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The Atlantic on alcohol consumption

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Alma, Jan 14, 2020.

  1. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Watch your father and your parents' first marriage get destroyed by alcohol and try telling me that it can't really foul some stuff up.

    Only a few years ago, found out at least one person on the other side of my family was pretty close to a functioning alcoholic for a while.

    Small wonder I took major umbrage with an editor at one stop who all but chided me for not drinking. Hey, I hung out with the group after work ... that was the closest-knit group I have worked with before or since. Great group of people ... a naturally interesting group whose stories are worth anyone's time and effort. A couple of them liked to have a couple too many on occasion. They didn't mind my getting them back to their places. A couple of watering holes were decent enough not to charge me for soft drinks ... I suspect I wasn't the only one getting some of their regulars back safely. And if I'm judging, then why did I willingly hang out with them?

    There does seem to be a stigma attached to not drinking. Goodness knows I'm socially awkward enough - I'm pretty dumb but not quite that oblivious - but IMO, drinking is not my answer. Suspect it never will be.
     
    Roscablo and Batman like this.
  2. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    This was one of the best pieces I read last year.

    The Metaphysics of the Hangover

     
  3. canucklehead

    canucklehead Active Member

    I've been around my share of alcoholics and I'm dealing with the issue with a close family member right now. His body is starting to shut down and it is simply because he refuses to stop drinking and get healthy. It's his choice to put the beer down and resume his life. My late father stopped cold turkey when his doctor advised him to either stop or die. He didn't drink again after that day and lived many more years but he could have lived many many more than that if he would have slowed down when he was younger.
    To me, it's simply a sign of weak mindedness if you know it's hurting you and you keep doing it.
    My wife had cancer 13 years ago (she survived). I become enraged when I hear some asshole or his enablers say he can't stop drinking because he has a disease. Compare chronic drinking to what she went through? No fucking way. Drinking is a choice in my opinion.
    When I encounter a drunk in public who comes over to talk to me thinking he's the life of the party I bluntly tell him to get the fuck away from me.
    I keep beer in my fridge for guests and on a hot day in the summer I'll have one. One.
     
  4. Roscablo

    Roscablo Well-Known Member

    So similar things with me. My dad also almost drank himself to death. He was in the hospital for a month and then a nursing home after that to rehab. Once he was out and "healthy" he also quit cold turkey and hasn't touched it again.

    That was 24 years ago and it's like he got an second life and he is truly a whole new person. He has bad throat cancer now and is short on time and much of that is because he's also a terrible smoker but the drinking certainly hasn't helped.

    But I'm glad I got the sequel dad after the drinking. Plenty of us here have commented in this way but it can be beyond ugly.
     
  5. OscarMadison

    OscarMadison Well-Known Member

    I worked for an editor/owner who used to have weekly sessions of drunken AMA in the online press room. It was sad to see someone fritter away their talent like that.


    Apologies to anyone who thinks this speaks for them, but I loathe that meme. Spend some time with kids whose childhoods were ended by junkie mommas and try to keep your game face when you find out you're talking to a 38-year-old grandmother or a 56-year-old great-grandmother and get back to me about all those "bad" mothers who think it's cute to get their drink on.

    Gah. I am so humorless today. I have TGT: Seamen cued up, which will either make me laugh or infuriate me. Feeling lucky...
     
    exmediahack likes this.
  6. Donny in his element

    Donny in his element Well-Known Member

    My drinking life, in vignettes:

    (1/3) My dad was an alcoholic when I was young. Parents divorced when I was six. But by the time I was eight, he was sober after detox and a halfway house. Still is. Parents eventually got remarried. Still are. A success story.
     
  7. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    I really don't get the "dry month" thing. Is that what fashionable people do to convince everyone they don't have to drink? Health benefits?
     
  8. Donny in his element

    Donny in his element Well-Known Member

    (2/3) Understandably, I never drank in high school. This, never acquired the taste for beer. Somewhat dampened my social experience, but I also got some begrudging popularity cred, too. I was still a fun hang at the teen rave clubs of late 90s Florida, even when I was always drug free. Mad glow-stick skills, I guess.

    Didn’t drink in college — a top tier party school, no less — which certainly dampened my social options. Still loved a good night of dancing at Yianni’s or Clyde’s and Costello’s, so that helped.

    Apropos of earlier posts, I’ll never forget being in the French Quarter in the days leading up to the 2003 Sugar Bowl. Not a drinker, bottles of water or fountain Coke cost $9 at these overflowing bars that had drink minimums to enter. The Hurricanes were cheaper. Fuck that.
     
  9. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    It’s an outgrowth of NY resolutions to eat better and exercise more. Has nothing to do with being fashionable or trendy.
     
  10. Donny in his element

    Donny in his element Well-Known Member

    (3/3) Broke the seal finally New Year’s Eve 2005 at the Hollywood Hard Rock on someone else’s dime. Twenty-four and tipsy, and God damn was that fun.

    Drank socially, responsibly after. Kept it fruity, Malibu and rum. Screwdrivers.

    Now, man, I like a bourbon. I have bottles and always want to buy more. I just never find the time to drink. Maybe an Old Fashioned or a two-finger pour couple times a month. Old habits, I guess.
     
  11. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    I'm just curious what the dry month signifies. A desire to stop drinking? To slow down? A booze cleanse?

    Planned cleanses and detoxes of all kinds are kind of ridiculous.
     
  12. Donny in his element

    Donny in his element Well-Known Member

    It’s a secular version of Lent. Do it to prove you can do it.
     
    HC likes this.
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