also, there's this: >There is a longer list of things I'd rather spend $100 on
I just want to take a moment to suggest this as an alternative. http://www.amazon.com/Parker-Sonnet-Original-Matte-Fountain/...
LIKE WHAT? A PEN? That's a pen. You can never convince me that I should believe that pen is objectively more valuable than a night out treating friends. Forget it. If it's more valuable to YOU because you love pens and dislike drinking, fine, but this argument that "stuff" is somehow inherently worth more than "experiences" (like food, alcohol, events, etc.) falls so unbelievably flat to me.
The way it's presented in this post is none of those, and seems more to me to be an attempt to make me feel silly for spending my money on "things I won't remember" (something that never happens to almost anyone when they drink). I don't feel silly at all for it, and my personal view of life makes me feel that placing value on physical things above experiences is extremely silly.
I didn't get that at all out of it, and not sure why you did. I read it as "I get this question a lot, and I'm just ready to vent a little. So this is why I don't drink." Don't read into something that's not there! :) I feel like a lot of the people who don't like this article have read it as a criticism of their decision to drink, which it doesn't seem at all to be.