Essay 1

           The first time I drank alcohol I was a junior in high school at one of my sisters friend’s party and her boyfriend at the time kept handing me drinks. I just kept drinking because I didn’t know what my limits were. Towards the end of the night, a couple of people stayed and hung out inside the house. I was passed out on the couch then woke up and threw up all over myself while everyone was in the kitchen. After that I went outside to throw up even more. That night I knew what my limits were. Or did I? Throughout my junior and senior year I would go to parties and hang out with friends and drink and drive home like it was no big deal. I wouldn’t get trashed, but I would have a good time.

            After high school, it was pretty much the same thing. I had a girlfriend at the time so I didn’t go out partying as much. It wasn’t until I became single and then I quit my job when everything started to change for me. I hung out with my friends more on the weekends drinking. We would drink to get to the point where we could barely walk. We would do this pretty much every weekend. One of my buddies had gotten a DUI already. That made me the D.D.D., designated drunk driver. Why should I care that I was driving drunk? Ever since high school I’ve been driving under the influence. That was our plan every weekend. Two of my friends and I would go out Friday and Saturday and drink all night. Then it changed to Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because my other friend and I were only twenty years old at the time and there was an eighteen and up club only on Thursday nights. For me, I was having the time of my life. I was single, hanging out with my friends all the time, and I had money saved from my old job. I was partying all night then sleeping in until 12pm, and I thought I was living life. 

Things started to happen where I should have known that I was putting myself in bad situations. One time at my friend’s party these guys pulled a gun on my buddy because he asked them to leave his house and I was standing right next to him. Another time, a buddy of mine and I drove to San Diego to visit a friend of ours and party all weekend down there. Everything was going well until we ran out of beer one night. Then one of my buddies came up with an idea that he and I should do a beer run. I had never done a beer run before, but I was so drunk I didn’t care so I said, “Let’s do it.” We got some girl to drive us and another buddy of mine came along for the ride. It wasn’t until I got into the store when it hit me. I was so nervous because stealing was never a thing of mine. I told my buddy, “Get two 36 packs of Budweiser each. I’ll go first, so follow me.” We grabbed two cases each, walked to the counter and ran out the door. I just remember the guy yelling as soon as pushed that door open, “You mother fuckers! Stop right now!” There was no way I was going to stop. I was barely hanging onto the beer and it seemed like I was never going to reach the car. Finally my friend and I both got in the car and drove off with the beer. To this day I regret doing that because I’m not that type of person and I was scared out of my mind. Even though I was drunk there was no excuse for me to act like that, but that still didn’t stop me from drinking.

There were so many parties, so many people, and endless weekends of getting drunk, until it all finally caught up to me. My friend and I were at a party and everything was going great. Everyone was drinking and having a good time and my ex-girlfriend and I were hooking up. The night was coming to an end and she wanted to come over and spend the night. I still had to drive my friend home to Ventura too. We left the party and we got something to eat on the way home. As we’re leaving the drive-thru there were about ten guys standing in the parking lot. My ex-girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat, sticks her head out the window and says, “Hey! You guys want to fight!” I stopped my truck and asked her, “Why would you say something dumb like that?” She didn’t know why she said it because she was drunk, but I wasn’t trying to fight ten guys so I kept driving. As I turned out of the parking lot, I was waiting at the signal light to turn green. The guys from the parking lot kept yelling and flashing their high beams at me. All of my attention was on them because I wanted to make sure they didn’t throw anything at my truck. The light turned green and I started to drive away. As I was turning I looked at my side mirror and I saw the worse thing anyone can imagine, a CHP. Right then and there I knew I was in for a long night. It didn’t take the cops more than five seconds to hit the lights on me. I pulled over and gave him all my information. “Step out of the car,” he told me. He smelled the alcohol on my breath, so he gave me a Breathalyzer test. Of course I failed it and I was being arrested for driving under the influence. When I was riding in the back of the cop car, in hand cuffs to the police station, I was trying to figure out why this happened to me. I couldn’t believe it was happening to me and I was really wondering what my dad was going to say. I had to spend the night in the jail for twelve hours and they finally let me go. I called my dad to tell him what happened and he already knew. My dad picked me up from the courthouse and he didn’t say one word to me. He was so disappointed in me. It was the worse feeling because he always told me not to drink and drive. I just brushed it off not caring because I was having the time of my life. Then all the fines came, a three-month alcohol program, three years on probation, and I lost my license for a year. Finally reality was hitting me right in the face.

            After all this happened, I realized that partying every weekend wasn’t for me anymore. I had to get a job to pay for all the fines, and I had to ride a bike three miles to work since I couldn’t drive. It was hard for me to deal with everything but I had no choice. It took awhile for me to get things back on track. I stopped going out and drinking every weekend even when I got my license back. Then one of my buddies told me to try out for the Oxnard College Baseball team. I figured why not, I would be going back to school, playing ball, and staying out of trouble. When I got to Oxnard College I found out that baseball wasn’t all I wanted to do. I wanted to find a career so I can have a good paying job and I can get my life back to where it needs to be.

After I got a DUI, it changed everything for me. It hurt me and helped me at the same time. It made me responsible and made me realize how dangerous drinking and driving is.