Can life be enjoyable without spirit drinks! ?

[Krataiboy]

On 2/2/2017 at 11:36 AM, chiang mai said:

I'm marginally concerned that boogers have been put in the same category as Chateau Neuf Du Pape '63, I mean, there's addictions and then there's addictions.

True, but  . . . take the alcohol out of your vintage tipple and I guarantee neither you nor any other wine snob would pay the same inflated price to drink it.

 

It is not the taste which makes alcoholic drinks - be they wine, beer or spirits - so irresistible to many, but the effect. Any regular drinker who fails to face up to this reality has already taken the first step along the road to addiction.

 

[Beats56]

3 hours ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

Beats65

I never thought of that one! Jamesons and aftershave.Do you have ice with that? I suppose that life has many avenues to go down.Some good,some not so.

I just have the rationale that i want to experience everything i can before i have to leave.

One day,death will come through my door,and say "c'mon Dave,time to go,get your hat and coat" i would rather meet him as an old friend than something i have to be scared of.Having been here 17 years,i have lived the life of 5 men,its been great.and a drink or two along the way has been an excellent companion.

Btw,As my name indicates,i am in Khon Kaen.

Stay dry amigo,i will drink to that.

Good post but don't bet enterity on your life..we all go sometime it's w how you play the game my friend.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Beats56.

You are absolutely correct.It is a game,or at least it should be.Its all a game when we are young and amoral,but when we get older,and adult life takes over,the game becomes serious.Mortgages,bills,kids,divorces,deaths in the family etc.Life hits us hard,and it would seem, in a very short space of time and so close together. For some it is too much and drugs and booze can be come an escape,though only temporary.For others they go through life and are still playing the game.There is nothing wrong with having an escape,but it all depends if you can control it,or it ends up controlling you.I still play the game,and i play it at an adult level now.I have a few escapes but they are still under my control.But then again.How do we know when we are losing the grip of control.I tend not to think too much about it and i am always looking for another game.Until i find the one that i cannot win.And that one will become the only game in town.

May the great dealer keep giving you aces.

[Ace of Pop]

A Death in the Family needs lots of drink to put up with those relatives you avoided for years.[emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji481][emoji86]


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[chrisinth]

22 hours ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

chrisinth

You say you have been dry for 18 years.Good for you,you obviously have will power.But may i ask the reason why?

Where you an avid drinker,did you go out and stagger back?.Did your personality change when you were full of booze? - Not really, body language did without a doubt

Were you violent when drunk.? - No

Did others suffer at your hands when inebriated? - Not my hands, maybe my mouth

Did you you spend money on booze when you knew it was was for food,bill'sl,etc. - No

Did your embarrass yourself and others when drunk? - Many, many times, but all in the name of fun

Did you find that your friends started to keep away from you? - No

Did you start the evening with friends and end it among stranger's? - Sometimes the evenings went in directions that weren't expected

 

The reason i ask is that anyone of the above questions is a good idea to stop drinking.And if any of them applied to you,then you did the the right thing and respect to you.

But if you did not,then,with kindness,i think that people should let other people go their own way.Some people go through life being able to have a drink and never suffer with any of the above,Some people can go through life and know when they have had enough.If the only reason that you gave up 18 years ago is that you were bored with it or any other reason not to do with the effects of alcohol,then my question is,WHY? life is fun with a little alcohol,as long as it is within reason and doesnt hurt others.

And of course their are others who find life just f###### boring.Either that,or they can be found at the weekly salvation Army meeting,Your not a Tambourine banger,are you?

As the singer said "The future may be unclear,but the fridge was always near"

 

I've sort of answered your above questions as honestly as I can, but I don't think any of those answers relate to why I changed. And of course the actions to the questions didn't happen every time.

 

01-May-1999, Pattaya. Said to my then GF (now my wife since later that year) that I was off out with the mates. Good night out and a bit of a hangover the next day. I said to her that I was going to stop the booze for a month to clean out the system and I just carried on. 

 

I opened a bar in September 1999, 4 months after the last drink, and that was open for 12 years, 8 months and 4 days and not once (or at all) during that time did I have an alcoholic drink. I jokingly say it was probably the best thing I could have done; in case I was feeling like a drink all I would have to do was look at the other side of the bar to see what I might become if I started again. 

