Oh, Etsy is fab, I bought me some oui/non earrings and camera necklace recently. What have you been perusing and purchasing? (I should clearly get commission from that site, the number of people I've pointed it out to!)
It is indeed a symmetry picture, you may recognise it from a previous post...
Good work :) I went about six months once without a drink, too, and I think it was very good for me - it also meant I somehow bypassed my own eighteenth completely! I haven't been drunk in a while either, though i have been drinking. Got a bit drunk a few times over the summer but I'm really not feeling the drunk thing these days! I think you're right, TG - I think I'll get drunk less and less often until I'll suddenly realise it's actually been years (at which point I'll turn into a tragic, raving, mid-forties alcoholic?). I think being - and acting like - a teenager is fun while it lasts, but then you get to the point where you want more, and more actually involves less of more or less everything - alcohol, sex, drugs, even clothes - I think I shop less these days, honestly! I guess your priorities...deepen?
I think the last time I got really amazingly drunk was a few months ago (went out with work and people kept buying me drinks). Thats not to say I haven't drunk a pretty impressive amount since, just that I generally handle it pretty well. It usually takes a lot to get me really drunk (e.g. went to a house party the other week and drank 2 bottles of wine. Felt fine).
I don't get why everyone's saying "congrats" or whatever, btw. Drinking is awesome! getting smashed less so - although there is a time and a place. But drinking a respectable amount is really rather enjoyable (as long as it's the right drink. This is important).
And Dickie, as for the congrats, it's probably down to people surmising from my "Go me!" that, for me, the not being drunk is a worthy achievement and not due to the misfortunate demise of my social life...
..which, if you're wondering, is alive and kicking and raring to make a weekend of it as we speak. I just don't need obscene volumes of alcohol to complete it. Notice that I say I haven't been drunk, not that I haven't had a drink. In moderation, innit.
Chemistry Fun Fact: In America, it is illegal to sell alcoholic drinks that aren't radioactive.
Alcoholic beverages are derived from plants and prepared by biological means i.e. fermentation, so they will naturally contain a tiny percentage of Carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon. If the carbon in an alcohol consists of 100% carbon-12 (i.e. contains no radioactive carbon) then it is likely to have been prepared specifically for industrial use and therefore is not suitable for drinking and illegal to sell as such.
I now post in fear that someone with a better knowledge of such things will correct me here, but from what I gather from the anecdote and basic chemistry knowledge, that's the general gist of it. So it's a bit of a tenuous statement to make, as technically, alcohol is not really radioactive (C14 makes up something like 0.0000000001% of carbon in the atmosphere), but it's dinner-party type comment that you can use and sound really really cool and not at all odd.
I went through a stint of teetotalitarianism (er..sp?), it was... interesting. I was fine with it, but my friends were not. They weren't massive bingers or live-for-the-weekend repetitive types, but they were so uncomfortable with it. You know those occasions where you absently wave someone's cigarette or weed smoke away from your face? Well, the reaction isn't quite so aggressive, but they continually probed the reasoning behind it, fidgeted and clearly felt I was judging them. Others thought and said that I was boring. Because, you know, you can't have fun without booze!!!!!! yawn.
Did you see similar discomforts in your friends because you'd always end up more sober at the end of the night/start of the morning?
I wrote a ridiculously massive blog about this on my site. Read it if you have five hours to spare. And if you can find it!!!!
Anyway, I'm not happy that you didn't keep this up. But I'm not talking about the alcoholabstinence :-p
To be fair, I wasn't actual tee-total as such, I just didn't drink as much as other people; I was more conscious of the amounts I was intaking and I wouldn't just drink for the sake of it. Often it'd just mean I'd have one glass of wine in the time they'd take to have a bottle and once they got drunk enough they didn't really notice/care. People sometimes commented on it or tried to goad me into drinking more, but to be honest, I can be just as crazy/stupid/annoying sober as I would be drunk, so probably didn't make that much difference.
Snap! Once I started drinking again I was much the same, and I've always been a freak, the alcohol just meant I had less co-ordination and I GOT LOUDER! Since diabetes-gate hit I haven't had a drop. Don't miss it at all. I can drink again, but it requires extra hassle that I don't think booze is really worth.
oh, actually there were a few slips. As the diabetes started kicking in, I was drinking constantly, so new years eve was... erm... well I don't remember, but apparently I was very obviously telling my friends in too loud a whisper how good a friend of a friend's legs were. constantly. "But have you SEEN them?!?!" oh dear.
Go you :-)
ReplyDeleteI think we should celebrate with a few shots...
ReplyDeleteI'll drink to that. I've not been drunk for over 12 hours, but such are 21sts. Not mine, I might add.
ReplyDelete't is good. Go you.
@ hannah: A few shots sounds like a plan, I'll go and get my camera ;)
ReplyDelete@Callan: Indeed, such are 21sts. Might or might not have been one of the reasons for the dedication to abstinence.
I'm still trying to work out the photo in this post. Is that a necklace upon your person? Oh and damn you, I've been shopping on Etsy of late...
ReplyDeleteSecond thoughts, it looks like you've been messing with symmetry. And yes, I've spend a little longer than necessary studying it.
