I quit drinking completely for 8 months from Jan-Aug 2004. In July of '03 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the tender age of 29. My doctor put me on two different medicines and told me to shape up. So I quit smoking, exercised more, and kept tabs on what I was eating. But there was no way I was going to give up the sauce. The medicine had cut my tolerance for booze in half, so instead of feeling great after 4-5 drinks I'd be hammered. After 6-8 drinks I'd be on the floor. But I really didn't care.

Until 1/1/04 when I woke up in bed at my apartment, with my face covered in dried blood, looking like something out of a horror movie. The last thing I remembered was being at the Fireside Bowl. Also my car was in front of the house, undamaged. There was no way it could have gotten there unless I drove it. I still feel guilty about having driven while blacked out, and the fact that I could have mowed down a pre-school and not have remembered anything. I was one lucky mofo that nothing happened, even on the short drive. The blood, I still have no idea about. I think I must have fallen down the stairs or something while trying to get in the house.That experience kept me sober until the summer, when I went on tour with a band from Italy, who got me to take my first tentative sips.

Now, I don't drink nearly as much or as often, but I still would like to cut it out completely once again, just to be the master of my will. And even though my blood pressure is under control, I still have to take all the medicine, so I really shouldn't ever drink anayway.

I don't drink, because

-I like to keep my wits about me. Years of martial arts, so I kind of stick to that.

-I think it tastes like butt

-If I actually got drunk, I'd probably get in a fight or do something incredibly stupid.

Fuck, some of you guys are weak willed. It is possible to have wine with food and not get drunk. In fact food with good wine is one of lifes real pleasures, and it has nothing to be with "drinking". If you don't enjoy the taste of wine, fine, but drinking wine with food is neither bad for you, or going to make you beat your wife.

There seems to be a kind blockage here in some people's brains that always equates alcohol with getting drunk...

Look. Any amount of alcohol will intoxicate (=poison) you. A small amount will poison you a little. A large amount will poison you a lot. One of the effects of the alcohol is to weaken your will. For many people, it simultaneously makes them want to drink more, and depresses their willpower not to drink more. So those people might find it difficult to drink one or two glasses of wine. I have found it difficult in the past to have one or two drinks. Does it make me "weak-willed" to avoid behavior that I know will weaken my will? I find it easier to drink no alcohol than a little alcohol, and much better, in many ways, to drink no alcohol than a lot of alcohol.

But then, I don't care for the taste either. I like some drinks, but not enough to make it worthwhile. There is one alcoholic drink I like well enough that I might actually drink it, if I could ever find it. It would help if I knew how to spell the name. If anybody knows of an Asian (I think Japanese) liquor or wine with a name similar to "Shin Ru Shu," let me know. O! I have digressed. I don't drink alcohol!

I just got back from Munich. Weisse beer mit weissewurst.

I will never stop drinking.

... Linus you're usually a straight up fellow. I guess this is a Southern European cultural thing. Very few Italians or Spanish people I know get drunk in public -or at home for that matter-, but I have never not seen a bottle of wine on the table at meal time, even in friend's houses with quite pious Catholic parents.

The body is more than able to process a couple of glasses of wine and a digestif without any negative effect on your health. In fact red wine has health benefits.

I know the following quote is from Wikipedia, but what is written here is well recorded:

It now seems clear that regular consumption of up to 1-2 drinks a day (1 standard drink is approximately equal to 5 oz, or 125 ml, of 13% wine) does reduce mortality, due to 10%–40% lower risk of coronary heart disease, for those over the age of 35 or so (see Alcohol consumption and health). Originally, the effect was observed with red wine. Compounds, known as polyphenols, are found in larger amounts in red wine, and there is some evidence that these are especially beneficial. One particularly interesting polyphenol found in red wine is resveratrol, to which numerous beneficial effects have been attributed. Red wine also contains a significant amount of flavonoids and red anthocyanin pigments that act as antioxidants...

Rimbaud III wrote:I will never stop drinking.

Now there's a statement worth fight for!

Gramsci wrote:... Linus you're usually a straight up fellow. I guess this is a Southern European cultural thing. Very few Italians or Spanish people I know get drunk in public -or at home for that matter-, but I have never not seen a bottle of wine on the table at meal time, even in friend's houses with quite pious Catholic parents.

I'm usually a straight edge fellow. I understand that a lot of this is cultural. But really, whether the reasons are cultural, physiological, psychic, or otherwise, the fact remains that some people find it very difficult to have one or two drinks. But if I may interject a mote of anecdotal evidence: although I have not spent any time in Spain, and not much in Italy, when I was in Italy I saw plenty of drunks in public.

The body is more than able to process a couple of glasses of wine and a digestif without any negative effect on your health.

The body is capable of processing poisons, yes. I have a hard time believing it does so without any negative effect on your health. We can say "hardly any" or "no noticeable" or "negligible" or something. But I can't believe "without any."

In fact red wine has health benefits.

I know about this. But like most things in this world, wine contains both beneficial and detrimental qualities. I wouldn't be surprised at all if red wine, in moderation, did nothing but good for your cardiovascular system. I also wouldn't be surprised if it did nothing but harm (even if it was negligible harm) to your liver and kidneys.

When I say that alcohol is a poison, I don't mean anything more or less than that. I don't mean that everything that contains alcohol is more harmful than your body can handle. I don't mean that every beverage that contains alcohol does only harm and no good to your body. And I don't mean that everything that does harm to your body isn't worth the harm it does. I'm not arguing against the drinking of alcohol in moderation. I'm just arguing in favor of abstinence from alcohol - against your arguments against it.

Linus Van Pelt wrote: when I was in Italy I saw plenty of drunks in public.

We call them Gypsies.

I kid, but compared to Anglo-Saxon - Nordic countries... come on [winky face]... well unless it's after a football match, then you have a point.

Linus Van Pelt wrote: We can say "hardly any" or "no noticeable" or "negligible" or something. But I can't believe "without any."

That's exactly what "hardly any" or "no noticeable" or "negligible" means. I can tell you that your body is far hardier than advertisments for household cleaning products will lead you to believe. The liver is there for a reason. Plenty of the everyday things you eat, including fruits and vegetables contain "poison". Our bodies are a lot smarter than us and are more than happy to scrub out the bad shit and keep in the good stuff, within certain parameters.

Linus Van Pelt wrote: I wouldn't be surprised at all if red wine, in moderation, did nothing but good for your cardiovascular system. I also wouldn't be surprised if it did nothing but harm (even if it was negligible harm) to your liver and kidneys.

Your liver will happily process a couple of glasses of wine, on a full stomach without any damage ocurring to it at all, that's what your liver is there to do. Your piss will have as much nasty crap in it as mine.

Anyhoo, at the end of the day this is about person choice, I was Straight Edge for a year and a vege for 2-3 years before that. Now I'm a man of moderation in all things. My only beef with your points, isn't you choice, but that you think that it is impossible for the body to process certain toxins without damage. I know how passionate Straight-Edge people are in their beliefs - I was one-, but sometimes that can cloud judgment a little, kind of like alcohol [wine-with-food winky face]

When I last posted I had given up drinking for 4 months and didn't know if I'd start again. After a year went by without a drop, I felt like I'd proved to myself that I could keep things under control. Now when I drink, I have no problem sticking to one or two (as opposed to the 3 or 4 that I would end up downing before I stopped). I broke the pattern and am better for it. I don't 'need' a drink every night anymore. Sometimes all you need is a nice break.