Alcohol Curtailment

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Freed Roger
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by Freed Roger »

+ way to go guys. Has to take courage.

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cardinalkarp
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by cardinalkarp »

Apparently, sobriety hasn't helped me in identifying typos.

tlombard
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by tlombard »

Since I bought the car and have been taking less public transportation, my alcohol consumption has gone way down and so has my spending at bars and in general. I like it a lot.

It isn't even that I ever crave alcohol, I just end up at the bar because I need social interaction and during parts of the year (like now), all of my friends from outside of the bars are busy with their kids, families and general holiday stuff. I get tired of just sitting in my apartment by myself! Heck, I still have 15 beers in my fridge from Labor Day weekend that I didn't drink down at the lake. I brought back a full 30 pack, took 15 of them to a kickball tournament a week later and have had no desire to touch the rest when I'm at home by myself.

However, before the car I would take the bus to the bar after work at times or Uber from home and end up drinking way too much. I'd average a beer every 17 minutes and then there would be shots on top of that if others wanted to do a round. I'm the definition of a binge drinker. I don't really have the desire to get started but once I do, I just don't stop until I've had too much.

Thankfully now that I'm driving to the bar 9 out of 10 times, I have no problems drinking a beer an hour on average and turning down shots. Sometimes it is a beer every 45 minutes or so and sometimes it is 3 beers in 4 hours like last Monday watching the Blues game.

Freed Roger
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

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tlombard
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by tlombard »

Wasn't really sure where to put this but I found out over the weekend that a guy I used to be friends with (hadn't seen him in a few years) is now in Federal prison. It started with an alcohol problem. Then he lost his job because of the drinking so he started to go to the casino. When those losses mounted he tried to hide them by gambling the rent money his wife gave him to pay the rent with and of course he lost that. After that series of stupid decisions, of course he didn't wise up so he robbed a bank inside the grocery store right around the corner from their apartment with a note. Twice. Then he went back a third time and this time he had a gun. He got caught this third time because the Uber driver he hired to take him either to the store or home recognized him after seeing the picture on the news.

What an idiot.

Freed Roger
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by Freed Roger »

Sorry man. The gambling addiction is hard to figure. But a real problem for some for sure

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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by Joe Shlabotnik »

In college I rented a room from a lady who's husband was in prison for the same kind of thing. Her and two young kids. Felt sorry for them.

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Leroy
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by Leroy »

Thank heaven I never had a gambling problem. I lose ten bucks in a lottery machine and I'm mad for a month.

I haven't found the alcohol all that hard to kick, which makes me think I wasn't really addicted, I just liked it. A lot. But 8.5 years on, and I've never been really tempted at all. That's not to say that if I could, I wouldn't start up again, but I can't, so I won't.

tlombard
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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by tlombard »

Addiction runs rampant in my family but thankfully I've been able to avoid it whether it is booze, drugs or gambling.

I did start smoking when I was freaking 28 or some reason but I've never even tried marijuana or any other drug.

I do drink, and drink often when things aren't shut down like now, but I never actually crave alcohol. I still have beer that was left over from Labor Day sitting in my apartment and not once have I even been tempted to crack one open this past month. I literally cannot drink by myself and the best I can figure is that I have some mental block that won't allow me to because I'm afraid of going down the path to becoming dependent on alcohol.

And I'm with you Leroy, I can't STAND gambling. I went to a casino with my dad when I was 21 and he gave me $100 and sat me down at a $25 minimum Blackjack table. Five minutes later all of that was gone and I was traumatized even though it wasn't even my own money!

The idiot friend does have a son of course but thankfully his son's mother has always had primary custody so while his kid has to process and deal with his dad being in prison, at least he wasn't dependent on his dad for much and not at all financially. As for his wife, I have no idea how she's doing. They both pretty much cut everybody off on social media when it all happened apparently. Before this stay at home stuff, I checked FB for updates maybe once a week at the most and only checked notifications and the top few things in my feed so I never even noticed. I don't blame her for just shutting it all down with the exception of her closest friends and family.

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Re: Alcohol Curtailment

Post by Michael »

Speaking as a poker player, I'm seen a lot of gambling addiction. The local casinos are the worst. I've said to people before I'd rather have a heroin addiction over a gambling addition. They always think I'm joking but I'm not. People with gambling addictions have something like a 5x suicide rate over people with drug addictions. I'd also argue a gambling addiction put more stress on families than drugs. It's a horrible disease.

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