I Give Up

I think that I'm officially going to give up pretending that I am a drinker.  I've never really been a huge fan of beer, and I hate wine.   I do enjoy some of the harder stuff, but I think that my body is sending me clear signals that I should stop ignoring.

As is usual for me, it goes back to my kidneys.

A few years back I actually had a fairly significant procedure on a Thursday before St Patrick's Day weekend - and the day itself was on Friday.  That means you can start drinking on Friday and go straight through for a couple of days!  I asked if I could have a drink or two and he said something along the lines of "sure" which I took to mean "let's get drunk!"  I can not speak publicly of that evening, but I will say that Guinness was good that night and I should have kept the sticker.  (That was actually the last St Patrick's Day before Anny and I were attached at the hip, soas to not get Abby asking questions later.)

I can only think of two times that I have ever gone out with the sole intention of coming home drunk, and one of those was iffy on intent. 

Iced drink have caused me pain, literally, since I got sick.  On the first or second sip of a drink I will get pains down the sides of my back, sort of like a brain freeze but going the other way.  This is sometimes true of really cold Slurpees, but always a result if there is alcohol in the frozen drink.  Not a good feeling, but I determined long ago that it was okay to have the pain if I got to enjoy a Dirty Girl Scout!

I ask myself all the time - typically just after a trip to the liquor store instead of before - why I keep trying to pretend that I'm a drinker, but I just can't figure out the answer.  I've never felt like one of those people that has to "fit in" with the crowd.  I'm actually the lame guy who has never done drugs or been much for partying if it meant that I could not drive home.  I do enjoy the sweet stuff, but have only found a couple of beers that I like, so it's not like I enjoy the taste.

So, with that in mind, I am officially giving up drinking.  It won't really make too much of a difference in my day-to-day life, but if I state it publicly then I'm much less likely to go back and try again later.