Week 3 PCL, Chris drinks too much

I hope the weekend 'research' for this PCL went well: please share what you learnt, lol.

Possible topics for discussion:

• Why Chris gets drunk;
• Why Chris shouldn't get drunk;
• What happens to Chris when he does get drunk;
• What makes getting drunk better/worse;
• Social ramifications for drinking/not drinking;
• Alcohol metabolism in the body; and
• Hangover cures (any medical proven ones, such as more alcohol, as ethanol is easier to digest than methanol, are most welcome :p ),

Have fun guys, and nice to see many new members for Week 3.

Happy posting,

Tim

Christopher, popular and academically bright, was held in the highest regard by his peers and teachers. He regularly topped his class in the small secondary school he attended in country Victoria, and enjoyed success in other areas of his life as well, including being the rover on the local football team. His parents, who were local dairy farmers, and his older brother, Tom, were very proud of him.

After Year 12, Chris was accepted into Engineering at Monash University, where he expected university life to be a lot of fun. The studies were not too demanding but the social life was, with impromptu parties in the halls of residence almost every night. Whenever present at these events, Chris acted confident but really felt insecure and worried about not being accepted into this seemingly more ‘sophisticated’ group of friends. Chris was no longer as self-assured as everyone else at uni appeared to be; he was beginning to feel a little out of his depth.

During his second year the social whirl continued while the engineering studies became more challenging. Chris started to fall behind, although he told himself that he could catch up any time. As exams approached, catching up seemed to have become a remote possibility and, at best, he now hoped to scrape a pass. He tried not to think about how disappointed his family would be if he did not do well.

Chris had immersed himself in the non-academic side of university life. He felt that he was going through the motions, sometimes wondering whether his life lacked direction and meaning. Parties had become something of a habit and fast-food was the norm. Alcohol was readily available and demonstrating your endurance to your peers was something of a ‘badge of courage’. Friday and Saturday nights were especially noted for heavy drinking, and looking like death-warmed-up on a Sunday morning was almost expected. In this circle, several students used other ‘recreational’ drugs, mostly marijuana or ecstasy, while a few used speed and at least one that Chris knew of had tried heroin. Although at times he was tempted, Chris stuck to his beer and resisted the urge to experiment with the harder drugs.

But with alcohol often comes bravado and, with the bravado, sometimes a little over-enthusiasm. So it happened that, at a party one night, Chris antagonized Mick by appearing to insult his intelligence. Mick, a ruckman on the University football team, didn’t like being put down publicly by a 5’ 8” upstart from the bush. Chris consequently didn’t remember much about what happened next, but awoke shortly after on his bed with a deep cut over his right eye. His room-mate, Zac, was holding a damp flannel over the injury, saying, "Chris, keep on going like this and you will fail your exams and stuff your liver!" Chris said that he felt fine and just wanted to sleep it off for a few hours.