wiggins wrote:But still, seriously, is this normal? To get drunk 6 nights a week at 23?

I drank a whole lot when I was this age - every day in quantity. I was always able to cut myself off before I got sick or had a massive hangover, though I suppose the fact that I could sleep 10 hours at night and wasn't doing much the next day helped. While I'm pretty sure it didn't do any lasting damage, it did turn regular drinking into a habit which I have gradually tried to reduce over the last 10 years. Trouble is, I really enjoy drinking all different types of alcoholic beverages - I actually enjoy the sensation of drinking and flavors more than the way it makes me feel. After two I've typically had enough.

This thread has inspired me to take the first month of the New Year off. Thank you!

Thanks fellas. I would like to clarify that I don't really binge drink, hardly ever gets so bad that I get sick. It's not the quantity that I'm concerned about, but more like the frequency. I have a handful of friends a year or two or three older than me that have serious problems with it, and by comparison, mine arent that bad. I just blow through my money too quickly, I think. I don't drive, so I'm not in for a DUI like 6 (yes, six) of my friends have had over the past year. But all that said, I'd like to be able to taper it down to "just on the weekends" or something. It shouldn't be too hard, I've quit for a while before.

Thanks again.

tmidgett wrote:Take this little test.

A.A. Test wrote: Did you answer yes 4 or more times?

only 5x. so, i have a problem but it's not as bad as it could be.

alright.

At a Christmas party this week, I had the first alcohol I have had since August.
I tried some banana rum with some cola and then went back to straight pop.

My avoidance of alcohol helps me to maintain the avoidance of *other* things. (jail, for one)

Good luck Boombats.

wiggins wrote:Thanks fellas. I would like to clarify that I don't really binge drink, hardly ever gets so bad that I get sick. It's not the quantity that I'm concerned about, but more like the frequency. I have a handful of friends a year or two or three older than me that have serious problems with it, and by comparison, mine arent that bad. I just blow through my money too quickly, I think. I don't drive, so I'm not in for a DUI like 6 (yes, six) of my friends have had over the past year. But all that said, I'd like to be able to taper it down to "just on the weekends" or something. It shouldn't be too hard, I've quit for a while before.

Thanks again.

Hey--

Not trying to tell you what to do, but just from my experience:

There are all sorts of drinking problems. Some people never drink during the week and blow out on weekends. Some people have this constant, maintenance-level of alcohol that they are on, pretty much all the time. Lot more people are in between.

Most of us who have drinking problems have friends who have drinking problems. Comes w/the territory. Comparing ourselves to them may not be productive. I could say "well, I never got a DUI" or "I never tried to go fishing at 4AM and rolled my car and walked 15mi home w/o telling anyone and got home to my mom sitting around with a cop worried out of her skull that I was dead" or "I never got arrested for breaking into a convenience store" or "I never got the shit beaten out of me for pissing on someone's fence" or "I never got forced into rehab by the Army." It's a rather generous measuring stick if we start using drunks as our gauge. I can always find people worse off than I have ever been.

One other thing: maybe you are just drinking too much, and you'll taper back, and everything will be cool. It happens. But pretty much every alcoholic on the planet can and does do the same thing, taper back. And all of them ramp up again, unless they quit and do something to maintain their sobriety after they quit.

Every time they ramp back up, they usually go a little farther before they taper back again. And it gets a little harder to taper back every time.

It's a script, plays itself out again and again. Doesn't mean it applies to everyone who drinks too much, and, again, I have no idea if you are an alcoholic, but that script will apply to almost every alcoholic. It is extremely predictable to the point of being banal.

otisroom wrote:Good luck Boombats.

Thanks! I'm not worried about the difficulty of maintaining sobriety as much as the resultant boredom.

I'm closing out my drinking period with a doozy- my friend's bar is having an all-night, invite-only, all-you-can-drink (and smoke indoors) madness on New Year's Eve, with my favorite band Pitchfork Militia and The Mermaid Killers (used to be Agitpop). I will be punching my liver into submission for one last time and recuperating in the new year. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

again, thanks everyone. Tellin' it how it is. On the test, there were very few questions that I could answer "yes" to honestly. I don't have blackouts, I don't miss work, I don't wake up needing a drink, don't have problems at home, I don't get into trouble when I drink. But that still doesn't mean I'm okay and that it won't get worse.

The bad part is, the only way I'm gonna get out is to move far, far away from Atlanta. It's a really good thing I don't do blow or I'd REALLY be trapped here. There's no way to get away from that shit down here, period.

I had a really rough Christmas Eve/Christmas. No family, friends all out of the city with theirs, broke up with my girlfriend of three years, everywhere I might be able to see someone I know was closed. So... yeah, I got tanked last night. And now I feel like shit.

wiggins wrote:again, thanks everyone. Tellin' it how it is.





I had a rough Christmas. No family, all my friends away with theirs, broken up with girlfriend.

That sucks wiggins, hang tough dude. Hey if you've only got Jurassic Park, I could mail you a couple of cheezy horror videos. How are you posting here with no computer though?

Boombats wrote:Hey if you've only got Jurassic Park, I could mail you a couple of cheezy horror videos. How are you posting here with no computer though?

I ride my bike up to the coffee shop and use theirs. Or I use my room mate's when it works. It's degrading. No more porn.

Super sad face.