User Submitted Stories

I was 20 when I was shipped off to Okinawa, Japan with the Marine Corps. The legal drinking age is, of course 20 there, I decided to celebrate the first night arriving there the same way as if I were to turn 21 in the States. Having a fat paycheck for that age and countless possibilities of where to go celebrate, I took off for a night on the town with the boys. The night was long ago and very vague to this day. I do remember that I awoke in my barracks room; which was in disarray, on the floor next to 3 other Marines all covered in Sharpie and a reverse Mohawk down their high-and-tights. I stumbled over to the medicine cabinet over the sink where I looked into the mirror and noticed I was in the same condition as well. I fumbled through my pockets and found that I had roughly 500 yen ($5) and an ATM receipt for a withdrawal of $400. It was (probably) worth it.
Matt - Somewhere, NY

I just turned to 21 and be able to drink, gamble legally last year. I don't like to drink and gamble, but for my 21 year old birthday, my friends and I gathered together, and forced me to drink at my house. That was my first time in my life to taste beer, and I drank a small cup of bud lite lime, which is very light. After the small cup of budlite, my face was turned to red. And after that night, I drank a little whenever me and my friends get together, sometimes heavier beers, sometimes sake or white and red wines.
Han - Somewhere, NY

My boyfriend and I had sex for the first time legally at a motel after our eighteenth birthday. It was not so much an exciting thing because we had gotten used to a little "thrill" getting away with it. But it felt so much better to register at the front desk and go to our room without hanging our heads or hiding or hearing weird remarks. One of the things that happens when you are legally of age to have sex according the 'culture", is that it feels more adult. You feel less like a kid and more like a part of a relationship. we were the same people we were before the day of birthdays, but it seemed to ease a lot of pressure off not to feel like we were staring down the double barreled rifle of the law on this issue.
Monica - Somewhere, NY

When I turned 21 I was ready to hit my first casino. I have been playing poker since I was like twelve so it only made since that I would try out my luck in a real poker room. On the day that I turned 21 I went to one of the big casinos in New Orleans. When I first got there my boyfriend and I decided to play a few table games before hitting the poker room. I played a game called 3 card poker. I had no clue what the game was about but figured I would give it a shot. My bet totaled $15 and I got a straight flush which won me $800. I could not believe my first time to the casino on the first game that I played that I actually won $800 especially on a game I had no clue what I was doing. Didn’t touch a drink the whole night I was there but definitely will always remember the thrill of my first time at the casino.
Pink - Somewhere, NY

When I became old enough to gamble it was a big deal. Our family had been going to Lake Tahoe for every year for vacation since I was ten years old. The Alpine air was so different in Lake Tahoe, the mountains and lake and from the desert city I lived in everything was different. Especially the casinos. Enjoying the lake during the day left nights open and the big thing was the stateline casinos. But kids weren't supposed to be in them. The lure of the shiny hotels was always out of reach. Banquet nights at the big hotels (for kids) were spent avoiding the casino parts while waiting for a table. Every year this partition was made. But the casino part of the vacation always put us kids in the hands of a babysitter or staying at the rental cabin. On the nights my parents went to the nightclub shows, we were taken to arcades where hours were spent playing pointless games and watching retread juvenile movies on a large screen. When I was old enough to gamble that year's vacation was special. I got to dress up and go to the casino as an adult with the rest of the family. I won $20!
Susan - Somewhere, NY

The party for my "coming of age" for drinking actually happened twice. The first party took place on my 18th birthday (because the legal age for drinking was 18 at the time) and it took place in a bar in Waikiki called the Red Lion. My girlfriend was with me along with about 6 of my closest friends. It was so much fun, we had an absolute blast. Singing and dancing and just drinking like there was no tomorrow. My older brother had to come and pick us up when the bar closed because we were way to drunk to drive home ourselves. I remember sleeping in the front yard that night. The second party happened a few years later because the legal age for drinking changed to 21 when I was 20, so I had to wait another year to drink again. My friends and my girlfriend were all older than I so they were all legal to drink when the new law came into effect, I was alone for the time being. When I turned 21 it was even better that the first party, crazy crazy crazy, the bar this time was called The Wave Waikiki. I cannot begin to describe the fun we had that night. This bar was over the top, it seemed like anything and everything was happening in this bar, sex, drugs and rock and roll. One open restroom for anyone at anytime. Men and Women undressing on the dance floor. Wow. Puking my guts out the window on the way home, and yes, I woke up in the front yard again the next morning.
Robert - Somewhere, NY

My first drink was on a China's Lunar New Year's feast. When feast over, the adults were dismissed. I was left to clean up the dinner table. I had never drinked wine before, and I had always wondered why the adults like it and they told me that children are not allowed to drink. Liquor for that time was a mysterious liquid for me. I began to scrutinize the liquor bottle on the table. I tried to pour some wine into my cup, and then tasted a shallow manner. This was the encounter of water and fire. Liquor has a water-like shape, but has a fire-like tasting. I suddenly felt a regiment fire burning in my mouth. However, I was a strong child. I did not spit it out. I carefully tasted in my mouth with it. Finally, I felt a glimmer of strange but exciting feeling. I then bravely put the rest of the whole glass of liquor. On that day, I did not drunk. Ten years later, I can drink half a kilo of liquor and still not be drunk. But I always remember the situation of my first taste of liquor.
T. - Somewhere, NY

I forgot a lot. We started out doing an Irish Pub crawl in the Bronx, went to the Village, copped some chronic. Five or six bars down there with my boys crew taking care of the tabs. Met a NYU babe who wanted to get off for my big 2-1. Hit that for an hour in the back of a VW and got tired and went back to the Park. Raid night. Almost got busted. Came home at 11:00 am.
Chris - Somewhere, NY