"Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood."
Published on August 20, 2006 By Sally jacobs In Misc

I've met some new people this week. As many of you know I am not really a social butterfly. I am more like a social slug. This isn't really down to an inability to get along with people, it is more down to the fact that I don't want too. I know that sounds awful, but I'm really not a people person. I like to have a close circle of friends, and people I trust, and I'm not really bothered about anyone else. I hate people phoning me all the time, people asking me to go out places all the time, and just general mithering. I prefer to be left alone, and when I want to do something, I will, without getting pushed and pulled in a million different directions. That's just me. I like my own company. I think some people think it makes me really miserable, but I don't agree. Not everyone can be the same. Anyway, I am getting off topic here. This week, I have made an effort with the new people I have met. To be that little social butterfly that everyone seems to want me to be. It was going pretty well. For like a day or so. Ha.

So I met these new people, and for the most part they were very nice. Obviously there is going to be exceptions to the rules, and I am fully prepared for dealing with people like that. I'll actually go as far as to say I liked these people. They shared a similar sense of humour to me, something that I consider to be very important, and I could talk to them quite easily. So everything was going well. There is about 8 people in this group of people. All of them a similar age to me. Most had done the whole going to uni thing, and studying, and by all accounts they had partied pretty hard during this time. Again, that's not really my thing, but each to their own. I understand that partying goes hand in hand with going to uni for alot of people. So when conversations turned to such things I just didn't really participate, and it wasn't a problem.

However, the converstation turned to drug taking, and what kinds of drugs people had taken on nights out and so on. Now I have a real problem with drugs. I hate them, and I will never ever take them. Now I realise that my position on drug taking is biased because of the bad experiences I have seen people I care about go through with them. I know that not everyones drug takings reaches them limits, and there are some people who can do it on a weekend, and that's it, and it just adds to whatever they are doing. Again, it might not be the most sensible of decisions on their part, but it is their choice, and they will have to live with the consequences of their choices at the end of the day. So when listening to things like this, I do try and judge the situation for what it is, and remind myself that just because it isn't for me, it doesn't mean other people can't do it.

Except the drug taking, and the partying, and everything that goes with it, is starting to be a constant in our conversations. There is one lad in the group, that it would appear is trying to gain as much knowledge about drugs as possible, and not the kind of knowledge where you learn about what they do to you, but more what's the best to take and why. The others in the group are only to happy to share their stories, and it is starting to be a bit of a competition, and I am really starting to dislike the whole thing. For not one second does anyone concentrate on the negative effects of drug taking. In all their eyes it appears to be a wonderful thing, and just the normal thing that people do when they go on a night out. Which may mean that in their eyes I am just not normal. Which isn't something I could careless about really.

Now I am not one to keep my opinions to myself, and many times during these conversations I have been asked for my views on certain situations, and I always remain honest, and tell them that I don't like drugs in any form. This usually gets dismissed because I have never tried them, and therefore don't know what I am talking about. Which is fine with me. I don't wish to educate them about the error of their ways, because it is only my opinon. They can do it if they like, and I can choose to hate it if I want to. This constant topic of conversation is making me want to distance myself from this bunch of people though. Even though I like them, and they are decent people, I just can't stand to listen to another situation glorifying recreational drug use. In my opinion, drugs are drugs, and I just don't want to subject myself to continuous conversations of the same nature. Maybe that is small minded of me, I don't know. But if I don't have to listen to such things, I really don't see why I should.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Aug 20, 2006

There is one lad in the group, that it would appear is trying to gain as much knowledge about drugs as possible

That one got me!  I remember in our Govenment class in my Senior year of HS, when the subject turned to drugs (this was in the 70s).  one Girl, an obvious waste of skin, loudly told me "Dont knock it until you have tried it!".  I told her I have not tried arsenic, but I dont think I was going to, and I was going to knock it!

her fried brain could not deal with that response!

on Aug 20, 2006
It’s the same now with drugs as it was and still is now for alcohols use and abuse.

The glorification of altering your mind with a substance started with alcohol and has now continued with other substances.

Let me ask you a question, do you fell the same about people whom regale you with tales of drinking?
on Aug 20, 2006
I can't really knock someone else for drugs, I partook quite a bit myself in my young and stupid days.

Of course I never do drugs these days.

I need another beer and a pack of smokes.
on Aug 20, 2006
I've tried every drug I've ever wanted and sated my curiousity.

Drugs don't lead to illumination, nor do they particularly help spur creative juices, nor do they make you smarter, help you work better or see better. Believe it or not, some of the above reasons have been spouted by some users to me.

To those I say, "Look, I tried, and I know, and you're full of shit."

There is only one reason to take certain illegal drugs and that is for recreational purposes - at that, some drugs such as alcohol and marijuana succeed highly. I have no problem with some people who want to imbibe or indulge infrequently with these controlled substances, but day-in day-out use and abuse is harmful and a waste of one's time and money.

