a week without booze

I'm not condemning a 'glass of wine with dinner.'

But if you find you're "stopping after work" on three or four days per week, or you automatically get a case of beer to watch football, you've got a problem.

Now you might feel you don't have a problem, or bristle at the accusation, but if it is no problem then it should be easy to stop for a few days.

My club has a black brick patio with a flagpole at our clubhouse. We enter the member's name and date at the time of his death.

We have fourteen members who have died. With the exeption of one death by gunshot, the rest died young of smoking, drinking and poor diets. These rough-tough bikers had trouble making it past fifty years of age.

Is that the way you want to go out? In a smoke filled room full of stupid, drunken townies, a barstool stuck to your ass and arteries packed with glue and gumbo?

I hear it feels like a cinder block being driven through your chest at the end...
 
Wow !! This is such a heavy topic. I have been reading and dont know whether to chime in or not.

I guess I will just say that while I will occasionally have a Bourbon and Coke, it holds no sway over me.

In contrast, alcohol took the two people I loved most dearly in life from me .... my father, mostly through absence and an early death and the other, through a fatal car wreck.

Alcohol twice changed the course of my life forever.
 
Oh, and I forgot about my uncle Jack. Drank, smoked and beat his son.

Another charming tale showcasing the romance of alcohol.
 
Well people, you can drink alcohol and you can abuse it, big difference. There seems to be a majority here composed of non or seldom drinkers. Nothing wrong with that. Saves money and brain cells. I come from a family of drinkers although only two abused alcohol going back three generations. I drink nearly every day, a vodka before dinner and a couple glasses of wine during. I can still walk a straight line, stand on my head, do cart wheels, whatever. It neither impares my speech nor makes me do inappropriate things. Moderation, moderation, MODERATION, simple as that. Know your limits and stick with them. If you don't have the strength of character to stay within yourself, don't drink. For the rest of us I see no problem. Hick.

Buzz
 
I'm not condemning a 'glass of wine with dinner.'

But if you find you're "stopping after work" on three or four days per week, or you automatically get a case of beer to watch football, you've got a problem.

Now you might feel you don't have a problem, or bristle at the accusation, but if it is no problem then it should be easy to stop for a few days.

My club has a black brick patio with a flagpole at our clubhouse. We enter the member's name and date at the time of his death.

We have fourteen members who have died. With the exeption of one death by gunshot, the rest died young of smoking, drinking and poor diets. These rough-tough bikers had trouble making it past fifty years of age.

Is that the way you want to go out? In a smoke filled room full of stupid, drunken townies, a barstool stuck to your ass and arteries packed with glue and gumbo?

I hear it feels like a cinder block being driven through your chest at the end...

oo. i rarely stop after work, and a 24 case lasts me a good 2-3 weeks unless we have company over of course. and i havent had a problem yet, to be honest, it doesnt even phase me to not have had anything the past few days. ive gone longer than this before without even thinkin about it
 
Well people, you can drink alcohol and you can abuse it, big difference. There seems to be a majority here composed of non or seldom drinkers. Nothing wrong with that. Saves money and brain cells. I come from a family of drinkers although only two abused alcohol going back three generations. I drink nearly every day, a vodka before dinner and a couple glasses of wine during. I can still walk a straight line, stand on my head, do cart wheels, whatever. It neither impares my speech nor makes me do inappropriate things. Moderation, moderation, MODERATION, simple as that. Know your limits and stick with them. If you don't have the strength of character to stay within yourself, don't drink. For the rest of us I see no problem. Hick.

Buzz

good point
 
It seems that those who want to can always find some justification to prove that they don't have an alcohol problem but if one even raises the question, perhaps there is something there to look at. However, that is only something that you can decide for yourself. I just hope that you can be honest with yourself.

Further, it is not how much you drink or how often you drink but what the drink does to you when you do drink and how you feel about it and how those around you feel about it.
 
to be honest, its normally just a drink for me. i dont drink to escape stress, or forget about stuff, or to calm me down when im pissed. actually, when im upset i DONT want a drink.
 
