It Makes Us Happy

Yes, I had tequila last night. It was... fine. And no real aftermath today, which is good. I had a g&t at a bar, and really, really felt it, so had a couple of pints of water. Then, a marg, another (2nd made by SS who is a marg-making genius, so it was much the better one) and a corona - which is effectively water, anyway. It was fine, not the wonders of a cold beer at the end of a hard day, but it was fun, and definitely revived a flagging me after catching the redeye back from CA on Thursday night.

So, slowly reintroducing myself into the world of booze, and I'm ok. I really am looking forward to a glass of red wine and a steak tonight. Just need to take it easy again.

In honour of the margarator:

Reunited

Will it feel so good? Tonight marks the start of drinking again and this weekend's activities are probably just NOT what the doctor ordered - a night with the margarator and a night with the biggest boozers I know, which will doubtlessly descend into a bar somewhere after a civilised supper.

Because what I have discovered about myself is that I can, weirdly, cope in the boisterous, big social situations that I thought previously would be horrendous - work dos, parties with dancing, etc. It's not ideal for me, but it's doable. You say you're not drinking for the month, people think you're weird and that's it. And you get to watch the madness of the drinking of others which can be mildly entertaining. I don't miss the huge nights - well, I particularly don't miss the mornings after. Sleeping alcohol-free is glorious.

What I have missed are the small pleasures that it brings. A glass of good red wine with a good Italian meal. A beer and a takeaway on a Friday night while watching multiple episodes of 30 Rock. That sort of thing. The message I'm taking from this month has been that I don't automatically have to have alcohol, and being more considered about my intake is a really good thing. But I really am not prepared to give it up entirely - I enjoy it far too much.

One thing that I must note, however, is that I really have done this mostly to say that I have done it. I couldn't bear the thought of caving, and so I didn't. But it was often predominantly a pride thing, rather than being convinced in the project's inherent worth. I don't know what to think about that. What I do know is that February will be dry from hereon. If I can. So it must have done me some good.

Tomorrow: Report on the aftermath of Pass # 3.

Passes used: 2/4.
Days without alcohol in February: 23.
Consecutive days without alcohol: 19.

Sunday Selection: The Thursday Late/Pre-Emptive SF Version

So, I didn't do one last Sunday on the way back from DC, but today, in San Francisco, looking over the bay, was struck by a shameful, but true, longing for Chris Isaak's Can't Do a Thing (to Stop Me), from his San Francisco Days album. So that's the start of Genius...

1. Love Comes Quickly - The Pet Shop Boys. I downloaded Discography, their greatest hits, about six months ago after a real yen to hear them again. This is one of my favourite ones although, to be fair, I love almost every single equally, other than West End Girls and Rent, which are my all-time faves. I just love the line "It may seem romantic/but that's no defence." His voice is so compelling, in such a weird way.
   
2. Who's That Girl - Eurythmics. Thanks to my mother, I know almost every Eurhythmics song ever. Unlike some of our other 80s, more naff stuff that I know off by heart but am embarrassed to be so familiar with (Queen, Simply Red, basically), I utterly love them and have no shame in proclaiming that. This song is miraculous - the way it switches from this soft, cheesy sounding song, to the more strident, demanding bit, and then she changes again to the beseeching "Who's that girl?" over choppy synths and beats. Her voice is spectacular, and I think extremely understated - no frills, no warbles except used sparingly. It blends so well with the synthesisers, it's remarkable.
   
3. Everybody Here Wants You - Jeff Buckley. One of my desert island discs because it is so utterly, utterly perfect: longing, pretty, and the sparse instrumentation lets his voice soar and honestly always send chills down my spine.
   
4. Before Today - Everything But the Girl. Generally, I found their stuff pretty drippy, but I love this album, Mirrorball. It's the one dance album they did, inspired by Missing. It's wonderful for running to, so long as you're running outside. I used to run to this all the time over Blackheath during my masters. This is the opening track, and just brings back such clear memories of running down the hill into the village. When my knees worked. Sigh.
   
5. Hit - The Sugarcubes. I love this - the jangly guitars, the crazy little Icelandic man screeching incomprehensible madness over the break in the middle. The best bit, of course, is Bjork lamenting her falling in love - alternately upbraiding the object of her affections for doing this to her, and describing in detail exactly the effect of this undesired obsession.
   
6. Badge - Cream. Fine, but not exactly exciting, and I think Boston definitely borrowed part of the guitar from this for More Than a Feeling.
   
7. I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses. The beginning build up to this is magnificent and, thank goodness, the rest of the song doesn't let it down. I didn't get why everyone was so into this album for such a long time, but then, for a long time I didn't get anything Manchester-sounding - this, the Smiths, New Order, Electronic, and then all of a sudden it happened. It may have been an Oasis-inspired awakening, but it had to happen somehow, better late than never, right?
   
