musings on sobriety

yikes!
musings on sobriety on a beer blog?
did you ever think you'd see the cruel, cruel day?

i dunno for sure how much of it is the lack of booze
but i find january to be a month where i fail to feel motivated to socialize

i do a cleanse every january
this involves eating no wheat, sugar, dairy, yeast, fermented foods....
basically i don't get to eat anything fun
and that includes all forms of alcohol as they're basically just sugar

january also happens to be the first month of the new year
and along with that comes introspection, reflection and self-indulgent resolutions to live better

january is a long, dark month
and in vancouver, its usually very long, very dark and very wet

all of these things team up in varying proportions to make me want to flee my life
or contradictorially, to hibernate
fortunately january is also a month of few social engagements for me
so it is very easy to hibernate
to lay low and contemplate my navel

however, when i do feel obligated to make an appearance at, say, a birthday party
i find it very different to show up sober, remain sober and leave sober when everyone else is drinking
i know there are lots of sober people out there with robust social lives
but i honestly have no idea how they do it
how do they manage to find their drunken loutish friends intelligent and funny?
how can they stand the booze breath being breathed all over them by close-talking and repetitive boors?

lord a-mighty, i can't wait to have a drink!

there are a couple of upsides to my sober month
(okay, three weeks this year, with two days off for good behaviour)
there's no drawing straws for who has to be the designated driver - its me!
my wallet is less frighteningly empty at the end of every day
i have had to find subjects other than what i think of the beer i'm currently drinking to talk about which i'm sure has made my neurons not being killed by alcohol fire a little faster
and best of all - i'm not one of the drunken louts repetitively close-talking and failing to amuse any other unfortunate sober people at the party!