Public Address | Cafe | Cracker: Caution Boaties

Juha Saarinen

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:43:49 +1300

It's difficult not to be a heavy metal drinking driving alcohol machine though.

Jackie Clark

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:38:31 +1300

Not a drinker, never really been a drinker, can't see the point – I'm one of those who gets more of the ugly part of me when drunk. And it's a progression. Loud, funny, and then vomit. Not good. Haven't done it since my engagement party some 18 years ago.…

Damian Christie

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:18:35 +1300

"I hope he doesn't remember MY saying that… I wonder if I should apologise."

But I thought it was me what said it? Is you saying it ain't?

jb

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:30:02 +1300

"I hope he doesn't remember MY saying that… I wonder if I should apologise."

Thought we had that one sorted, Damian...!

Chris Waugh

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:15:14 +1300

I quit smoking in the Smoker's Paradise, where buying a pack of fags and a lighter, smoking one, and dumping the rest (including the lighter) in self-disgust is not going to induce any guilt. Of course, had you seen the chest x-ray I saw on December 26, 2003, you would…

Jacqui Craig

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:55:00 +1300

Couldn't you just say you're pregnant? I found that to be a fairly socially acceptable way to give up drinking ;)

Sam F

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:21:41 +1300

I seriously considered getting a very tiny torch – I reckoned it would glow nicely as I waved it about to punctuate my rants

I have a pocket Maglite needing a new home. Cigarette-sized and very durable, just needs new batteries and ricegrain bulb, one careful owner?

Isabel Hitchings

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:33:32 +1300

I'm tempted to ask for suggestions as to things I can do with my free hand while drinking and NOT smoking, but I think I can see where that goes...

I'm not going to those places (today anyhow) but as someone who has never smoked cigarettes but used to regularly…

Emma Hart

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:50:47 +1300

Yeah, I gave up smoking (mostly 'social') at the same time I gave up the booze. It was simple without the liquor.

I'm tempted to ask for suggestions as to things I can do with my free hand while drinking and NOT smoking, but I think I can see where…

Damian Christie

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:43:48 +1300

Drink is so nice, but it makes me want to smoke cigarettes

Yeah, I gave up smoking (mostly 'social') at the same time I gave up the booze. It was simple without the liquor. So simple I didn't even bother mentioning it in the blog above.

(Also, keen readers will…

Stephen Judd

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:37:23 +1300

Now what do I do with my life?

Crank out more Fundy Post articles fuelled by the pent-up venom and frustration!

/adoring fan

Paul Litterick

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:32:50 +1300

Drink is so nice, but it makes me want to smoke cigarettes, which are not nice at all when you think about them. So, in order to stop smoking, I have stopped drinking. I am also missing tonight's Media7 gig, because that place is a nest of smokers and drinkers.…

Emma Hart

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:03:58 +1300

I don't think I've binge drunk since I became a father, about 10 years ago.

Having kids really put a kink in my drinking. Suddenly the cost side of the equation shoots up and the benefit diminishes.

But, that said, a couple of times every year I take time off…

Shep Cheyenne

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:00:15 +1300

I decided to give the booze the flick for 6 months & then the boys went on a piss trip to Hawaii. They still haven't forgiven me for that.

There is that great Joke of St Paddys Day being in the middle of Lent when I normally give up the booze…

Kyle Matthews

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:48:26 +1300

I also wish I could get Bookbinder in a bottle – terribly tasty and yet lower alcohol than most beer.

Clearly you're living in the wrong city.

I don't think I've binge drunk since I became a father, about 10 years ago. I regularly have a wine or beer (sometimes…

Damian Christie

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:48:13 +1300

I'm a friendly drunk, I rarely offend people

See, I don't get angry when I drink – and I know plenty of people who do – I just get more offensive than my fairly offensive sober self. If I turned into one of those angry, nasty, argumentative, or God forbid…

Russell Brown

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:42:06 +1300

In some ways, I think it would be easier if I had a Mr Hyde that came out when I drank. But I don't: I'm a friendly drunk, I rarely offend people and I don't get into confrontations. And I don't have massive drinking binges either, least of all out…

Damian Christie

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:28:05 +1300

I find I don't lose a huge amount of weight when I'm off the booze, as I suddenly get really, really massive sugar cravings in the evenings.

