Ever give up Booze?

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Depends on your definition of 'Bistro'.. if it involves Mac'Donalds you'll not be interested..

You survived!

Time for you to get another sail in. You be getting the crabby armchair look like the rest o' us around here soon.

Boatyspot commin' soon!!

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Never had my face in my own puke.. nor anyone else's come to that.. nor been rescued.. apart from a swim to Spain from Gib in search of political asylum...
However... in my day I have been known to tell 'friends' I'll bite their ankles off if they come any nearer with that F**k**g Wheelbarrow...
Some folks just do not know when to leave one alone..
Just like some folk always assume people who enjoy a drink are all puking, pissing on tree's foul mouthed ********..
The above come in 'Sober' versions as well..

AMEN BROTHER!

[tinkrman69]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Never had my face in my own puke.. nor anyone else's come to that.. nor been rescued.. apart from a swim to Spain from Gib in search of political asylum...
However... in my day I have been known to tell 'friends' I'll bite their ankles off if they come any nearer with that F**k**g Wheelbarrow...
Some folks just do not know when to leave one alone..
Just like some folk always assume people who enjoy a drink are all puking, pissing on tree's foul mouthed ********..
The above come in 'Sober' versions as well..

Some people find they have a problem with drinking. once they start, they can't stop....can't seem to have just one or two drinks, social problems seem to pile up. So, they quit. Most need help to do this. some of those think that anyone that drinks and gets drunk are like themselves and look down on them and/or shun them. Those people still have a "drink problem" they just aren't drinking. others get sober, in time and don't have a problem with others that get drunk.

It's a shame for the first group as the internal pain and social trouble caused by their excessive drinking...not to mention health...still remain. Their financial situation is the only thing that changes. they think If I could only drink like everyone else? I used to be a "problem drinker" and got help to quit and hence became on of the first group, for a time. Life sucked. I thought whats the use, why not drink? Then I found that, it wasn't the drinking, but my thinking. Of course if I drank I still couldn't stop. But, If I could find a way to change the way I thought, lived and acted, Things would get better and they did. Today I have friends and acquaintances that, both, drink and don't drink, some are even 420 friendly. We have good times together, life is good. some of those "problem drinkers", both ex and active, ask me how I am able to do this and I show them the path I took. There are those that obviously need some help and this saddens me, as I can't give them this help, unless they ask. So I don't push it, I just live it. I don't hide my past and I don't tell them they are the same as me. that is a decision they have to make for themselves.

some people shunned me and shut their door. Others wouldn't put up with my drunkenness, but left their door open. when I was ready to cross their threshold, the past was forgiven and I was given the opportunity to repair my life and make amends. Life continues to get better and better, now. Today I see that many people have a Thinking problem and many of them drink excessively and some can't stop on their own. But the solution is the same for both. I've found that if I look deep enough into it and contemplate the full meaning of it, the "Golden Rule" Will solve all my troubles, if I live it daily. If I lived it in all my waking hours....wow....But I am human and fallible. So I make mistakes. maybe I'll get good at it one day. But as I said earlier,"life continues to get better and better"

PEACE LUV & HAPPINESS
Lance B

[Celestialsailor]

[QUOTE=tinkrman69;2052008] I've found that if I look deep enough into it and contemplate the full meaning of it, the "Golden Rule" Will solve all my troubles.

Ya...those with the gold, rule!

[hsi88]

This has been an interesting thread. Finally got through them all. A lot of interest in this subject for who knows the real reasons.

One reply stuck with me.

alcohol kills three times as many people as firearms

The reason being is I lost my best friend from high school to both alcohol and fire arms. Him and I started drinking while in high school. Eventually it was time to enter a career. We both wanted to get into the computer field and he chose the Navy and I went to computer school. I've been in the business for 40 years, he became a life long alcoholic.

He was one of the smartest students in school. If I had an interesting childhood, he was the one I would credit the most. We hunted, fished, flew model airplanes, hung out at the local gas station, dabbled with motorcycles, canoed in Canada. When my young adult son finally got to meet him, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Instead of the insightful scholar I always described, he saw a skinny, half blind, red neck. To be honest, I never saw my friend in that light. So I was shocked by my son's assessment.

Wasn't more than a year later, after 3 back to back DUI's and a sure 6 month jail sentence, my friend, after finishing a 6 pack, took his own life with a favorite gun of his. I won't sit here and blame the gun, but his fascination with guns and the paranoia that grew with every gun purchase increased with every year he continued drinking. To the point that had he not taken his own life, he very well may have taken someone else's. Certainly an alcoholic with a gun is just as dangerous (if not more so) than a drunk behind the wheel.

I still have a few beers with friends. I have other vices as well. But I also have lots of respect for what excess can lead to. And its not very pretty. This thread has been a grim reminder of that fact.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by hsi88

This has been an interesting thread. Finally got through them all. A lot of interest in this subject for who knows the real reasons.

One reply stuck with me.

The reason being is I lost my best friend from high school to both alcohol and fire arms. Him and I started drinking while in high school. Eventually it was time to enter a career. We both wanted to get into the computer field and he chose the Navy and I went to computer school. I've been in the business for 40 years, he became a life long alcoholic.

He was one of the smartest students in school. If I had an interesting childhood, he was the one I would credit the most. We hunted, fished, flew model airplanes, hung out at the local gas station, dabbled with motorcycles, canoed in Canada. When my young adult son finally got to meet him, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Instead of the insightful scholar I always described, he saw a skinny, half blind, red neck. To be honest, I never saw my friend in that light. So I was shocked by my son's assessment.

