Any non-drinkers here?

[Rusty Shackelford]

Ive been thinking for a while about giving up alcahol. I like a beer as much as anyone but the next day I feel like poo.I hate wasting time to being hungover. The less and less I drink the worse it gets. I used to drink alot between the ages of 18-25 but now I just feel id be better off without it.

For the first time in a long time I have good cholesterol and blood presure which is a driving factor.

I remember reading on here a guy who said he gave up alcahol for the whole of 2008 and felt great. If you are her speak up!

So why dont you drink? Social, health, religeon or sommthing else?

[Malenko]

So stop drinking alcohol? You get hung over on beer? I cant even imagine how many beers it'd take me to even get buzzed, I digress.  I drink on occassion, maybe once a month if that and usually just a couple of soco and limes while relaxing. 

Why not just stop for a month or two and see how ya feel?

[Rusty Shackelford]

I have. I can go around 4 months easily without a drink but then Il get a call to go out for a birthday or whatever have a beer and not realy enjoy it that much. I suppose what im getting at is its hard to be a non-drinker in a room full of drunks!

I just wondered what other people do, as I dont think I know anyone who doesnt drink.

[Malenko]

So dont drink? Ive gone to birthdays AT A BAR and not had a drink. If you're embarassed or feel pressured, just say you're a designated driver?  If it makes you feel like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- theres no reason to do it.

[CCM]

No one likes a quitter!     

[Flake]

Dude I'm not sure how much your drinking when you drink but if your major problem is a hangover just have a few beers and leave it at that when you do drink. 

I suppose if you don't drink much at all then maybe 3-4 beers has the potential to give you a hangover in the morning? 

In all honesty if you are only drinking once every few weeks or something I don't see how its really that much of a part of your life and should be fairly easy to let it go alltogether?

Personally for me between work and 2 young kids at home if I dont have a few drinks every few days or so I go insane.  No TV no Beer make Flake go something, something, something.....

[gryhnd]

You get hung over on beer? I cant even imagine how many beers it'd take me to even get buzzed,

For some people certain bev's make them feel like crap due to what is in them OTHER than the EtOH. Just like some folks can't deal with red wine but white is a-ok.

My wife, for example, barely tolerates beer (makes her head feel like it was run over by a truck) but can go to town on wines and certain hard liquors.

[LLUncoolJ]

Move to Oklahoma.  Between the difficulty in scoring alcohol and all the social shame, you'll never want a drink again.

We managed to beat the odds and get drunk in OK. But if you want something hard, you'd better have a plan...buy it before 9pm and not on sundays...and don't go looking at a grocery store or convenience store. If you want something cold, the liquor store isn't for you. 3.2 beer isn't terrible if you are used to it. If you come from a regular state and drink beer there, be prepared to pee a lot and watch all the locals get soused while you continue to work for a buzz.

As far as quitting, I have seriously cut back over the years, but I still get blasted on the weekends. I'm not sure if I'm maturing or just getting old. The hang overs do get worse now and it is a miserable day at work if I drink during the week. But socially, it would be extremely difficult to quit completely if I wanted...which I don't.

[LLUncoolJ]

You can pull it off on weekdays if you slow down the tap and quit at 10pm with a couple bottles of water.

Only combination that really does me in is hanging out in the sun a lot while drinking.  Not pretty. 

You're right, I do occasionally have a couple of beers during the week...if the mood strikes me. I just can't make the whole night revolve around drinking like on the weekends.

+1 On the drinking in the sun. I used to be able to do it, then go home, get cleaned up, and go out partying at night. Those days are long gone.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I just wondered what other people do, as I dont think I know anyone who doesnt drink.

I don't drink.  In fact I never have, with the only exception being when I was 6 and asked my Dad what beer tasted like.  I'm 32 now and I still remember the flavor... I remember it being pretty good actually!  

(If you don't want the story, skip down to the ***)

Anyway, before anybody freaks out, let me explain, because there are multiple reasons behind it.  About that same time period as a child, I became aware of my older brother's battle with addiction... to everything he could get his hands on.  He was 16 at the time - he's 42 now, and has within the last 5 years finally achieved sobriety.  Early on, I "vowed" never to go through that, and so, when I hit my early teens, I was one of those annoying kids who wouldn't do anything remotely illicit, and would actively rag on anyone who did.  Douchey McGee!