Has everyone else found this too? Late night ice cream or chocolate cravings? I've definitely noticed it.

I think however a single magnum…

jon johansson

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:25:30 +1300

Mmmm...well Mr. Christie I think I had a ICR moment the last time we caught up, but I can't really blame it on the drink. Perhaps some of us are always at war with Mr. Jekyll so its part of our deep structure rather than occasional surface flooding that is…

Hadyn Green

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:18:08 +1300

With a glass of wine costing $11 to $15 or more, and beer not much cheaper

Where are you drinking Juha?! You just need to find a nice cheap dive bar.

Megan Wegan

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:16:12 +1300

I gave up drinking for a month recently too.

I hated how much better I felt, and how much I liked Sunday mornings. And while I have taken drinking up again with a vengeance, it has definitely made a difference to my life. Sunny Saturday mornings are to good, and…

Public Servant on a tea-break.

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:07:17 +1300

Stephen

You're right, it does, believe me. It is pretty hard to argue against the evidence that alcohol has a social downside when you get to carrying a drunk, and obnoxious, girlfriend out of a party, where she has just spent the last hour making an enormous arse of herself.…

Juha Saarinen

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:06:57 +1300
With a glass of wine costing $11 to $15 or more, and beer not much cheaper, sobriety is a necessary option. It does make other people seem quite weird though.

Ian MacKay

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:06:12 +1300

I noticed the price of cigarettes the other day while at a dairy. I said to the shopkeeper " Hell. They are over $10 a packet! I wish I smoked!"
She said "Why?"
"Well if I smoked I could give it up and think of the $70 + I would…

Mark Graham

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:04:22 +1300
Now if we can sort out the fireworks, you'll be a model citizen.

Sam F

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:56:07 +1300
Having lost weight and endured a few months of pennilessness at the start of the year, my tolerance has fallen quite a lot, which has enormous flow-on benefits in terms of less alcohol spend for the same quantity of fun. And a neat feedback loop in terms of reduced weight…

JackElder

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:37:59 +1300
I find I don't lose a huge amount of weight when I'm off the booze, as I suddenly get really, really massive sugar cravings in the evenings. I suppose I could try to fight through those, but if I'm not having a beer with dinner I'm damn well going to…

Stephen Judd

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:34:00 +1300

Heh, I seem to remember talking to you about this with RB and Keith once.
The bulgy waist reduction is the neatest part for those of us who are vain. Alcohol doesn't just stimulate your appetite and give you a bunch of extra kilojoules and reduce your enthusiasm for exercise…

Josh Addison

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:25:11 +1300
I thought one of the signs of alcoholism is that you occasionally give up drinking for a while, just to prove that you can...

Public Servant on a tea-break.

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:18:26 +1300

Well done, and you’re right, it isn’t socially easy to lay off the drink for a bit.
The socialising with booze thing, in all honesty, is too expensive to rationalise; personally I simple don’t have enough money too regularly transfer it by biological process from my bank account into the…

Michael Savidge

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:15:21 +1300

I've decided I don't want to participate in this conversation.
But more power to you.
*raises glass*

Anon

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:14:18 +1300

>I've noticed how incredible the peer pressure around drinking is.
You'll also notice how your peers change when you cut back on the drink. You will meet new and perhaps interesting peers during the Saturday and Sunday forays into the morning light.
Anon.

st ephen

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:06:25 +1300
My advice is to keep your hand in a little with the smoking and drinking. One day you too may have a chronic and incurable disorder and the best the medical profession will offer is "cut back on smoking, alcohol and caffeine". And if – like me – you're already…

JackElder

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:05:39 +1300

I normally take two months off the booze each year, because one month is for wooftahs. See? All you have to do is recast not drinking as macho and you're halfway there.
More seriously: I started this shortly before the birth of our first child, because of the prospect of…

Che Tibby

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:53:32 +1300

makes a difference, aeh?
the heart trouble meant i had to weight off the binge drinking, and i've since had that much more time to live with i'm not always sure what to do with it all.
i was initially also flush with cash....

Tom Semmens

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:40:02 +1300
Hmmm, I'm on a training program building up to a half marathon just now as well. I have discovered that when it comes to 12km runs on sore legs, Nurofen is again your friend. Still, I've run a couple before and trust me – training for the first one is…

Public Address

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:40:02 +1300

Discussion from blog post.