Email to Laurie

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To: [Laurie]
From: [Marius]
Subject:

Removing this from the journal system, as I am endeavoring not to flout my differing views from the staff too openly. When this vow is remembered to me, that is.

To answer your question, re: the fascination with drinking: I cannot say the appeal for others, but I myself was raised in a household where wine was the dinner beverage of choice since the point I surpassed the gentle sippy-cup. This is for reasons of Culture, as there is some rather aggressive French along my maternal lines. I find no mystery in alcohol, and I see little point in assigning a mandatory age to that time when one magically, mystically, becomes eligible to imbibe. Particularly since want of experience has often lead to regretable experimentation in those early days of permissiveness, but I digress. (Doug and Forge, incidentally, are excused from this statement as our bartender was rather outrageously having them on.)

I will not say I have never done anything foolish whilst under the influence, but this statement is fairly ammended to "I have never done anything foolish whilst under the influence that would not also have been done sober," so no worries there. It is perhaps not legal to maintain my habit here, but drinking is simply a part of my life, particularly in the social sense, as much as vigorous exercise and academia. It is not a pleasant experience to have such things removed at a seeming whim. I will abide by most every rule in this country -- but not that one. I will, however, attempt to be somewhat more vigilant in concealing the flaunting.

Forgive the directness of the private missive, but I thought perhaps this might be cleared up before my mates were subject to any more trouble for actions which are solely my own.

Comments

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To: [The Lush]
From: [The Prude]

Re: Something you would like to say?

Hey Marius,

I should probably have e-mailed you, or come seen you. I just wasn't exactly sure how to breech the subject. I'm shy about hot topics, what can I say? I can understand cultural things, and a drink of wine with dinner is meant to be good for your heart supposedly.

I think my thing was, and Marie-Ange response really brought this home to me, is that I really dislike people assuming they know that a law is silly just because it's restrictive to what they want to do. There could be a dozen reasons why not being able to drink till you're twenty one was brought in here. (Admittedly, it was more likely due to my country being founded by puritans but, yeah.)

I guess if I think of it as a cultural thing rather then a breaking of the law thing, I can live with that. Just, try not to break any laws in front of me if you can help it, hey? I can kinda bend pretty well (I'm flexible, comes from all those aerobics classes.) but try not to break me.

~L.

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To: [Hopefully Less Shy]
From: [The Forgiving]

No worries, I am not one to hold grudges, particularly if the error was due to timidity and not malice.

"Restrictive to what they want to do" is a bit of a tricky subject. I fully agree that desires such as that to thump a random bystander for one's own pleasure very well should be restricted, but some things are not so clear-cut. Apologies if this is pressing your sensibilities a bit, but I should like to tender an example. Back in Queensland my old rugby group had a bit of a furor over two players when it became apparent they shared an involvement of the intimate nature. You had never seen two blokes more gone on one another, and yet they could easily have been arrested for sodomy, both being under the age of 18 at the time. Interestingly, legal age for the more conventional of intimate acts is less by two years. I confess I have little idea of why those two years are necessary, unless it is hoped one will have by then outgrown homosexuality.

But again, I digress. I shall endeavor to be less conspicuous. As I said, it is simply difficult to remember that to some this is a subject worthy of note.

(Although in my defence, I remember far better than Monet.)

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

To: [Getting there]
From: [Prince among men]

See, I'd see that as an unjust law and I'd fight to have it overturned and probably wouldn't dob anyone in for doing it. Hmm, I guess that's what the others have been trying to tell me, right? That sometimes a law is made when people are different and as the years roll by the attitudes change and so should the laws, and bad laws should be overturned.

It's a hard one to think about, since there's no way in hell I'd want a friend of mine to be arrested for simply being who they're born to be. Sometimes I wonder what the cops who arrested me thought about what they were doing, whether they thought they were protecting the community or just hated me because of what I was.

~L.