Last night, one of my drinking buddies was taunting me by SMS about my current foolhardy attempt to refrain from alcohol for a month.
"How is sobriety treating you?" he quizzed me.
"Like a nagging bitch girlfriend," I replied, ruefully.
Actually, it hasn't been all that bad. Once I'd re-set my daily habits, purged myself of various rather-too-deeply-ingrained impulses (a beer or two with every meal out, a whisky whenever my throat's playing up a bit, a large brandy & coke every time I watch a DVD, etc.), I quickly settled into a new, alcohol-free routine, and have been scarcely bothered by cravings or regrets at all (I wish I could say the same about all my ex-girlfriends!). It might have been - would have been - otherwise if there were any special party events I'd had to pass up as a result of this stern self-commandment.... but it's been an utterly dead month on the party front.
There are three main drawbacks I've found with this new teetotal regime:
1) Without the anaesthesia of alcohol, my sensitive throat finds it very difficult - nearly impossible - to tolerate the heavily smoky atmosphere of most Beijing bars.
2) My pool game has deserted me: I just don't know how to play sober!
3) Music, and bar life in general, are not quite such fun without the familiar accompaniment - I should say, enhancement - of alcohol. I feel inappropriately, uncomfortably hyper-alert, easily bored, and often self-conscious about what to do with my under-occupied hands. Time has a tendency to elongate rather wearyingly. As I observed last night, "Who knew there were so many minutes in a week?!"
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