Something got to give

In the past I have made half-hearted attempts at reducing my drinking, motivated by excessive expenditure on alcohol or doing and saying really embarassing stuff while under the influence (only when I was closer to twenty than thirty). However, now I have a new motivation. My body and mind just cant take the punishment that comes with drinking anymore.

In the past two Fridays I have been out at pubs, enjoyed the company of some jamaas, drunk between 7-9 pynts (I loose count after the fourth beer) and gotten home at around 4 a.m. On 20th I attended a house party where I had a beer in my hand between 4 pm and 4 am. The aftermath of each of these drinking sprees has been horrendous. In each case I have spent the following Saturday lying on a couch trying to watch movies. All my past hangover cures have failed me - taking a cold shower, cold coke, panadols, lying really still and listening to my heart beat. The problem is aggravated by the fact that I have problems sleeping during the day. This past weekend was even worse, even after waking up at 11 am I still could not focus enough to read Supa strikas. Things were so thick that I could still feel the effects on Sunday.

It is not reasonable for me to waste a whole Sato because of spending a 5 - 8 hours at a pub on Friday night. Something has to give, and I have decided those 2 or 3 additional beers have to go. So the next time I am in a pub (pray it is not this Friday) I will make a fair attempt at taking no more than 5 beers.

A few weeks ago one of my workmates asked me a really hard question, "When is the last time you went more than a week without drinking?" After giving it a lot of thought I told him it was in March 2005. What I failed to mention was that I was at home with a broken leg at the time and the only reason I was not drinking was that I had finished my brandy the week before.

I put the same question to you, "When was the last time you went more than a week without a drink". Be honest.