Cool, Refreshing, DISTGUSTING.

We live in a culture dominated by advertising and consumerism, and at the heart of it all is the alcohol industry. Anyone who watches football and other primetime sports is going to be bombarded by beer ads featuring bikini models or "average joes" aimed at getting you to buy their product. Beer drinking is depicted as a social activity that makes you happier, funnier, and sexier, all of which are lies that people buy into every night and day. The truth is alcohol does not make you a better person in any way; what it does do is turns you into a fat, lazy slob who can barely function in everyday life. Any positive light companies such as Budweiser shine on drinking are myths constructed to keep you coming back for more bubbly pisswater.

I have learned from experience that drinking and partying only creates the illusion of a social life. Most times the night starts out with a few people sipping beers, chatting, listening to music, and having an overall good time. But as more and more people show up, the drinking escalates, the plastic cups, cards, and beer bongs come out and the decibel level jumps about 100%. At this point you can't even have a conversation over the sound of the drunken shouting and cavorting.

People drink in order to gain a sense of confidence in social situations, particularly with the opposite sex. But if you are hoping to establish some sort of romantic attraction with an admired individual, the worst way to go about it is when you are inebriated past the point of remembering said individual's name. And if you do manage to form some sort of physical connection with someone, your senses are going to be so dulled that you'll probably wake up the next day realizing that if you hadn't drank yourself into oblivion, you wouldn't hate yourself so much for lowering your normally high standards of responsible behavior.

Last but not least, consuming alcohol doesn't make you any more attractive than you already are. In fact, it most definitely makes you uglier and more unhealthy. The average caloric content of one beer is about 100 calories; factor in the "drunk munchies" and your stomach will hate you for days to come. How is pushing your digestive and endorcrine systems to their limits supposed to make you become anything but a hollow, pathetic excuse for a human being?

I've drunk with the best and worst of them and I may have had some good times here and there, but if I could do it all over again I would have never let the foul stuff touch my lips and I'm doing my best to make sure it never does again.