Grey_Devil I would never put my rules about drinking on anyone else. I am serious they are rules like If I go to a bar to meet friends and they are not there yet, I will wait outside till they get there. I was always worried that alcoholism may be hereditary, so when I was younger I put a lot of sober thought into certain rules that would prove to me that I was handling alcohol correctly. The old “they ain’t going to do to me what I watched them do to yo u” thing. My father died when I was 14 of cirrhosis, and heart failure.
I have met plenty of people who drink more than I do (most people), and handle it wonderfully. Since I have never showed any signs of an addictive personality, and neither of my two brother’s ever had any issue with alcohol, I probably did not need my rules, but I am still glad I made them.
knocks back a Manhattan
Then again, that’s one drink for the night. Not enough to get me hammered, but it does help me unwind.
Sticking My Neck Out Moment: This study was not funded by the Distilled Spirits Council.
Probably the best thing I ever did was binge drink when I was young, too young to even buy the booze my friends were getting bombed on. No drunk was ever more enjoyable. No morning was ever more regrettable. I stopped partying hard and started drinking responsibly probably around age 23. Haven’t had a drinking problem - ever - and I think it was the idea that getting wasted could never be as much fun as it once was, that kept me out of trouble.
So I can’t recommend it to anyone, but for the record for me that is how it happened.
… he types as he tips back a nice 10 year old blend.
I’m not. I meant this comment genuinely “Sounds great, glad you two are able to have some quality time together over a nice drink.”
The following was more of my own thoughts on the first part of what they wrote. I’m sure i could go in an re-edit what i wrote to improve on the tone or what i meant but seems like its a done deal an hour later.
Me neither, based on what Seamus replied seems like my post was just structured poorly so i apologize if it came across as judgemental. I posted what i did pertaining only to myself and my own experience, how others choose to drink is their own business but for me i was aware that i had an addictive personality and knowing my family background with alcohol i tried to be mindful of when i drank. I still had my dumb moments of course.
On your own experience and what you lived through i can only say i’m sorry for your father’s passing but i’m honestly happy that you and your son have a ritual to bond over and spend quality time together. It’s something not many take the time to have.
Agree for the most part.
I’d argue that the results aim low because of the nature of how this data is studied.
Like the author of the post, every time the recovery from drinking becomes so much harder. Loosing sleep is the number one thing. So that’s the anecdotal.
But I look at my friends who drink on a regular basis as compared to me and I can see it their bodies and faces. The effect of quality of life comes into question.
The next thing I really want to see is a carbon footprint study on alcohol.
Cheers
My first drink: age 31. My first AA meeting: age 49. Alcoholics cannot drink like “normal” people. Whether or not the chemical content is poisonous, an alcoholic’s life is NOT that person’s best life.
I don’t need a study to tell me alcohol will kill me.
I did my own 18 year study. Conclusion: maybe ill have one drink tomorrow. Not today, maybe tomorrow…and i have to say that every day.
I miss drinking. I don’t miss fucking up my life and disappointing everyone who loves me.
For alcoholics, it’s not about what’s in the booze. It’s how we act when the booze is in US.
I make Barney at Moe’s look like Prince Charles.
This. I’m a craft cocktail afficianado because I love the complex interplay of interesting flavors, but I only ever have at most two drinks in an evening; being drunk is the opposite of what I’m aiming for.
And because I have a couple of likewise friends, the conversation sometimes skews heavily toward all topics liquor. It occurred to me one day that my then-young teen son might have been getting an inaccurate impression of my drinking volume, and sure enough, it came as a surprise to him that I rarely had more than one drink. That conversation opened a really productive door, and he and I still have great and open discussions about responsible substance use and determining/knowing your limits.
A lot of people - A LOT of people - are missing the enzyme to digest alcohol. All of the acknowledged populations that make racists sneer, “Well, of course those people can’t drink!” and also the majority of unacknowledged populations that have structured every social aspect of their culture around consuming alcohol and shaming those that don’t.
I don’t drink. I came from one those rural American sub-cultures that drink themselves to death in spite of having all the enzymes they need not to poison themselves. They simply can’t NOT DRINK.
Surely one must be able to find aldehyde dehydrogenase supplements somewhere?
I’m thinking an occasional glass or shot won’t do too much harm. Then again, I’ve got enough alcoholic branches on my family tree to be very cautious about my own intake. I limit myself-- maybe a shot of vodka, or a bottle of hard cider (yum!) or a glass of sweet red wine, but no more and not often. I’m too afraid I’ll wind up like the alcoholics I’ve known to push it too far.
As long as I make sure I’ve got food on my stomach when I drink, I don’t usually get a bad hangover. At most I’ll wake up with fuzzy thoughts and/or a mild headache. That’s another reason I’m careful… I don’t want to hurt the next day.
Well, where did Lambda Lambda Lambda get them for the tricycle race in Revenge of the Nerds?
Actually alcohol is tasteless.
