New Social Thread

lol

There's pretty much nothing on that list from late '80s onward. Apparently hairy armpits became really uncool around that time.
 
Went to the first dance at my college, was kind of annoyed that literally everyone was drunk. I don't drink so I might as well cross them off my social schedule

Everything in college revolves around drinking. But there are a lot of cool people who drink but don't make it the entire focal point of their existence. Once you get a solid group of friends it will be more fun to do those social things.
 
To be fair, some of them may be drinking out of social anxiety.

That's what happened to me a lot in my first few weeks of uni. I loosen up a lot when I'm drunk so it helped me meet new people when I first got there.
 
Hey ananth, i recall you ranting about the caste system in india somewhere on the internet.

Anyway, do you think we have an analogous caste system here in the U.S.? Upper, middle, lower -- very little social mobility. Seems rather similar to me.
 
I've been doing almost no college drinking, it's pretty crazy. the fact that I live in a studio off campus, work about 45 hours per week, basically run my band, teach a muay thai class, have to keep up grades in school and the fact that i don't like hangovers/body feelings the day after have really basically made it so i drink maybe 4 times a year and don't even drink that much haha. I do make it up with other stuff though, I just don't get how people can do that every single day and then still get good grades in school; is it just the lack of job and other shit or are they all just college supermen?

my first year when I had no job and just had to do school and some of my band (plus hardly any classes) I was really into beer and drinking all the time, even probably too much, but now i've gone from the top of the spectrum to zero. no middle ground i guess haha
 
Personally I buy like 1 sixpack every two weeks and I consider that moderate. I should probably switch to wine for health reasons, but I don't find it a life-consuming habit. Of course I'm not in college anymore, and nothing eats up my free time besides my job.
 
It sounds like your pretty fit so it probably hits you harder than the others,I think it's about gradually building up an immunity to alcohol.I always used to wonder about how people do it as well,the fact that it knocks you around is a good sign i'd say.I used to wonder about some of the older guys I worked with at my last shitty job but they've been doing it for years,I was getting to that stage but i'm glad i've stopped with that bullshit.Some of these guys I worked with wore their alcoholism as a badge of honour,when really it's a bad thing.I'd hate to think how some of these college students will end up if they keep going,some will probably stop once they get older but some will probably have drinking problems for life.These students might be ok with it atm but it'll catch up to them eventually,i'm at the stage now where if I have a big drinking session it fucks me for two or three days,so i'm not gonna bother with it anymore and I don't like the taste of alcohol,I only ever drank to get fucked up.
 
Hey ananth, i recall you ranting about the caste system in india somewhere on the internet.

Anyway, do you think we have an analogous caste system here in the U.S.? Upper, middle, lower -- very little social mobility. Seems rather similar to me.

You stalker :lol:

You might know most of this but I'll just go ahead and blurt out the whole spiel.

The caste system in India is more of a social structure as against the monetary based class label. Hence to an extent [massively waning in today's Westernized urban generation] your caste is your identity. Even in borderline orthodox/conservative families, people never get married outside their own caste unless they go through major shit. This is terrible in North India, where honour killings are rampant. The marwadi community is by and large incredibly rich but accordingly conservative. They might have many huge huge mansions and fleets of cars but still get their daughters married off in arranged marriages the moment they turn 18. Where I live, people just sigh in disapproval and accept things though. This has nothing to do with your financial standing though.

An "upper" caste person might be terribly poverty stricken but the government [run by power-hungry, terribly-rich-from-corruption egomaniacs who are from "backward caste] won't give a shit about him.

Now, talking about the class issue, I'd say that social mobility is terribly low wherever you come from. People from across all castes of the upper and upper middle class generally do look down upon those from lesser means. The disparity is crazy. Not to say that social mobility is non-existent, both my parents [especially the dad] came from very poor semi-urban families but got enough dough to build a nice big house and send me abroad for studies.

I notice a much wider middle class in the US. I do recognize poverty and disparity, but nothing of the extent that I'm used to. Of course, things might change when I go live in the city, but that's it, as it stands.

Maybe you could PM the reply as I suppose most people wouldn't be interested.
 
Starting classes today (an introductory core lecture series, actually). I've finally come to the realization that I won't have much of a life this upcoming year, and the life I do have will likely be one that flounders in the fierce and indelicate pool of Goose Island beers and cheap whiskey.

EDIT: on the plus side, my program puts on two-hour social events every Friday evening (which, coincidentally, offer free beer and wine).