#38 Stop Drinking For a Month or More

This task took place from Nov 9th to Dec 17th.
So why did it take me so long to blog about it?
Well, remember December wasn't my month.
But also, I wanted to see what I would do the month
after I spent so long without drinking.

And by drinking, I mean water.
No, dumbass. Alcohol, of course.

In all honesty, I started it up
because of an incident that I still can't tell you about.
Those that know know.
But just so you know how upset I was, the weekend before I embarked on this task I received a shot glass with my name on it... literally. I was so overjoyed and ready to use it.
I still have not used it other than to take water shots.
And since my name is on it,
I haven't allowed anyone else to use it. Their name ain't Charles. Shiiit.


Let me tell you now,
I am a borderline alcoholic.
But then again, aren't most college students?
So we lie to ourselves and say it's only alcoholism once we graduate.
At least we've set a cutoff date for ourselves.

When I first came to college,
I didn't have it in my mind to drink at all.
I was gonna be one of those sober kids.
But I remember a call from my mom a month before I started college.
She said something to the effect of "I know you're gonna drink."
Now, she wasn't all the way okay with it,
but she knew it would happen.
I think without that, I would still be sober.
Or at least I'd been sober for longer.
Am I blaming her? No.
I'm just saying she took off a bit of judgment from my mind.

I lasted until October 6th, 2007.
I know that because the pictures from it are posted the next day.
I took six shots of vodka pretty fast,
mostly cause my room and floor mates were champs.
I puked shortly after,
only to run around with my shirt off
down the hall to where my first college crush lived
and harassed him for the remainder of the night.
I felt liberated... and I loved it.

It wasn't until my junior year that I discovered I might have a problem.
For an undisclosed reason, I had to fill out this sheet that asked how much I drank each day during the past 4 weeks.
The 1st week had been Spring Break, so I was sober. But the other 3 weeks... 17 of those days I was drunk. Somehow I got work done, but still, I was shook.
Did I stop then? Not really.
But I did cut back.
What can I say, I surround myself with drinkers. And when other people are drinking, I feel compelled to drink myself.



In a sense, I've become known as a big drinker.
That's why I got a shot glass as a gift.
I've always been a liquor boy over beer.
It is what I started off on, after all.
And I know how to hold it.
So yes, liquor was my friend.

However I wanted to see if I could go without it,
as kind of a PSAT to real life.
I got to tell you, the first 10 days I was fiending,
but I managed to resist.
The rest of that first month was easy.
I would go to different house parties
and be surrounded by people drinking,
satisfied with drinking a soda or whatever.
By 1 o'clock though, I would leave.
I was too sober; I felt outta place.
I started to notice what fools some people become while intoxicated.
It was a bit off putting.

Finally December 9th rolled around.
I celebrated my month of sobriety with a water shot.
I still wanted to see if I could go any further.
I made it to December 18th, the day after my friend's 22nd birthday.
He had a final earlier that day, so we couldn't celebrate on the 17th.
But even then, I didn't drink that much.
I only drank when the whole group took a shot.
It was like I was cool without it.
A drunk feeling did not over take me that night.

The only other time since then I had a drink was New Years Eve.
Again, I didn't drink that much, and I bought the bottles that night.
I could have asked for money,
but I remember all the times someone bought a bottle and didn't ask for anything.
I was kind of paying it forward.
Again, my friends got drunk and I could only look on in half disgust.
The other half was laughing uncontrollably.
I had never seen my best friend from home and his friends drunk.
It was a rare sight.

So, am I saying I'm no longer an alcoholic?
I suppose. I'm able to resist a drink now.
Am I gonna remain sober for the most part?
That I doubt. I still have a shot glass to try out. haha.
But, I definitely won't be going as hard as I have been.
Yet another step into adulthood.
I'm starting to resent these steps a little bit.
They're making Jack a dull boy. haha
Word.