Flush It Friday: Goodbye Beer… Welcome Back Beer!?
Friday is finally here. You maybe got paid, you might have a Tinder date with somebody new… or you might be hanging out in our illustrious Facebook Group watching as the shitposts evolve and topics of Dad Rock occasionally crop up like weeds that Papa Joe has to kill. But before that, I’m going to share a short story about how I got rid of all my booze… just to end up stocking back up months later…
Six months ago I got sick from drinking too much alcohol. I drank probably every day for about five years straight and my body very confidently told me it wasn’t going to take it anymore. The doctors recommended that I seek a support group, maybe join a system like AA so that I never start up again. “That’s silly,” I thought, “if alcohol made me feel this bad, quitting is gonna be a breeze!” (Turns out: I didn’t QUITE understand how drugs worked back then.) Not a week after I was completely healed, I would look in the fridge and eyeball the delicious-looking brews that were just leftover. It drove me bonkers every night, so I donated all the beer/wine/liquor in the house to neighbors. I also quit going to bars, which meant a lot of time away from the friends I was with all of the time. Things kinda sucked, as some of my old depression was kicking back in and I didn’t have the crutch of drinking it away.
But folks I am here to report that the transition period wasn’t very long at all. A few months after throwing out all the booze, I came to realize how much I didn’t crave it. A year ago I was occupied with thoughts of “how drunk can I get tonight?” Six months ago they were, “how can I survive tonight without a drink?” Now I have no worries, and with that my brain is free to engage in all kinds of other activities! I am free to enjoy all the rich, vibrant, WEIRD people on Facebook in real life. Somehow I had gained the willpower to turn down booze altogether; which meant I was joining my friends at the bar again, going to live shows again, and inviting guests over to hang out again. Which means I can now stock my fridge with beer! My friends can come over and drink all night, and I’ll just make fun of them and watch their antics. Mix a little weed into the equation, my chatter goes up by 10 points (and let’s say charm as well since none of my friends are here to deny it), and I become a hyper lil’ fella who hangs out and wants to know everything about everybody.
The Good
I have really been enjoying chatting with everyone here in Disqus and in the Facebook Group. It’s more than just trading completely inappropriate pictures that nobody should ever see ever, it’s talking with folks about real life stuff, getting to know more about some of you jerks. I’ve told a few people this and now I’m going to make everybody hear it: it’s really cool getting to know people instead of getting trashed. Prior to six months ago, chances are I would have been wasted on Facebook and forgotten everything the next day, if I even talked to anyone at all. So there it is, I’m a chatterbox in real life; and so now you get to put up with it on Facebook too (as well as in the after-hours comments sections).
The Bad
I have never been a big beer person but you all bring up some mighty tasty-looking stouts. And a dry red would finish off some cheese and crackers amazingly well. So there are a few drinks that I miss for the flavor.
The Ugly
On Wednesday night I caught Cannibal Corpse at a small venue, and MAN are we metalheads ugly! Did this happen overnight or what? Oh yeah, it’s been like this the whole time (myself included) and I just never noticed. Let’s bathe once in a while, clean up some of the facial hair. I’m not saying let’s go full-on Mumford and Sons, just not so Chris Holmes.
I’m now realizing that my Friday isn’t too bad after all! Here my job is to FLUSH it with a good one and I’m failing because things seem pretty rad right now. I gave up drinking, and with it left a lot of negativity. Not in my music though, that’s gotten super extreme. Paired with the occasional* weed, I quite enjoy a lot of bands that never tickled my fancy before, like Mgla! Oh yes, and Tempel has completely blown me away lately; it’s like I hadn’t ever really listened before. Jam this perfect tune (with a second half that can be a tear-jerker) whilst you let the rest of us know about your Good, Bad, and Ugly:
*frequent
(image via fanpop, ain’t it cool)
