Drinking epidemic in our business?

I believe journalists do drink more. When you are finished work it's not like you can go to a museum or a movie...The only places usually open are bars.

And, yeah, I do drink too much. I was telling my wife semi-proudly today that I'd only had two drinks since Sunday. She pointed out that a) It's only five days and 2) I was so drunk Sunday I could barely stand (hell, how often do the Bears go to the Super Bowl?? I felt the need to celebrate).

 

Nighttime hours + lack of social life = drinking.

It's a bad combination for many in the business, but it can be especially harmful (physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually) if you're the kind of person who doesn't do moderation and has a family history of alcoholism.

 

What is moderation? I thought the whole point of drinking was to get hammered.
Seriously, though, I agree with the other posters about lack of things to do when you get off of work. Bars, some movie theaters and Walmart are about the only things open in my town when I get off. So it is either go sit at home by myself - if Mrs. Angola! is working - or go out, or even sit at home by myself, drink and post on this board.

 

Spoken like a true sports journalist.

 

I haven't had a drink since New Year's Eve.

Damn, I need a drink.

 

Like most, I'm not tired when I get home after deadline, around 1 a.m. But instead of drinking*, I just pop in a DVD as background noise and work on other projects (freelance, research-type stuff) until I pass out around 4-5 a.m.


* well, most nights. There are some nights when I need to let off steam. That's what the Fattys in my fridge are for.

 

Okay. Here we go.
I have consumed a minimum, A MINIMUM, of 18 beers per night since Oct. 5, 2005. That was the night my ex-wife sat on my lap and said she wanted a divorce. Bitch.
Anyway, weekends are easily a case per night, Saturday and Sunday.
And, at the time I also smoked two packs of Swisher Sweet little cigars. Damned good stuff. Recently quit them because of surgery.
Haven't quit drinking.
I wanted to quit drinking in the worst way, and was conversing with AlleyAllen and Idaho about my, uh, problem with the dram shop.
Both gave the best advice they could. Idaho gave some really good advice, and I promised him I would not start a thread on this board until I could state I was alcohol free and nicotine free.
I'm one for two.
Plan is to — and I know you all are going to laugh at this — call it a drinking career on my last bottle of beer Sunday night.
“Oh yeah, sure Platy, just give it up after one year and four months of non-stop drinking.”
I can do it.
It is a matter of lifestyle change. That, and I don't have a pot to piss in. ;D
So far tonight I've tossed back two quarts and eight cans (Keystone Light. God, I suck).
I'm going for more. They're in my truck, and in the fridge at home.
And I swear to God, I'm good as done as soon as the last drop passes my lips Sunday night.
I've quit before. I can do it again.
And this time — like the smoking — I think know it should be done for health reasons.
So, if I can get some spare change together and get down to the Dallas gathering, ya'll will have another designated driver.
Thank you, Idaho.
And Angola!, quit smoking. Really. I don't want to preach, but it's been 13 days for me, and I feel like I have my life back.

 

Damn Platy, good luck with that.

 

Holy mother of god Platy! 18 beers -- minimum -- a night? Do you still have a liver? No offense, dude, but that's some serious drinking.

 

Bring it, milk girl.

 

"What is moderation? I thought the whole point of drinking was to get hammered."

See, this is what I don't get.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a Mormon and I don't drink. I would have a sip of my dad's beer when I was little (before I converted to the LDS church) and I had the tiniest of sips of a friend's adult beverage once when I was 18. Nothing else for the past 15 years.

There are times when I'll be hanging out with friends, and think, "You know, it would be cool if my religion was OK with social drinking." I can understand, being with the crowd, wanting to have a beer or two with your buddies. That makes sense to me.

I'll never understand drinking to get drunk. Basically, you are consuming a lot of alchohol, which isn't good for you; spending a lot of money to do so; getting so messed up that you have little or no idea what you are doing; will not remember any of what it is you end up doing; and the next morning, you feel so incredibly horrible you don't want to get out of bed.

I'm sorry, but I'll never be able to wrap my mind around what is so enticing about that chain of events, and in my mind, that has nothing to do with being Mormon, but with using common sense.

Anyone want to take their best shot at explaining it to me?

 

As someone who has done his share of drinking to excess, you're exactly right. There's nothing redeeming in getting hammered. I can drink a lot, and many of the people around me seem to think that's cool. But it causes nothing but trouble. I can't think of a single productive thing that's come from the drinking I've done the past three years (after not drinking for eight).