Well people, you can drink alcohol and you can abuse it, big difference. There seems to be a majority here composed of non or seldom drinkers. Nothing wrong with that. Saves money and brain cells. I come from a family of drinkers although only two abused alcohol going back three generations. I drink nearly every day, a vodka before dinner and a couple glasses of wine during. I can still walk a straight line, stand on my head, do cart wheels, whatever. It neither impares my speech nor makes me do inappropriate things. Moderation, moderation, MODERATION, simple as that. Know your limits and stick with them. If you don't have the strength of character to stay within yourself, don't drink. For the rest of us I see no problem. Hick.

Buzz

I agree Buzz. I don't drink every day, but DW have date night every week. I drink then, and often every other Friday when the kids are at their dad's.

That being said, I believe that some people cannot drink in moderation. Whether it's psychological, physiological or something else, they just can't have one or two and walk away. That is what AA is for. Those who must remain absolutely sober, or they end up in the deep end...

I think that we are the fortunate ones who can have a few, but not need to drink ourselves silly...
 
To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine.. And those who don't. As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine &
beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poop,

Wine = Health

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,
than to drink water and be full of shit.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable
information: I'm doing it as a public service
 
Moderation, moderation, MODERATION, simple as that. Know your limits and stick with them.

If you can do that, and it appears you can, then there is no problem for you or anyone else. And I agree.

My beef is with guys who can't. Liquor is insidious. You can go from completely sober to over-the-line and never feel a thing.

Right now in Wisconsin there is a very public debate about drinking and driving. We have a serious problem here.

Most people hold to the idea that as long as they blow a .8 they are good to go and drive a car. But when it comes to being out in public, the idea of "nearly drunk" is just about as bad as "clearly drunk."

Call me judgemental, but after my Mom and years of rubbing elbows with townies, I decided I didn't like "bar people." I didn't like their lame excuses, the way they treated their women, the stench of their alcohol and tobacco reeking bodies and ultimately the danger imposed once in a two ton automobile with the impaired judgement of a reptilian brain.

In short, a subhuman species.

And if you believe the public supports this lifestyle, look at the folks pushing it. In our area, it's The Tavern League. My, my, the very people who enrich themselves by pouring liquor down your gullet.

Watch people. In many cases some folks leave a few teaspoons of wine in a glass when they exit a restaurant. I have also seen folks chug the last few fingers down as they leave, like it's a crime to leave this 'liquid gold' go to waste.

They are now refining a device to analyze a townie's breath before the ignition works on a car. The same news report also added that people are already trying to invent a gadget to beat it...
 
you can do it, rusty.

i've been on the wagon for 3 months, and 1 week as of today.

i haven't lost any weight, though, because i've replaced the pleasure of sitting down to a cold one with sitting down with a full plate.
 
Right now in Wisconsin there is a very public debate about drinking and driving. We have a serious problem here.

Wisconsin is the worst place I've seen. There is a deadly combination of binge drinking among younger adults (and teens) and the bar on every corner syndrome where the usual crowd is there every single day of the week. The bars open early in the morning and are full of people just off their swing shifts at the local paper mills. Then they go home and drink beer the rest of the day. Big BIG problem. :shock:

I met a guy on a plane Dec. 31st. It turns out that he played competitive hockey with my nephew so we hit it off. He works in sales for a liquor distributor and told me that since the economy went down, alcohol sales are up. Drinking away your problems is very temporary at best. :confused:
 
Kind of makes you wonder why so many are having trouble with "moderation."

It's a mindset. And I think it's the exact same set of values as to why smokers flick their cigarette butts onto the street and empty their car ashtrays in parking lots.
 
Kind of makes you wonder why so many are having trouble with "moderation."

It's a mindset. And I think it's the exact same set of values as to why smokers flick their cigarette butts onto the street and empty their car ashtrays in parking lots.

yeah, that pisses me off. i have an ashtray in my car and i use it, and when its full, plastic bag then into the trash can.

Chico, there is no moderation intended by those folks. They drink to get drunk or they drink to forget.

indeed. too many folks drink for the wrong reasons. instead of just havin a beer, or a cocktail while watching tv after work, they stop off at the bar, and drink their paychecks away.
 
In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine &
beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.


Excellent rationalization.

Almost College Freshman level.

:dizzy:
 
That is what AA is for.

Ever been to AA?

Damn, those people got problems.


Those who must remain absolutely sober, or they end up in the deep end...


That kind of thinking don't cut it in the real world.

