I’m sure that most of us know one or two people who don’t like to drink and/or dance at nightclubs. I mean, yes there are certain times when we all have to restrain ourselves from drinking because either we’re the designated driver for the night or we’re having an early one at work the next morning and don’t want to stumble there with a killer hangover.
On the Gold Coast, Schoolies is a time of dread for the majority of locals. Let me paint a picture for you; hundreds of thousands of fresh 16-18 year old graduates flood Surfers Paradise with their pink lanyards, wristbands, and monstrous egos. Can I also mention that these kids find their way to the outer suburbs of the Gold Coast.
You are of course familiar with the old cliche that whenever you start to make rules about drinking, tis the first and surest sign that you have a drinking problem. Well, yes and no. Most sane people have their own private traditions that act as a guiding hand during the weekend pub crawl. Drinking prejudices, I call them.
Nightclub fights suck. They’re not cool, and you could get into a world of hurt. Sometimes you’ll get off on the wrong foot with a random at the club, and a fight may happen. Back in 2007, I was at a goth/metal club in Melbourne, whose name I won’t mention out of respect (and no one wants to get sued for defamation). The place doesn’t exist anymore anyway, but still.
Each drinker comes to the point when they realise buying warm alcohol off the shelf is a darn-sight cheaper then buying it cold. However, turning up to a party with a hot case is a rookie error and a sure-fire way of missing out on valuable drinking time. Thankfully though, geniuses from around the world have put their minds together and come with amazing ways to cool your drinks.
Life isn’t about solutions, but trade offs. Nowhere are we better able to analyse this predicament than when we ask ourselves the question of “when”? When is it time to depart the bar stand, or the dance floor? When is it time to exercise self-restraint? When is it time to call it a night?
So have you ever felt the need to add fuel to the fire to see how big the blaze can get? Ever seen the stern look on a security guard’s face and felt the need to try get a reaction out of him/her? It’s like trying to get a reaction out of those soldiers with the big black bearskin caps; it can be funny in a totally disruptive way, yet you don’t think about the consequences until you poke too much and cop what you deserve (uh oh!).
Nightclubbing is meant to be a fun outing every week for young adult to go out and let their hair down and have fun. However, nightclubs are commonly seen as places to meet people or ‘hook-up’ with someone new. Does this mean that if you are in a relationship that clubbing could be off limits? Or should you club as a couple?
Ever woken up in the morning and remembered the utterly embarrassing drunken things you blurted out the night before? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Drunken rants often put the way we REALLY feel about things out in the open - which can be a good or bad thing.
Australian advocacy group DrinkWise has continued their mission of promoting a safer drinking culture to partygoers and drinkers with their latest campaign entitled How To Drink Properly. While it’s not as simple as raising your glass to your mouth and swallowing the liquid (though the ridiculously drunk have probably forgotten how to do this very basic function, now on the same level as babies getting the “here comes the airplane” treatment when being fed by mummy), it’s a very interesting campaign.