Hello Sunday Morning » Simon Maher

HSM TV – 2nd Interview with Simon Maher (Drinksafe Blogger)

ckraine — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:45:03 +0000

(MAKE SURE YOU CATCH THE GLIMPSE OF PUGGLES AT THE END!)

A FALLEN SOLDIER (by Simon Maher)

Simo — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:32:13 +0000

The first-half of my HSM experience has been great for me, I have really come in to my own and settled in to not drinking and being comfortable with it. Warning; this blog is a little more serious.

HSM director Chris often refers to individuals and their relationship with alcohol. To be honest, at first I thought this was rubbish. I thought it was a cop out.

Wait up… now I can now see much more clearly where he was coming from, though I think I can relate to it on another level. Your relationship with alcohol is your relationship with yourself. It’s that ‘internal dialogue’ which gives us confirmation that what we are doing is right or wrong. Booze is so prolific, that it can be described as more than just a thing, but an entity which provides a different (mostly blurry) world to play another character in. It’s that leprechaun, miniature devil,or in my case, its puggles in the driver seat of your mind, pulling at the levers.

Living on the Sunshine Coast, I have had the benifit of living in a very laid-back environment. This has never helped a personalitly like mine when it comes to deadlines (for this post, call me the king of procratination). I haven’t written a post for a while, but before you think I am plain lazy, I have to tell you; Iv’e been busy… So busy that I have found little time to record what I have been doing and thinking thoughout this process. As I approach the halfway mark. It’s high time I spun some yarns.

To give you some history as to where I began to glorify booze; Lets take it back to 1998 for my anual school fete’. Put on your high-wasted jeans and light denim collared shirt with a pair of runners (that goes for you too blokes). The rides are spinning and the teachers are lining up to sit on a seat, suspended above a megalitre of water, hoping the kid doesn’t hit the target and dunk them.

I am running a red-rag round my head, and a new pair os skate shoes; I think I am killing it. The other kids are at stalls, on the rides, or grabbing some fairy floss. What’s Simo doing? He’s in the darkest, gloomiest outskirts of the event, with a small enterage of other enthusuastic revellers (aka troublemakers).

“Show me it man”

My mate Mike produces a medium sized jar full of mixed spirits

“It’s rocket fuel man” He says.

I rember not even knowing what rocket fuel was, but just wanting to get a taste; sure as hell, I found out what it was. I grabbed it from Mike and proceeded to skull almost half the jar. The burn was deep but temporary. Within 15 Minutes i was drunk as a skunk. I was only 12 years old.

I grew up quickly in that regard. My late cousin Tadaaki taught me all the tricks of the trade. An Australian born lad with an Australian mother and Japanese father; with a kamikazee lifestyle. Even though I had a few months of him in age. I looked up to him. He was my best friend, he really ment the world to me. By 13 years of age, I was drinking, smoking and causing as much trouble as possible, mostly with him. Often I would stay over at his place and we would drink and smoke and go on adventures on our pushbikes, seeing what havoc he could create. This was to lay the foundation for my relationship with alcohol. At the age of 13, I wasn’t to know I was training by subconcious to place such importance on these substances.

You may have picked up on me saying my ‘late’ cousin? Tadaaki moved to other schools and eventually to Japan to live with his father at the age of 15. Shorly after we were to discover that he had developed an aggressive inoperable brain tumor. I remember when my mother told me, I sat in my room with Sunk Loto blaring on the stereo, to mask the sounds of my crying. He moved back to Australia to go under intesive care from him mother Suzie. He put up a solid fight, but On March 14th 2002 he lost his battle with the tumor. I was gutted, I had lost my main man.

A Young Tadaaki

So I grew up with not so much “drinking the pain away” but drinking through the good and the bad. Therefore a lot of piss swilling.

Now is the perfect opportunity to re-jig this.

ADDIN’ SWAGGER TO MY STEP (By Simon Maher)

Simo — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:20:51 +0000

This aint so bad, in fact, I'm having an killa time.

The first weekend hanging out with the old boy proved an initial challenge. The seasoned drinker that he is, proceeded to pull out two delicious looking ‘big guns’ in the wine world. A Rockford sparkling Black Shiraz and a Rockford basket press Shiraz. For those that are thinking'WTF is he on about', this wine is highly sought after and very tasty. Normally, I would jump straight in to it; the old boy is an extremely generous man, he especially loves sharing a drink with me. Often we can consume copious amounts of wine, staying up until all hours until one of us declared being a 'shot duck' and admitting defeat (because sunrise was only a couple of hours away). Ouch

For a lot of young aussie men, sharing a drink and a yarn with the old boy are times to be cherished and this is a relationship dynamic which my father and I have formed for around the last 7 years, solidifying it as our main hang out activity. I have an opportunity of interact with him alcohol free. It will be interesting to see what unfolds.

Changes?

I'm not just jumping on the 'positives' bandwagon. I truly haven't felt this energetic, fresh and switched on since high school.  There is ten times more swagger in my step and I am swiftly making up ground on the physical fitness aspect of my goals. I have spent the last 20 days, head down, tail up, working and training hard. I have more clarity of thought and motivation, I'm even doing all the housework!

