Now it’s just the coffee, smokes and huffing Lee Press On Nail adhesive that I need to work on.

On the other hand, quitting because you’ve read lots of scary medical literature seems silly. When I decided to quit, it was because, on balance, life seemed better without a drink than with one. Of course, it helped to spend a month without so I had something to compare.

Maybe some sit-ups later, but… Okay yeah, that’s bad, isn’t it?

Though the jekyll/hyde of alcohol with some people is unbearable, it’s also usually damned entertaining.

Please tell me you only feel like doing push-ups.

Prosit to you regardless of what you do.

There are people like me and you, who enjoy drinking and can easily get into the habit of drinking more than is healthy. At the rate of 1 beer an hour, starting at 5:30 when I got home from work and ending at 10:30, never really catching a big buzz, I was putting away a 6 pack a day. Not only was this expensive, but bad for my liver.

At a get together, I’d get a good buzz going, but be having pleasant conversation the whole time, staying coherent, etc.

Now, the second kind I would call a genuine ALCOHOLIC: This is the person who is a real pleasant guy or gal, and then after only a couple of drinks, starts to go insane. Pretty soon, they are either telling everyone that they don’t understand them, or making out with some stranger. A couple of more drinks and they are repeating themselves over and over again, or breaking something, or taking of their clothes and yelling at people, or running out into the middle of the street. Vomiting and immediately getting another drink is another indicator of what I would call a genuine alcoholic, as is peeing in the corner. Also, deciding to go for a booze run when the stores stopped selling booze 2 hours ago, and not being able to understand that “THEY’RE NOT SELLING BOOZE RIGHT NOW, ASSHOLE!”

These guys are a real drag, because it really kills everyone else’s buzz to have to keep a lunatic drunk from hurting someone or something, or getting themselves hurt.

BTW – I cut down to between zero and 3 drinks a day pretty easily. No withdrawel or anything, just a change in habit.

It’s the second kind of boozer that has a real hard time controlling consumption levels and not totally bingeing.

Gavin, there are plenty of fine tea sellers online, so you can really dig your teeth into a wide variety of teas. Go delicate and get some white tea, or go dark and try some masala (spiced black tea), your options are wide open.

But running? Good god, man, chill out. Next thing you know you’re living off of spirulina, kale and tempeh, and worried about those CRT rays at your monitor. Then we find you holed up in the Catskills living out of a hollowed-out tree stump. What happens to Video Friday then, huh?

My advice on the booze(and what is a blog for if not for everyone to give everyone else advice to ignore?) is that if stopping makes you feel so great, stop. Otherwise, never drink alone(at the computer especially), set personal limits(I’ll usually only have one, but at 120 lbs that’s size-related), and learn to nurse one for a long time. Also, only ever drink really good booze; one glass of fine wine or good beer is far more of a treat than several servings of swill.