PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook
ON THE EDGE
I was always the loner, the social misfit, alone in the corner at parties. They said, “Have a drink. It’ll loosen you up.”
One didn’t, but 8 or 12 did. I felt witty, amusing, entertaining – accepted, until I reached the precipice.
“Did you hear what that drunken asshole said?”
I wasn’t addicted to alcohol, but to being part of ‘The Group.’ They didn’t accept me; they barely tolerated me, kept me as a Court Jester, an object of derision, to be laughed and jibed at.
Stubborn Scottish pride soon cured that. Now I carefully choose my friends, stone cold sober.
***
Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story.
Archon's Den 
Drinking mates are a curious breed: desperate and in denial.
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I stay away from drinking in groups. Between my Scottish frugality (cheapness) and the need for moderation, I don’t understand buying rotating rounds. If you want to get smashed, do it on your pay, not mine. I’ll nurse this pint half the night. 😳
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A round always seems more friendly somehow.
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😎
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went to a bachelor party for my sister’s fiancé last night. Bachelor parties in the past consisted of everyone getting dog-eyed drunk and making fools of themselves. Last night, we sat and talked about old times and old drunks. I had one beer (an American beer in a can. Rolling Rocks I think it was called. Tasted like water) and left before 12. We all grow up (well some grow up) eventually and see that there really isn’t a need to get as drunk as we used to.
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I don’t party anymore, but some of the best entertainment was to stay sober and watch the drunks. 😀
I’d read good reviews about Rolling Rock, but they were from Americans, who will drink anything, even pine beer. If I get the chance, I’ll pass. 😯
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Dear Archon,
Better to wise up sooner than too later. 😉 Good story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It would have been better to have wised up sooner, say in my 20s. I persisted into my 30’s. 😯
Thanx for the thumbs-up on yet another cautionary tale. I am getting to be an old fogey. 😆
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I’m so glad the stubborn Scottish pride came in. The price could have become way too high if it hadn’t!
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Always nice to see you here. You’re absolutely right! 🙄
Do you ever see my ‘likes’ on your FFs? I try to comment, but your system wants me to enter a password I don’t have.
Concrit on your most recent – I would eliminate the second ‘believed/believing’ repetition in the fourth paragraph, substituting ‘convinced, or feeling, or thinking.’ Nice story though. 🙂
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Really???
I dunno why. Let me check why this is is happening to you.
Thank you, you are the 2nd to mention it. I will revise!
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I couldn’t figure why it didn’t like me. After all, we’re all on WordPress. It argued with me for five minutes last night. Now that I’ve complained, it’s all agreeable sweetness and light. 😕
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I like how you took the prompt totally away from a physical precipice and turned the whole concept into reaching a precipice in life. Thank goodness Scottish pride is so strong, huh?
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You’ll often find me marching to the beat of a different flautist. (Ian Anderson) Those Scottish genes produce more than merely stubborn pride. 😯
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Sometimes it just take pride to find a reason to change course.. Really liked the pivot point of that quote…
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Too often pride makes folks stay the course. “I’ve made my decision, and I’m sticking with it.” I like to be free to compromise and advance. 🙂
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Finding pride in who you are is a great way to get off that cliff safely. Wonderful story.
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Indeed it is, but that story was completely fiction….yeah, fiction. 😉
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Addictions and moderation are always a struggle. Better to not do the first anything, than try to stop once started….
Some say, One is too many and a hundred will never be enough.
Randy
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I have never smoked, nor drank coffee. You should see some of the looks I get when I’m forced to admit that. I’m too poor to afford most bad habits. 😯
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Always pick your friends wisely.
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Such a seemingly simple comment has (finally) elicited some rather complex responses.
I have tried to do so, and, especially in recent years, seem to have been successful. Thanks! 😎
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I’m glad he changed his ways and chose better friends. 🙂
Lily
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And became a better person, and better friend to those who were real friends to him. 🙂
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I’m sure many start out drinking to fit in. Sadly, they make fools of themselves because their too young to handle it. Good write …. !!!
Isadora 😎
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An all too common tale, too often not told or believed. Thanx. 🙂
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This story sounds like a bit of reality. My brother had to take early retirement because he had a drinking problem and was expected to go to business cocktail parties as part of his job. Well done, Archon. — Suzanne
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Whenever I can’t be ‘creative’,(all too often) I fall back on Public Service posts. I did one about obesity, now one about drinking, and I’ve got a regular post about horseplay in the workplace coming up.
I can appreciate your brother’s problem. Being around it when you can’t consume it can be a very tempting problem. One story about the invention of the Gibson cocktail is that businessman Charles Gibson used to serve lots of gin martinis with olives, at parties. He actually drank plain water to gain the sober advantage and had a pearl onion put in his so that he could tell the difference by sight. 😉
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Drinking, like everything else, is best in moderation
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Indeed it is. Excessive drinking can be the cause of much bad behavior, including tailgate parties. 😉
We’re nearly neighbors. You could almost see my place above the whitecaps, north of Erie. 🙂
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