How did I go from Free-Alcohol to Alcohol-Free? Anyway, onto my 4^th weekend and here’s a few lessons learnt over the past few weeks:

• On the first weekend, I highly recommend locking yourself in and as far away as possible from the drinking spots.
• Don’t make the mistake I made and tell people that you’ve quit drinking for the next 3 months; everyone will make it their personal mission to get you drunk by any means possible.
• Get your own water…
• Replacing drinks with water can be a great solution but be prepared for a lot of bathroom trips… A LOT of bathroom trips
• Don’t go out as early as you normally do. If your set starts at 2am, don’t head out at 11 because those 3 hours will be the slowest 3 hours of your life. It’s not because you’re not having fun, but when you’re drunk, you seem to wander off and lose track of time more often.
• Be warned that some acquaintances that you thought were the funniest people to be around aren’t so funny when you’re sober.
• Some girls wear a lot of make up (and really can’t walk in those shoes)
• The food that you normally eat at 5am isn’t as delicious as you thought it was. In fact, it’s quite nasty!
• You don’t seem to make those stupid drunk decisions when you’re sober. If you still do, you can’t blame the stupid decision on the drink anymore… damn!

I’m 26 years old; I work as a Quality Assurance Consultant on weekdays and DJ at various venues on weekends. Reading through these blogs, I’m going to take a different approach with my first post. I’m not going to tell you why I’m taking a 3-month hiatus from alcohol nor am I going to tell you what I hope to achieve from this challenge… not yet anyway.

Before I say hello to Sunday morning (and Saturday morning… Most public holidays as well… Mondays and Tuesdays as well… Some Wednesdays and Thursdays… and maybe most Fridays), I’m going to say goodbye to the booze by going through the history of our relationship.

Age 16:

I rock up to a party with a bottle of Gin I stole from my dads’ alcohol cabinet and start drinking straight out of the bottle. It’s a warm December afternoon, around 6pm and my friends 17^th birthday just got started. I think I made it to 7pm before I pass out on the grass holding onto it for dear life because I can severely feel the gravitational pull of the earth. Turns out, I was “that guy” at the party…

Age 17:

At my high school girlfriend’s house party and I was going through her dads’ alcohol cabinet this time, I found a bottle of Johnny Walker blue which I took to enjoy for the rest of the evening. If Johnny Red was the cheap stuff and Johnny Black the expensive stuff; Blue had to fall somewhere in-between as it’s darker than red but not as dark as black. An hour later, I’m throwing up my guts on the front porch of the house; the girlfriend is pissed off because I had convinced a group of friends to move the living room (and laundry… and kitchen) into the neighbour’s house. My parents picked me up at around midnight and on the drive back I decided to play a game where I keep the contents of my stomach inside… turns out I lost that game. It also turns out, that a bottle of Johnny Walker blue costs around 200 dollars!

Age 18:
Ah, the University years really did teach us a lot about drinking. The most notable experience is waking up at 6 in the morning and going to university and cracking open a bottle of Jim Beam to share with 2 other mates before class. Rocking up to class BLIND drunk while the teacher is talking about System Analysis and Design and quitely excusing myself from the tutorial to spend the next 3 hours in the bathroom throwing up my guts… All before 9am!

Age 20:

I’m skipping 19 simply because I honestly don’t remember much of it. When I was 20, all the 21^st birthdays had started which meant excessive amounts of alcohol. The most notable one was my best friend 21^st where he throws a small party with his entire family (distant included) , his girlfriends family and 4-5 of his close friends It was here where I had to do a speech and in my drunken state in front of his girlfriend and her parents I start rambling on about all the girls he’s been with. I think the girlfriend’s father was about to punch me at some stage… It was definitely a memorable 21^st.

Age 21:

My life in the nightclub industry had really started at this point and usually by the end of your 21st birthday you’ll calm down a bit but why quit now when I had gotten so good at it? These are the moments where you’d approach the bar and request a Malibu and Pineapple, pull out your Credit Card and the bartender turns around and says “minimum ten babe” (meaning, minimum 10 dollars) and I’d reply: “Okay, 10 Malibu and Pineapples please”. She’d start pouring and I’d start drinking! Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea!

Age 22:

I can’t remember much of 21 but on my 22^nd birthday I ended up missing my own birthday party because the bartender had poured out 15 shots (5 absinth, 5 Bacardi 151 and 5 Chartreuse shots) for my birthday. She had 3 and then I had 12.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look of horror on Megan the bartenders face. “That wasn’t meant to be all for you.. It was meant to be for you and your friends”. I don’t know how I missed that part earlier on. Passing out at Crown Casino from 10pm until 2am feeling the speed of the earth’s rotation around itself and the sun as well as the milky ways speed through the expanding universe.

I don’t really pass out or throw up these days but the drinking is very heavy ranging from 15-20 drinks a night and countless amount of shots. It seems that these days, I’m just recovering from a constant hangover so I want to see what it’s like to be sober for a few months. Will I be more effective at work? Will I get more stuff done during the day? Will I save more money? I guess I’ll find out

See you later Alcohol!