8. Skin Trade - Duran Duran. DD are my favourite 80s band - barring # 10 here and Culture Club - and I just fricking love this song. It's them trying to be all slinky, and utterly ridiculous, but I love it. It really shows the versatility of SLB's unbelievable voice. For all the ridiculousness of the decade, DD show us how awesome that silliness could be, but that often hides how fab they were.
   
9. Getting Away With It - Electronic. This is ace - the combination of Neil Tennant, Johnny Marr and Barney Sumner was bizarrely a supergroup that actually worked. This is my favourite song off that album.
   
10. Head over Heels - Tears for Fears. TFF were my favourite, favourite band of the 80s. Full stop. I had videos, all the songs, and when I was 6 I was convinced I was going to marry the bass player, Curt Smith. I'd not listened to them for ages until Donnie Darko came out and people were going on about Mad World, and then I realised they were actually referring to the TFF song, just not their version. That reignited my interest, and I now listen to them quite a lot, but particularly this song, which I think is brilliant. I love the use of this in Donnie Darko in the first high school scene, it just fits wonderfully. But they were everything that's silly but kind of cool about the 80s - took themselves far too seriously, it seemed, but good pop tunes.
    

So near and yet...

Saturday is officially my last day of abstinence. However, those that have read my previous post on The Month of Living Abstemiously will know that I had two passes remaining as of last week and, indeed, I still have them. They are to be used tomorrow in a reunion with The Margarator and on Saturday at a very generous (and belated) Bar-Passing celebration at a restaurant with a steady and cheap wine list. So although Saturday is the last day of February, my final day of no alcohol is today.

It's been... strange. I have wanted to cave but haven't really been that close to doing so. I did have a couple of (disgusting) non-alcoholic beers on Sunday after footie, but that's it. Never again - it's going to be full throttle next year, no substitutes. I'm going to reflect more fully on it this weekend, but just to let you know what I have survived/struggled through without le booze, I have compiled a list of some notable occasions:

• Three days with work people at a retreat surrounded by free booze.
• One birthday party which ran lateish and had serious dancing, with a ton of people I didn't know - and my partner in abstinence using one of his passes. Luckily, though, the birthday girl and her husband are both seriously off the booze (since October, the nutters), so it wasn't too much pressure.
• A Pure Romance party. NOT what I had imagined we were doing when a friend invited us over for cocktails. But that's for another day. Note: "Romance" means the down and dirty. Interesting how and when the two are conflated thus.
• Valentine's Day.
• A day of guitar hero at my house on the long weekend (Presidents' Day).
• Schmoozing on the west coast with tons of local, yummy wine at my disposal. Sigh. Thank God we haven't attempted to get to Napa. I'd cry.

Passes used: 2/4.
Days without alcohol in February: 22.
Consecutive days without alcohol: 18.

The Month of Living Abstemiously

Several years ago - probably about seven, so in fact considerably more than "several," I decided to give up drinking for the month of March. I had read a newspaper article in which the author regaled us with tales of glowing skin and happy, interesting people. It was the skin that really sold it to me, unsurprisingly.

It was miserable. I didn't change my lifestyle at all, and London was still a fully smoking place, so I learned that half of feeling terrible the day after drinking could be atributed to a) cigarette smoke and b) lack of sleep. So I didn't enjoy it, and gave up giving up on March 29, a cold night in Glasgow over an Italian meal that cried out for a glass of montepulciano (although now I'd probably go for a Nero D'Avolo, Sangiovese or Barbera D'Asti - hurrah for wine snobs in training(TM!).

Last year, a dear friend MC challenged me to 14 days without alcohol, caffeine, red meat, cheese. We were to do 7 cultural events and 7 pieces of exercise in 14 days. I refused to fully embrace it - only denying myself spirits, coffee, and cheese. I refused to give up tea (the year before's Lent without caffeine had taught me that was generally fruitless), and could not face no beer as there was the Super Bowl to be navigated. Even so, I broke that after three days when I had a mojito, cuban sandwich and then multiple maker's marks (in for a penny, in for a pounding headache), and had to recover with a boatload of coffee.

Therefore I was concerned when MC asked me to take part again. Yet for some reason I decided to go with it and try again. Starting Feb 2 (Super Bowl people, Super Bowl!) I decided that February would be the month - not just a fortnight as originally considered, but a whole month. MC came up with the "pass" options, namely that on four evenings, I could drink what I wanted (he got a pass for his dates). And so that's what's happening in February. I'm going to muse on it in the next week or so as my time comes to an end. It's been... intriguing. But just so that it wasn't a surprise.

Passes used: 2/4.
Days without alcohol in February: 17.
Consecutive days without alcohol: 12.