"happy" new year.

This is addressed specificlly to you. Yeah, you.

You say that I don't drink so I don't know what it's like. You say it like you have so much more experience with alcohol than I do. You say it like you're better because you think this.. well if your experience is so great, and I'm just out of the loop without any experience, how come I've never changed my opinion? I may not know what it feels like to be buzzed, or hammered, or drunk, but do you know how it feels to have your grandmother sit and tell you how her alcoholic dad used to beat the living crap outta her at age nine because he was drunk? Do you know what its like to have a dad who can't go a day without a beer? Do you know what its like to have someone who "loves you" and whom you've known for two years force you to do something because they're drunk and they want to get it on? Do you know what it's like to have your friend be a half hour away from dying because her blood alcohol level is well beyond .08, only to then, a year later, take up drinking again? Do you know what its like to have parents who don't have the best job in the world because they didn't finish their education because they were more concerned with their drinlimg abities than their grades? Do you know what its like to watch your family fall apart because of drinking? Do you know what ALL of that is like?
And now, do you know what its like to watch someone you love give in to something they used to despise, and then choose that one thing over you?

I may not know what it feels like to be hammered, drunk, or buzzed, but I know that I know how all of those above things feel. I also know you know how some of it feels too with a bit of an alteration on a few...
but if you experienced every single one of those, and then worked where all you did was witness drunks waste their lives away, I'm sure you would feel quite strongly about it too.

happy new year, merry Christmas. This one will be one to remember.