Why is the change drastic?

I was bordering on becoming a daily drinker, having alcohol in my apartment at all times and if not then going in to town to drink. On weeknights, craving a drink and not just one, two, three or four, but enough to feel the effect. Getting about six hours sleep and back off to work, only to follow the same pattern. I think they call this a vicious cycle.

WWPD(What would Puggles do)

Last post, I introduced you to Puggles my infamous, boozy alter-ego. Below is an account of the impact Puggles has on people:

I was at a friends 21st birthday last weekend, it was my first proper house party without drinks. I had a cracker of a night; catching up with some old faces and having some really quality conversation's. One of these conversations I thought would be great to put in this post.


My first house party with no booze: Left-to-right: Me, Robbie, Nick and TJ
One of my friends at the party was probably about twelve or so standard drinks in to the night. He is a naturally funny chap, but like me, booze amplifies this. I broke it to him about my commitment to HSM, only to receive a long, silent akward stare (he was half joking). Nick proceeds to decribe Puggles' opression inside of my body as this:  
"Simo, how can you do this to Puggles? By now he is in there (my body) thinking to himself; 'shouldn't be too long now till he cracky the first frost one *looks at watch*.

'Ahh, maybe he's (me) just going to do some training, yeah that's it."  
Nick continues with his description looking at me occasionally with genuine concern for Puggles.  
"By a month, Puggles will be pacing round, confused and full of energy, waiting to bust out and come to life, 'what's going on out there?  Have I done something wrong?  Simo?"  
Nick depicts the desperation of a lost boy to a T in the next part of his amusing monologue.  
"By three months, Puggles will be found in the corner... *Nick brings his legs to his chest and commences a rocking motion back and forth*. He'll be freaking out, insane, not knowing what to do"  
Nick's description of a boozless Puggles
The challenge will be having an ability to call upon energy without the need for booze, I do it all day in the workplace, why can't I do it on social occasions.  
One thing I have noticed though, is that I think I need to proactively explain myself for not drinking. I found that it would be the first thing I needed to say to everyone when I encountered. Don't get me wrong, I love talking about HSM, though I shouldn't feel that I need the pretense of "clearing the air" with someone before we begin a conversation I don't owe anyone and explanation, this is for me.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE (By Simon Maher)

Simo — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:56:16 +0000

I sit here and take a deep breath, hold it in for a bit and let the oxygen fill my lungs and shortly after, spike my brain with a hit of dizzy energy. I’m beginning to become short of breath; even at a standstill. I’m fatigued from an ongoing barrage of booze, cigarettes, late nights and junk food. It has become more so apparent how fortunate I am that Chris Raine approached me to take this challenge on, I cannot begin to express the timeliness of this.

Firstly, I won’t tell you about that ‘binge drinking is the worst thing in the world’ and that ‘no one should ever try it’. I love a drink. Instead, I will explore and uncover many of the behavioural and social associations that alcohol has developed within myself; much like other researchers have. The difference is that I’ll bring it from the front line, I have been taking drinking to the extreme for close to a decade in a plethora of interesting situations, solidifying drinking as a priority and a must have in 99% of social occasions I face.

My Boozing boys and the infamous 'man shot'

I’m Simo! A young man with a lot to give in life, A born and bred Sunshine Coast local, a lover of the arts and sport. I’m obsessed with people and It’s what I seem to know best, I just love social interaction. I seem to have some sort of a sixth sense, with which I can detect thoughts and feelings of others, not visible to the naked eye. I understand emotional intelligence and look forward to understanding the amazing human mind even more along this journey.

By adding contrast, I’ll also talk about a certain fellow called Puggles; this is my boozy alter-ego whom has manifested himself solely through the heavy drinking-party scene. It’s a nickname that has somehow stuck with my over recent times, originally given to me from a bunch of close friends who saw a need to name this secondary character. Like Popeye to spinach, Puggles bounds to life with the simplest sip of a Vodka. As many of my friends will agree, puggels is a gluttonous, temperamental chap, and though very lovable, can be quite overbearing and playful. Puggles is a 85Kg, 17 y/o boy whom doesn’t know his own strength. It’s time he went on holiday…

Puggles in full flight

Although I am a young, highly distracted male with plenty of amazing, supportive friends to challenge me and egg me on, I still aim to maintain a degree of balance and focus in my life, though of recent times it has declined. I am quickly learning that this project may not be a walk in the park as I have always been ‘the party guy’ in the eyes of many I know.

In the absence of alcohol and with a clearer vision:

I will pursue career development.

I will look toward travelling or moving to greener pastures.

I want to revisit my artistic side and become more so of an opinion leader in this area.

I want to be comfortable more within myself, let alone without a drink in my hand.

I will become physically and mentally fitter.

What I percieve as being 'on my game'

This being my introductory post, I just wanted to say it is a great pleasure to be involved with a chap I hold extremely highly in my life, Chris Raine.

I take another deep breath and become dizzy again as I feel the oxygen enter my bloodstream, this is where is should be.

Down the rabbit hole I go..