, but for privacy reasons I'm changing it. But I really can't come up with a better pseudonym than Rocko) and if meeting a guy named Rocko LB isn't a life experience, I don't know what is.
This does, however, highlight why it may be so difficult to meet guys at the U - I haven't been going to parties. This, however, presents a dilemma - is meeting men when they are totally drunk really a good way to get to know them? Probably not, and that's not even accounting for the possible dangers one might face if they underwent this way of socializing. But it's also like meeting them at a semi-vulnerable and honest stage. Who knows - this would be interesting to test out if it wasn't fucking unethical and dangerous. And totally manipulative. I suppose that's the Scorpio talking, isn't it?
However, there is something about the way alcohol is portrayed that [Львица] and I agree with. When people do something that they are ashamed of later while they were intoxicated, often they or other people say, "Oh, that wasn't me. I was drunk. That's the alcohol talking." I beg to differ. I don't care how drunk you are - I don't think you'd ever do something you wouldn't do usually or in some other altered state. Back to hypnotism - there's this whole study (I don't know where, we talked about it in AP Psych ages ago) about how when people were asked to do things like hurt others or break laws while hypnotized, they wouldn't do it if they didn't believe in doing it on any level of their consciousness while not hypnotized. I think the same thing applies to drinking. If you're not going to get into fights or be aggressive AT ANY TIME when you're not drinking, you probably won't do it when you are drinking. However, if you like to be provoking and living on the edge when sober, this is going to be intensified while you're drunk. There are of course exceptions but still... liquor isn't going to change who you are essentially. It might bring out different parts of you, but it can't completely change you. Maybe we're too afraid of our downfalls to admit that maybe alcohol is more of a semi- truth serum than a fabricator.
Which is why I won't be calling Rocko, even though some part of me feels bitchy for saying that (not that I even know who he is - he was drunk and he just started talking to the closest straight girl). Chances are, he wouldn't remember meeting me last night anyway. But when you ask my best friend what the point of being a lesbian is, you're not saying that because you're drunk, you're saying that because you really don't know. And you'll never understand why that's offensive. And if you can't understand my friends, you won't understand me.
So, college parties - interesting, maybe not really my scene but going once in a while would be fun. What can I say - I'm game for new experiences. A culture vulture all the way.
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