Wasn't more than a year later, after 3 back to back DUI's and a sure 6 month jail sentence, my friend, after finishing a 6 pack, took his own life with a favorite gun of his. I won't sit here and blame the gun, but his fascination with guns and the paranoia that grew with every gun purchase increased with every year he continued drinking. To the point that had he not taken his own life, he very well may have taken someone else's. Certainly an alcoholic with a gun is just as dangerous (if not more so) than a drunk behind the wheel.

I still have a few beers with friends. I have other vices as well. But I also have lots of respect for what excess can lead to. And its not very pretty. This thread has been a grim reminder of that fact.

I don't want to splash on your story, which was very worth reading. But the whole 'alcohol kills more than guns' thing is just plain silly. And as this thread is about alcohol I won't go diverging as to why other than to say 'guns don't kill people, people do' neither does alcohol in the same sense.

Alcohol should be like anything that enters your body without a perscription, it needs to be in moderation. Some people seem to be alergic to alcohol and if your one of these people, then you should stay away all together.

[uncle stinkybob]

I used to really enjoy a drink, had a love affair with Patron Silver. At around 52, I had a small stroke, didn't stop me, 2 years later a heart attack. I'm done drinking, but damn I miss that tequila, nothing like it with a good maduro cigar.

[Semper Paratus]

because that's all people do

Not necessary I sailed with many who favorite pass time in Port calls was to see who could get the drunkest, and I never drank, nor do I want to. I want to remember what I did, nor want to wake and having to cut my arm off cause I went home with Miss Ugliest on the planet cause I was so drunk. I have just as much fun sober. So cause many do, does not mean all do.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Semper Paratus

I want to remember what I did, nor want to wake and having to cut my arm off cause I went home with Miss Ugliest on the planet cause I was so drunk. I have just as much fun sober. So cause many do, does not mean all do.

Yeah but.. he got his leg over.. your just sore coz you didn't

[Semper Paratus]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Yeah but.. he got his leg over.. your just sore coz you didn't

Yeah I been there and did that deal before. LOL

[Brasshopper]

One of the problems with giving up drinking is that many of the most wonderful, most interesting and complex flavored things ever produced by man are alcoholic. I have some wine I brought back from Belize, made from cashew fruit. Incredibly bitter, interesting. Scotch, in a good bottle of Scotch you can taste the highlands Heather, or the seaweed that was at the seashore for the ten years it was aged. Few years ago I was in Japan working on a security install. The locals took me to a Sake tasting bar. Every different kind had a unique and clear character. A field of hay, a meadow of wildflowers, a pond with frogs and tadpoles, and on. They served it in water glasses and I got drunk. But there was just no other way to have the experience.

Port wine. I used to disparage it, then I seriously tried it. Even halfway good port goes really well with many cheeses. The cheese makes the port better, the port makes the cheese better.

I go weeks without having a drink. Sometimes I am just in mood. I am addicted to coffee, though. Not that I have anything against prohibition. My grandmother owned a laundry in NYC during prohibition. Laundries have an excuse for using large amounts of gas and starch. My grandmother was from Italy, if she didn't know how to make grappa, she knew someone who did. Prohibition put my uncle through college and fed most of my mother's family. Now if we could just end the current stupid prohibition and stop making Mexican cartels rich.

[uncle stinkybob]

Originally Posted by Brasshopper

One of the problems with giving up drinking is that many of the most wonderful, most interesting and complex flavored things ever produced by man are alcoholic. I have some wine I brought back from Belize, made from cashew fruit. Incredibly bitter, interesting. Scotch, in a good bottle of Scotch you can taste the highlands Heather, or the seaweed that was at the seashore for the ten years it was aged. Few years ago I was in Japan working on a security install. The locals took me to a Sake tasting bar. Every different kind had a unique and clear character. A field of hay, a meadow of wildflowers, a pond with frogs and tadpoles, and on. They served it in water glasses and I got drunk. But there was just no other way to have the experience.

Port wine. I used to disparage it, then I seriously tried it. Even halfway good port goes really well with many cheeses. The cheese makes the port better, the port makes the cheese better.

I go weeks without having a drink. Sometimes I am just in mood. I am addicted to coffee, though. Not that I have anything against prohibition. My grandmother owned a laundry in NYC during prohibition. Laundries have an excuse for using large amounts of gas and starch. My grandmother was from Italy, if she didn't know how to make grappa, she knew someone who did. Prohibition put my uncle through college and fed most of my mother's family. Now if we could just end the current stupid prohibition and stop making Mexican cartels rich.

23 U.S. state's have legalized to some extent. I have two weed stores within 6 city blocks of me. recreational use here in Washington State, but I don't smoke it......anymore.

[Rustic Charm]

Can I ask what the legal alcohol limit is in different countries to operate a vessel?

In Australia, it's 0.05% as far as a reading.

AND

You can't be found operating or in charge of a vessel 'under the influence'.

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Can I ask what the legal alcohol limit is in different countries to operate a vessel?

In Australia, it's 0.05% as far as a reading.

AND

You can't be found operating or in charge of a vessel 'under the influence'.

Well thank goodness for THAT!! I certainly wouldn't like trying to control some vessel that was clearly inebriated.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Can I ask what the legal alcohol limit is in different countries to operate a vessel?

In Australia, it's 0.05% as far as a reading.

AND

You can't be found operating or in charge of a vessel 'under the influence'.

wow - that means we can drink and sail all we want - since apparently it is not possible ffor the aussie police to "find" you wwhile under the influence