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Comment by shawndrost | Hacker News Reader

> I don't drink.

I hope not to offend you, but, speaking as someone who used to be very shy, I'd suggest you give it another shot (unless you're very attached to not drinking). You say you tense up and shut down in social situation -- this goes away when you have a few drinks in you. That's mostly why people drink!

You don't have to make drinking the cornerstone of your life -- just look at alcohol as training wheels for socializing. There are lots of tech meetups that happens in bars -- give it a shot!

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Haha, thanks. I know, I probably wouldn't have this problem if I drank socially, but I really cannot stand the taste of alcohol. I used to drink here and there years ago, but the only drinks I liked were usually labelled "girls' drinks" and I was constantly made fun of. That probably didn't help my shyness either. But I appreciate your suggestion.

You can barely taste Vodka when mixed with Red Bull, and to begin with, just practice smiling at strangers; within two weeks you won't be shy anymore. From then on, just remember to be kind to everyone, and you'll be fine.

> just practice smiling at strangers

This is excellent advice. Actually, give anyone you interact with your dopiest, most shit-eating grin possible.

HOW YOU FEEL: Like a fucking idiot HOW THEY FEEL: Wow, this guy really appreciates this interaction! What a big smile! : D

You get used to it. I have gone through this too. I used to never smile in photographs. Now, I give every photograph my "retarded person who has just learned he is going to mcdonalds" huge idiot grin. You know what? Now I look like everyone else who smiles in photographs

Saying you "cannot stand the taste of alcohol" is like saying you "cannot stand the smell of air."

Well, alcohol is flavourless on its own. Also, it will kill you if you drink it raw, so don't try that.

Just like air, context is everything. The air in a sewer is much worse than the air in a field, because of the odours that are mixed into it. Now, preference for drinks is 100% subjective, unlike preference for air, but the idea is the same. If you only tried beer, perhaps you'd prefer wine. Or vice-versa.

You just have to find your own drinks you like.

> The only drinks I liked were usually labelled "girls' drinks" and I was constantly made fun of.

That's shameful (that you were made fun of). What, specifically, were the drinks you were made fun of for liking?

> it will kill you if you drink it raw

Sorry, but this is total nonsense. I knew many a chem student with access to pure ethanol (not to mention the wits to manufacture it). They are still with us (as are the photos)

So, pure alcohol/ethanol will not kill you faster than the equivalent liquor. You may, of course, wish for death ..

I guess by "taste of alcohol" I mean the taste of beer, wine, champagne, tequila, vodka, and anything else non-mixed I can't think of right now. I pretty much tried them all in my pursuit to find something I can drink without feeling tortured. In this quest I found that I was ok with cocktails (Long Island Ice Tea was my drink of choice for a while), but those you can only get when you're out at a bar. What about parties where the drinks come straight out of bottles from the grocery store? This is where I discovered Smirnoff Ice, which to me just doesn't have that gross alcohol taste. But of course because of that it's not generally considered a "manly" drink, so my peers always pressured me to drink "non-girly" drinks instead by making fun of me. After a while I just got sick of it and decided not to drink at all anymore, because it just wasn't worth the constant teasing.

You tell your drinking pals that someone on the Internet told you that there is no shame in drinking Smirnoff Ice.

Anyway, now it seems like I'm putting peer-pressure on you to start drinking again. That's even less cool than someone who laughs at a person's taste in drinks. I'll try to keep that in check.

No wonder alcohol is called the "social lubricant". :)

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