I don’t drink and type. Never have. So I’m not writing this column with a glass of wine perched next to my keyboard. This is partly because I once stood in a line of desperate people at a computer repair shop watching the guy in front of me burst into tears when told that the glass of pinot he spilt on his laptop had drowned it.
And also because I keep my relationship with alcohol on a very tight leash.
In high school – I mean UNIVERSITY – one of my nicknames was Cadbury. Not just for my love of chocolate but because it only ever took a glass and a half to get me drunk. Nothing much has changed although after years of gentle nudging I’ve recently pushed my limit all the way to two.
Drinking is clearly not in my DNA. I’ve never seen either of my parents drunk. They love a good wine but never to excess and perhaps nature and nurture have made me the same.
My friends laugh at how much of a lightweight I am. Especially the girlfriends who took me on my first and last pub crawl 12 years ago where I was forced to throw Tequila shots over my shoulder so I could stay vertical and remember my own name.
Piss-fit I was not (I learnt this expression from a friend during the silly season. It means you have a high tolerance for alcohol and recover quickly after consuming it. I asked my friend: could another way of saying this be: functional alcoholic? She agreed this was possible.)
While I certainly had some blowouts when I was younger, being drunk is fundamentally incompatible with being a control freak and thus, I’m almost always the self-designated driver.
Laziness also plays a part.
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I think it was ironic that while I was reading this post, there was an ad for Ricadonna playing the whole time - an appealing and very targeted ad. Look at the stats - 2nd leading cause of death and disability in Australia after tobacco is alcohol. Less restrictions on Alcohol advertising and marketing in Australia than America.... No restrictions on marketing on the internet. c'mon mia, hoping that this article wasn't written to attract alcohol company sponsorship.....
I have a love-hate relationship with alcohol. A nice cold cocktail in summer (or any other season) can be delightful. Sometimes I even enjoy that feeling of being slightly out of control and buzzed when I've had one too many. However, when I do have one too many, by the time I've had that many I have this nagging feeling, almost guilt, at the fact that I know I'm going to feel crap tomorrow.
Hence the hate part. I hate hangovers, I'm not good at it at all. When I'm hungover I curse the person who discovered alcohol and swear I'll never drink again. I avoid it for a few weeks or until the next big occassion and I take it easy the next time I drink. And then the cycle starts again...
But, I don't drink at home with dinner or anything. I drink socially, and I'm not a huge pub/club/bar person. So I'm perfectly OK with my relationship with alcohol.