Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Same. It became way too acceptable to get drunk on a Tuesday night because what the fuck was there to get up for on a Wednesday. I'm just now digging myself out of that mindset. I still drink too much, but at least I'm giving myself a break three nights a week. Wasn't the case in spring 2020.

 

I drank way less. For the first little bit, after schools closed and we had a family issue that created some stress, I would go outside in the afternoon and have one drink sitting in the shade reading. Did that for a few weeks, maybe longer. But since then, my drinking has been greatly reduced. But I'm a social drinker. It's not much fun drinking alone.

 

And even if it might exist, why did she even get it if she had this so-called vax!?!?

 

I'm a moderate social drinker who discovered that, a lot of people around me, were neither moderate nor only social drinkers. My church has lost 2 specifically to it so far. Both under 50. I've heard some pandemic stories right out of Raymond Carver story.

 

Nah, but Covid Pong isn’t as much fun at the frat house.

 

I find very little fun in drinking alone at home now, aside from a whiskey nightcap after being out with friends. If I'm drinking, I'm out. I crave the social aspect of it.

 

Wine with meals at home with Alice. Cocktails only when we're out. Same social thing. Also reduced drinking as part of so far only partially successful effort to lose the weight I gained in the first few months of the pandemic. I notice with dismay that some overeating became a winter thing rather than a pandemic thing. But I haven't had a potato or pasta since New Year's. Have had pizza a couple times. And hardest of all, no salty snacks.

 

The early pandemic was the hardest. For a while, my wife was teaching from home, we had our then-two-and-a-half year old son out of daycare, and I was doing my best to work from home when I wasn't watching him because she was teaching. Come the four o'clock hour, I was ready for a drink. The problem was that I'd then have four or five more after that. Rinse and repeat until about five months or so ago. I've been able to get back down to two or three a night.

 

Anyone remember Sweden?

“We argue that that scientific methodology was not followed by the major figures in the acting authorities—or the responsible politicians—with alternative narratives being considered as valid, resulting in arbitrary policy decisions. …

“The Swedish people were kept in ignorance of basic facts such as the airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission, that asymptomatic individuals can be contagious and that face masks protect both the carrier and others. Mandatory legislation was seldom used; recommendations relying upon personal responsibility and without any sanctions were the norm. Many elderly people were administered morphine instead of oxygen despite available supplies, effectively ending their lives.”

Evaluation of science advice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

 

I’ve had more than my share of battles with the bottle, but looking on the bright side, the battle in 2020 appears to have been my last.

Haven’t had a drop in nine months and counting, and I don’t miss it at all.

Very reminiscent of when I quit smoking for the last time after a ton of false starts.

 

Two things can equally be true: Alcoholism is tragic and heartbreaking especially when someone loses the battle (my grandpa died of Cirrhosis send another family member celebration 30 years of sobriety this month) AND Covid is a big deal and that losses are tragic and heartbreaking.

Alma is playing his “why are we so focused on Covid and ignoring (fill in his cause du jour now that shaming teachers for wanting to not die is no longer possible with schools open).” His whattaboutism is tired. But I’m sure as a teacher this is all somehow my fault.

 

My girlfriend is a bartender. We have a fully stocked bar in the basement. We have drank precisely zero of that booze in two years.