Those glorifying recreational use of drugs are either new in the game and wide-eyed or far too into it to discuss other interests (not that they have any other developed interests as drug use is the primary ).
on Aug 20, 2006

To those I say, "Look, I tried, and I know, and you're full of shit."

You should have been in my Civics class!

on Aug 20, 2006
You should have been in my Civics class! - Doc. Guy

That would have been interesting.
on Aug 20, 2006
You should have been in my Civics class!

Honda U?
on Aug 20, 2006
Keep it up, Sal. Don't stay quiet about it. I've been around them enough and done enough stupid stuff to know that drugs are not helpful in any way . . . it always makes it worse. Maybe your good influence will help someone change their mind about it.
on Aug 21, 2006
Honda U? - MasonM

That's funny, I like that.

You aren't Mason Munson are you?
on Aug 21, 2006

one Girl, an obvious waste of skin, loudly told me "Dont knock it until you have tried it!". I told her I have not tried arsenic, but I dont think I was going to, and I was going to knock it!

Hehe this kind of comment is exactly the reason I love ya Doc

Let me ask you a question, do you fell the same about people whom regale you with tales of drinking?

I'm not as extreme about drinking as I am about drugs.  Though I'm really not one for going out and getting smashed either.  I have just had first hand experience with dealing with the results of drug abuse, and it isn't nice.  It is more of a personal thing.

I can't really knock someone else for drugs, I partook quite a bit myself in my young and stupid days

Hehe...well sometimes we need to have these experiences, don't we?  It didn't do you any harm!

Drugs don't lead to illumination, nor do they particularly help spur creative juices, nor do they make you smarter, help you work better or see better. Believe it or not, some of the above reasons have been spouted by some users to me.

To those I say, "Look, I tried, and I know, and you're full of shit."

Hehe!  You see this is my probelm when discussing this kind of thing with people, because I have never tried it, so sometimes my argument is just dismissed due to a lack of experience.  Under those circumstances I am happy to lose the argument though!

Keep it up, Sal. Don't stay quiet about it. I've been around them enough and done enough stupid stuff to know that drugs are not helpful in any way . . . it always makes it worse. Maybe your good influence will help someone change their mind about it.

Thanks babe, but I don't think my influence will have much effect.  These people are to far gone with it all to want to listen, and I am not sure I care enough to make my point to them.

Do your new friends drive while intoxicated on these drugs? (Keep in mind that there is a difference between 'under the influence' and 'intoxication.') Do their personalities change to the point where they become unpredictable, saying and doing things they wouldnt normally do when sober? Do they engage in fights, promiscuous or unsafe sex, or illegal activities when they are under the influence? Do they miss work or neglect other responsibilities in the pursuit of their next buzz? Spend funds earmarked for necessities

LW, you just pretty much summed up my whole thinking on the situation.  Today the topics of conversation were the things done whilst intoxicated, and this included driving, and one night stands, and I have reached a point where I just don't want to be involved in that kind of conversation anymore.  So I'm not going to bother anymore.  They can do their own thing.  They asked me to go out with them, and though I like them, I just feel our lifestyles are to different, and therefore we should just not even go down that road.  I believe their obsession with drug taking is hiding deeper issues, that I don't even wish to touch on.

Thanks for the comments x

 

on Aug 21, 2006
"Alcohol has no doubt caused as much, if not more, misery than any substance known to man, yet it is considered socially acceptable in spite of the fact that a large percentage of those who consume it cannot 'handle it' and end up harming themselves and/or others."

This is just misleading. I know plenty of people who go to the pub at the weekend, get drunk and work full time jobs during the week and are decent people. I don't know any heroin addicts who just shoot up on the weekend and are clean, productive members of society, during the week!

A glass of cola does not compare to snorting a line.
on Aug 21, 2006
"It's the same with recreational drugs, sally, most people who indulge in them, and indulge infrequently, manage to do so with few (if any) ill effects"

More bollocks, smoking weed even "recreationally" (whatever that means) can cause paranoia and also turns your brain to mush. Recreational is just a euphemism really, you can do drugs every night and call it recreation, but really you have a problem if you do.
on Aug 21, 2006
I used to smoke a lot of Pot because I would unwind and become more creative.

Funny enough though one time when I was high I got to thinking and realized I was only unwinding and being creative while high because I had let myself think that, I could unwind and be creative anytime.

on Aug 22, 2006
I've posted my most intelligent, insightful comments while I was high.......or maybe it just seemed that way.
on Aug 22, 2006
I don't know any heroin addicts who just shoot up on the weekend and are clean, productive members of society, during the week!


I personally know MANY potheads who are clean, productive members of society during the week. And I'd wager a fair sum that the reason you don't know people who use heroin (not every user i an "addict", remember) who are clean, productive members of society during the week is because they do not "out" themselves because they have no desire to serve a lengthy prison sentence.
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