 

I know that it is a disease, but I still feel that the major part of it is determined by the frame of mind of the individual. I have lived with alcohol all my life; my father was killed in the line of duty in the early 80's, but if that hadn't happened then I am sure the booze would have done the job not long after.
 

[chrisinth]

Dave/et al,

I have just reread the above reply to you and it reads a bit morbid, that was not the intention so to further expand on my views on drinking:

 

If people enjoy drinking, then party on! And to support your earlier questions Dave, if a person cannot handle the drink then they should seriously look at alternatives before their world's fall down around them. Every individual is different in this respect obviously and for those with problems it divides into 2 camps, those that self admit to it and those that don't.

 

In my case, I seriously think it was a 'coming of age' moment, time had come at last for me to grow up. From the ages of 16 to 40, I took part in a party. Some people liked to call it serving in the Armed Forces but to me it was a party, albeit with a few distractions thrown in. I served mainly on patrol ships and small boat operations around the world. I had very little shore time because of certain qualifications but mostly through choice. It was very strictly a 'work hard, play harder' scenario and, hating to admit it now, loved the challenges of the job.

 

Yes, I got in trouble a few times, but left with my long service and good conduct medal, (15 years undetected crime) my 3 good conduct stripes and an exceptional history report.

 

Since leaving, I came to Thailand in 1997 for a 6 month time-out before looking for work elsewhere, but due to  unforeseen events and twists of fate, I have lived here ever since. 2 years extreme partying and 18 dry (at least it will be on the 1st May).

 

So, after baring my soul, to answer the OP's question again, yes, you certainly can enjoy without booze, as long as you have the right mindset.........

[Khon Kaen Dave]

chrisinth

The reason i asked those questions is they were questions that the assessor asked my wife when she realised that she was close to losing every thing.TMy then wife failed miserably on all the questions because at a later  date a psychiatrist told me what the real answers should have been,and you would have been surprised to learn what the right answers were,there were no right or wrong anwers,it was all to do with the personality of the person at the time of the assessment.I think what you have done in life.My wife was eternally in a world of denial.The forces probably helped you in developing a mind set and a definite path of life.Chris,i am no shrink but i think that you are a normal guy who is a bit hard on himself.And you have a definite personality and character traits.This personality and these traits have sometimes been hard to stick to,and sometimes you went off the rails.But you did no real bad thing's, You are you and you obviously have strength of character because of having a bar for all that time and not taking a drink.I dont think you gave up the booze for any reasons other than you wanted to.Chris,i gave up smoking for 7 years,3 years,and 10 years over the past.I smoke now because i want to,i ask myself if i could give up again,but why? i enjoy the fags i smoke(5/8 a day)The same as booze.If i want a drink,i will have one,but i don't get the sweats if there's no booze in the house or for some reason i cant get one.I could easily jump in the car and go to the 7 but i dont.Your not a bad guy Chris,and unless you are in agonies that something you did long ago,I think youve led a good life,and i mean good as a person.Maybe you are a little bit secure and don't know it.

Any way,Chris keep on the way you are going and keep in touch.After all us ex bar owners have to stick together.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

chrisynith

chris,if ever you want to have a chat,on a more private chanel, chanel? that tells you i was a child of the CB days,you can always pm me.no problem.Sometimes strangers make the best listeners.

[rott]

On 2/2/2017 at 1:22 PM, kenk24 said:

 

That is true - and nobody wants to look like a sack of spuds, as you call them, but then, I think the overeaters of the world are rarely out at 3 am getting thrown out of a bar for misbehaving and end up trying to break a bottle over someone's head after someone else took exception to their slobbering drunk behavior. They don't end up in the news sitting at the police station bleeding from the forehead and not even remembering how they got there... 

 

Just my observations... 

Most drinkers would fit that description too. Especially the ones on TV who buy beer by the case and sit looking at their own four walls drinking it..

 

I knew a diabetic who became addicted to coca-cola. That took him off long before his time. Nothing in life is ever simple.