Dryanuary: Days Three & Four
As a way to atone for my holiday sins and cleanse my poisoned body, I've determined to abstain from alcoholic beverages for the entire month of January. Apparently a lot of people do this and it's called "dryanuary." This is my story...
Day Three
Now we're getting into the real meat of this experiment. Days One and Two were a cake walk; it was more about preventing myself from just reaching for a beer or a glass of wine out of sheer habit than actually trying to stymie any desires. Day Three, Friday, was a little different.
Out at dinner the waitress rattled off the tap list, a nice line-up of microbrew taps for $4, and then hit me with the real left hook: Three Floyd's Zombie Dust on tap for $5. By the way my eyes lit up she almost immediately put me down for a pint.
"What, you're not getting one? But it's Zombie Dust. For $5 a glass..."
Some of you, like my esteemed "Everything Geek" Andrew Soliday might turn up your noses and say, "Meh...you can get Zombie Dust on tap for $4.75 at yada-yada-yada establishment" but I'm not a beer geek and I don't eat out that often. Therefore, the deal was hard to pass up. What's more, it was a Friday night and it was damn tempting to quaff a nice cold micro brew with dinner. But I resisted...and the story continues into....
Day Four
As I'm discovering, the real difficulty of this endeavor lies not necessarily in the abstinence from alcohol, per se, but in monitoring and changing my habits. I do not have some deep biological or mental need for booze; thank god I've been able to dance with spiritus frumenti for so long and come out relatively unscathed. However, as it is for most civilized gentlemen and women, alcohol is a big and enjoyable part of my life. Safe to say that in the normal course of events, few days go by when I don't indulge in at least a beer or a glass of wine with dinner. One of the enjoyable parts of becoming an adult is drinking for taste and appreciation rather than for effect; the goal is to compliment a meal or a gathering with friends, or just to unwind a bit, rather than to get hammered and loose control.
All which is to say: it's actually much harder now to go without drinking than it might have been when I was 24, because it's so much more a regular part of my life. When I was 24 if I wanted to avoid drinking, I would just avoid meeting eyes with the office Party Animal around Happy Hour on Friday. Now, it's a bit more tricky. All throughout my home lie exquisitely tempting beers, wines, and whiskeys. When you buy more than you drink, you build up quite a collection.
So again we ask: why give up something I enjoy? Even for a day, let alone a month? Well friends, I will meditate upon the answer to this question tomorrow.
Now, I shall repair to the living room (five feet away) and watch a movie, while I eat my pork chop and drink my WATER, and wait for the latest catastrophic winter blizzard to hit.
Day Three
Now we're getting into the real meat of this experiment. Days One and Two were a cake walk; it was more about preventing myself from just reaching for a beer or a glass of wine out of sheer habit than actually trying to stymie any desires. Day Three, Friday, was a little different.
Out at dinner the waitress rattled off the tap list, a nice line-up of microbrew taps for $4, and then hit me with the real left hook: Three Floyd's Zombie Dust on tap for $5. By the way my eyes lit up she almost immediately put me down for a pint."What, you're not getting one? But it's Zombie Dust. For $5 a glass..."
Some of you, like my esteemed "Everything Geek" Andrew Soliday might turn up your noses and say, "Meh...you can get Zombie Dust on tap for $4.75 at yada-yada-yada establishment" but I'm not a beer geek and I don't eat out that often. Therefore, the deal was hard to pass up. What's more, it was a Friday night and it was damn tempting to quaff a nice cold micro brew with dinner. But I resisted...and the story continues into....
Day Four
As I'm discovering, the real difficulty of this endeavor lies not necessarily in the abstinence from alcohol, per se, but in monitoring and changing my habits. I do not have some deep biological or mental need for booze; thank god I've been able to dance with spiritus frumenti for so long and come out relatively unscathed. However, as it is for most civilized gentlemen and women, alcohol is a big and enjoyable part of my life. Safe to say that in the normal course of events, few days go by when I don't indulge in at least a beer or a glass of wine with dinner. One of the enjoyable parts of becoming an adult is drinking for taste and appreciation rather than for effect; the goal is to compliment a meal or a gathering with friends, or just to unwind a bit, rather than to get hammered and loose control.
All which is to say: it's actually much harder now to go without drinking than it might have been when I was 24, because it's so much more a regular part of my life. When I was 24 if I wanted to avoid drinking, I would just avoid meeting eyes with the office Party Animal around Happy Hour on Friday. Now, it's a bit more tricky. All throughout my home lie exquisitely tempting beers, wines, and whiskeys. When you buy more than you drink, you build up quite a collection.
So again we ask: why give up something I enjoy? Even for a day, let alone a month? Well friends, I will meditate upon the answer to this question tomorrow.
Now, I shall repair to the living room (five feet away) and watch a movie, while I eat my pork chop and drink my WATER, and wait for the latest catastrophic winter blizzard to hit.
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