ReplyDeleteOh, Etsy is fab, I bought me some oui/non earrings and camera necklace recently. What have you been perusing and purchasing? (I should clearly get commission from that site, the number of people I've pointed it out to!)
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a symmetry picture, you may recognise it from a previous post...
Congratulations!!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say the same. As time goes on I'm finding the periods between drunkeness getting longer and longer.
(Love the picture of your cat!! He's (she's?) a gorgeous colour)
Good work :) I went about six months once without a drink, too, and I think it was very good for me - it also meant I somehow bypassed my own eighteenth completely! I haven't been drunk in a while either, though i have been drinking. Got a bit drunk a few times over the summer but I'm really not feeling the drunk thing these days! I think you're right, TG - I think I'll get drunk less and less often until I'll suddenly realise it's actually been years (at which point I'll turn into a tragic, raving, mid-forties alcoholic?). I think being - and acting like - a teenager is fun while it lasts, but then you get to the point where you want more, and more actually involves less of more or less everything - alcohol, sex, drugs, even clothes - I think I shop less these days, honestly! I guess your priorities...deepen?
ReplyDeleteI think the last time I got really amazingly drunk was a few months ago (went out with work and people kept buying me drinks). Thats not to say I haven't drunk a pretty impressive amount since, just that I generally handle it pretty well. It usually takes a lot to get me really drunk (e.g. went to a house party the other week and drank 2 bottles of wine. Felt fine).
ReplyDeleteI don't get why everyone's saying "congrats" or whatever, btw. Drinking is awesome! getting smashed less so - although there is a time and a place. But drinking a respectable amount is really rather enjoyable (as long as it's the right drink. This is important).
It doesn't take a lot to get me drunk.
ReplyDeleteAnd Dickie, as for the congrats, it's probably down to people surmising from my "Go me!" that, for me, the not being drunk is a worthy achievement and not due to the misfortunate demise of my social life...
..which, if you're wondering, is alive and kicking and raring to make a weekend of it as we speak. I just don't need obscene volumes of alcohol to complete it. Notice that I say I haven't been drunk, not that I haven't had a drink. In moderation, innit.
Chemistry Fun Fact: In America, it is illegal to sell alcoholic drinks that aren't radioactive.
Ah. See I forgot/overlooked the "go me" comment... oops
ReplyDeleteAnd didn't think it was due to the unfortunate demise of your social life, btw :p
Can we have a little more information on the Chemistry Fun Fact about radioactive American drinks?!! Currently I don't believe you!! xxx
ReplyDeleteI thought you'd never ask ;)
ReplyDeleteAlcoholic beverages are derived from plants and prepared by biological means i.e. fermentation, so they will naturally contain a tiny percentage of Carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon. If the carbon in an alcohol consists of 100% carbon-12 (i.e. contains no radioactive carbon) then it is likely to have been prepared specifically for industrial use and therefore is not suitable for drinking and illegal to sell as such.
I now post in fear that someone with a better knowledge of such things will correct me here, but from what I gather from the anecdote and basic chemistry knowledge, that's the general gist of it. So it's a bit of a tenuous statement to make, as technically, alcohol is not really radioactive (C14 makes up something like 0.0000000001% of carbon in the atmosphere), but it's dinner-party type comment that you can use and sound really really cool and not at all odd.
/geek
I didn't keep this up. I don't regret that.
ReplyDeleteI went through a stint of teetotalitarianism (er..sp?), it was... interesting.
ReplyDeleteI was fine with it, but my friends were not.
They weren't massive bingers or live-for-the-weekend repetitive types, but they were so uncomfortable with it.
You know those occasions where you absently wave someone's cigarette or weed smoke away from your face? Well, the reaction isn't quite so aggressive, but they continually probed the reasoning behind it, fidgeted and clearly felt I was judging them. Others thought and said that I was boring. Because, you know, you can't have fun without booze!!!!!!
yawn.
Did you see similar discomforts in your friends because you'd always end up more sober at the end of the night/start of the morning?
I wrote a ridiculously massive blog about this on my site. Read it if you have five hours to spare.
And if you can find it!!!!
Anyway, I'm not happy that you didn't keep this up.
But I'm not talking about the alcoholabstinence :-p
To be fair, I wasn't actual tee-total as such, I just didn't drink as much as other people; I was more conscious of the amounts I was intaking and I wouldn't just drink for the sake of it. Often it'd just mean I'd have one glass of wine in the time they'd take to have a bottle and once they got drunk enough they didn't really notice/care. People sometimes commented on it or tried to goad me into drinking more, but to be honest, I can be just as crazy/stupid/annoying sober as I would be drunk, so probably didn't make that much difference.
ReplyDeleteSnap!
ReplyDeleteOnce I started drinking again I was much the same, and I've always been a freak, the alcohol just meant I had less co-ordination and I GOT LOUDER!
Since diabetes-gate hit I haven't had a drop. Don't miss it at all. I can drink again, but it requires extra hassle that I don't think booze is really worth.
oh, actually there were a few slips. As the diabetes started kicking in, I was drinking constantly, so new years eve was... erm... well I don't remember, but apparently I was very obviously telling my friends in too loud a whisper how good a friend of a friend's legs were. constantly. "But have you SEEN them?!?!"
oh dear.