My little brother* recently told me about a thing called "Blackout Wednesday". Apparently it is one of the most popular nights for bars in the country, and it's a famous time for people to meet up with old high school friends and sometimes even teachers-even if you are well into your thirties.
For most LDS, it's not an important thing because they usually don't go to bars. They aren't missing much. In my view drinking is fine if you aren't LDS so knock yourself out-but drinking to the point where you black out get a DUI and kill someone or yourself isn't fine, LDS or not. Massive binge drinking never appealed to me. Sure I drank and sure I drank too much sometimes, but I never drank with the sole intention of getting fall down drunk or blacking out. Yes, not everyone who goes to bars gets a DUI or gets so drunk they black out.
The other part of "blackout Wednesday" that I find totally unappealing is the idea of hanging out with people I lost touch with back in 1999. If hanging out with people from high school at age thirty five is your thing, than by all means go for it. There is nothing wrong it of course-it's just not my thing. I suppose that if your high school experience was positive you might think different-though in your mid thirties there is something sad about trying to relive glory days twenty years ago. People and relationships change - you can still be friends with people who you knew twenty years ago but if neither one of you have matured, that's a problem.
My brother also brought up an interesting/troubling issue. Let's say you go to a party on "Blackout Wednesday" and you see an old girlfriend/boyfriend. You are married , they are single. Foolishly you talk about the "good old days" (I hate that term) and one of you thinks you could re-start things. That's asking for trouble of course-you might seriously mess your life up doing that. Neither my brother or I know anyone personally who has done something like this but we've both heard stories of things like this happening.
In the end, it doesn't matter what we think of course. If it's your thing, go for it. For the rest of us-don't feel guilty about not being invited to these parties. If you aren't friends with them the rest of the year, why bother faking it for one night?
*For the record, my brother is actually my brother in law. I've known him for two decades and he's one of my closest friends. I think of him as an actual brother, hence the title.
In the end, it doesn't matter what we think of course. If it's your thing, go for it. For the rest of us-don't feel guilty about not being invited to these parties. If you aren't friends with them the rest of the year, why bother faking it for one night?
*For the record, my brother is actually my brother in law. I've known him for two decades and he's one of my closest friends. I think of him as an actual brother, hence the title.
In the bar industry, we refer to Blackout Wednesday, St. Paddy's Day, and NYE as "amateur hour" holidays because it's when people who normally don't drink very much go out and get trashed, as opposed to service industry people who will have several beers after their shift on an ordinary Tuesday night.
ReplyDeleteAs for the reasons people go out the night before Thanksgiving, sometimes it's about catching up with old friends and having a good time. Sometimes it's about getting away from annoying family members that have gathered for the holiday. Sometimes it's about people with no friends or family in the area drinking themselves into oblivion. For most bars, it's the busiest night of the year. Some bars have bigger crowds on St. Paddy's Day.
By all means, I understand totally about catching up with old friends and having a good time, and I also understand totally about getting away from annoying family members that have gathered for the holiday. Nothing wrong with having a drink with buddies or anything like that. God knows I've done it before many times.
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