Liquor Heads come in all varieties.

I met a Navy Lifer, I believe he was a Chief, his ship pulled into Norfolk, he remembers walking into a Norfolk bar and waking up in Hawaii.

Then you have the two cocktail crowd who think they haven't an addiction because they don't get soused.

In the first case, get between them and their booze and you expect to get your head torn off. You don't expect that with the second crowd but still it happens.

I think that we are the fortunate ones who can have a few, but not need to drink ourselves silly...

As stated above, you need not drink to oblivion to have a problem.

I didn't.
 
indeed. too many folks drink for the wrong reasons. instead of just havin a beer, or a cocktail while watching tv after work, they stop off at the bar, and drink their paychecks away.

I use to work at a club.

Same people at the bar every day. Damned few presented as 'drunk'. I guess that could be because they are in training. Overall I guess they didn't drink to excess.

Anyhow, it was interesting watching people come through the door. Most of them almost rushed the bar. Intercept them, ask a question, delay them and see it in their eyes, their booze is only so many feet away ...

But they don't have a problem.

LMAO!!
 
What sort of Delay though?
it really depends what the delay is, I would be the same myself even if I was out just to get some groceries.
if it was a "help me" (two words I can never refuse) delay then sure, not a prob, if it`s something Silly then I`ll get a bit annoyed.
 
lol, wart. you really have a cruel side to you.

some of my coworkers do the delay thing to me on monday mornings. when they see that i'm fried after working a particularly difficult midnight shift, and all i want to do is go home and hit the hay, they take turns asking me ridiculous questions about the job, just for the delay factor. then they giggle when they see i've figured it out.
 
Wart, I was just mentioning one of the beliefs of AA. They don't preach moderation, they preach absolute sobriety. If that's the only thing that works for some, then I'm fine with that.
 
Rusty, you raised this issue and evidently were serious and invited comment. Then, when people tried to be helpful because they sincerely care about you, you started back tracking and rationalizing. Whether or not you have a problem is your own business and whether or not you choose to do something about it is your own business, too. However, don't be surprised by the responses and don't feel the need to justify yourself to anyone else. It is yourself that you need to be brutally honest with and for your sake, I hope you do.

I have nothing against drink.

However, I dated an alcoholic who was one year sober when he went back to drinking and I have no idea whether he is or is not sober today. For his sake, and his family's sake, I hope he is. He is no longer a part of my life and for the obvious reasons.
 
Rusty, you raised this issue and evidently were serious and invited comment.

That's why I asked.

Then, when people tried to be helpful because they sincerely care about you,

Welll .....

you started back tracking and rationalizing.

Not to mention the help he has had in those rationalizations.

Enablers everywhere!

Whether or not you have a problem is your own business and whether or not you choose to do something about it is your own business, too. However, don't be surprised by the responses and don't feel the need to justify yourself to anyone else. It is yourself that you need to be brutally honest with and for your sake, I hope you do.

Well said.

The only person anyone can do/ not do is for themselves.


However, I dated an alcoholic who was one year sober when he went back to drinking and I have no idea whether he is or is not sober today. For his sake, and his family's sake, I hope he is. He is no longer a part of my life and for the obvious reasons.


One woman and I were living together and engaged. Golly I could say something about this relationship like cause and effect, no need, really.

At the time I don't know if her spiral was dragging me down or if my spiral was dragging her down, fairest thing to say is it was mutual.

I broke it off. Both our lives improved. Then I met Wife. She met her husband. Then she started another spiral.

Shes now in the grave.

I miss her, wish I could speak with her.

I've had an interesting life.
 
I don't like to see myself as a cruel or uncaring man. But I have first person knowledge of drunks and townies. Yes, I know about 12-step plans.

I also know that you can teach some bears and tigers not to rip you to shreds. Most can never be trusted.

I consider the care, feeding, couseling and even heraldic life saving procedures for drunks and townies to be an absolute waste of time.

If I was buffing chrome and a drunk began choking on his own vomit, my involvement would be the sum and substance to move him as far away from Black Betty as projectile spittle requires. And this includes the abusive antics of my own Mother.

If you are sincere about engaging in a 12-step program, go for it. But also practice stitching your own wounds and get 911 on your speed dial.

Disease? BS. You're a drunk.
 
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