As I got into my late teens, I started to grow up and see the judgments I was making, and how they were affecting my friendships.  I softened my stance in terms of what my friends were doing. But then I was first on the scene at a multiple fatality car crash that was definitely caused by a drunk driver (who eventually went to prison for vehicular manslaughter) and while I'm aware now that that was a highly unlikely and extreme example, it still really made me shy away from wanting to partake myself...

It's funny because, as an actor, all through college, grad school, and into my professional career, I've been surrounded by the stuff! (Everything you can think of, believe me.)  At some point, somewhere in there, it eventually developed that the idea of doing it just didn't excite me enough to go ahead and do it.  Now, that said, this may just have more to do with me as a person; I'm a little wacked-out and crazy anyway! I've been the one dancing on the table with the lampshade on my head with nothing in my system.  I've found myself in plenty of trouble as a result of my general willingness to make a complete ass of myself.  I don't need to drink to "loosen up" or "be social," you know? 

Haha, I read the line above and it sounds like a DARE ad... geeesh... anybody remember those?

I certainly don't judge anyone's choices anymore; I don't believe any kind of state-altering substance is inherently a bad thing; it's just not-so-healthy for some people! A lot of great art has come from a good bender or two. Two of my dearest friends are WAY more fun when they're stoned or drunk! In fact, I am a supporter of pot legalization. (Fun fact: my grad school was the first to successfully produce synthetic THC.)   I just don't do it myself.

*** So, how do I deal with it in public?  Eh, all of my friends already know I don't drink and they don't make a big deal about it.  On those rare occasions someone asks me why, I usually make the joke that I'm not yet old enough to drink (which is doubly funny because my gf is quite a few years older than me, so it makes her look even more cougariffic!)  The "Designated Driver" comment is an easy one too (though here in NYC it's more "Designated Walker.")  In general, I've found people don't seem to think much of it after the initial encounter.  If you don't make a big deal about it, other people usually won't.  People will make their own assumptions, and they'll usually keep them to themselves ... and you can just let them keep thinking what they think, if you choose to.  If they ask, I say tell them honestly - and as for anybody who rags on you or won't let it go?  Well, I would re-evaluate why they're in your company...

  LOL.

[Cakemeister]

Personally I tend to avoid alcohol but only because of the empty calories. They call it a "beer gut" for a reason.

[J_K_M_A_N]

I have never drank either. I have had about 5-10 sips in my life. I don't care for the taste of it at all. Even the smell of beer makes me sick. Nasty stuff.

I am with RyoriNoTetsujin. People don't usually say anything after the first couple times. If they do just blow up at them and say someone close to you was killed by a drunk driver and they will never bother you again about it. I thankfully haven't had that happen to anyone near me but I still *HATE* drunk drivers. I think it is one of the dumbest things you could ever do. I am not sure how I got like that but I cannot stand hearing about people doing that.

I have NO problem with people drinking and getting drunk as long as they don't drive or hurt anyone. I don't see the fun in it myself but whatever.

J_K_M_A_N

[massive88]

3.2 beer isn't terrible if you are used to it. If you come from a regular state and drink beer there, be prepared to pee a lot and watch all the locals get soused while you continue to work for a buzz.

According to wikipedia, 3.2 beer is by weight not volume, which equates to 4.0 beer per volume.  Miller Lite, for instance, is 4.2 per volume in the rest of the drinking US, and only 4.0 in OK.

So its not really all that different.

This was pointed out to me by a Blackjack Dealer in an Oklahoma Casino I was in a few weeks ago.  I was surprised because the beer tasted exactly like it does in Texas, and he offered that explanation.

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm 32 and have never been a drinker. Sure, I've had the occasional beer, wine, rum & coke, vodka & whatnot, warm sake, etc, but I've never been drunk.

I've never felt as though I'm missing out on anything.

This is one Okie that won't take your TX beer from you. Drink up, Jim.

(Though I did go to a Rangers game the other night and considered a beer, but at $7.00 each, I passed.)

[OverRide]

I drink socially 2 to 3 times month, in most cases the main goal is to get a good buzz. I did notice about a year ago that I was waking up with horrible head aches after drinking even just a few beers. I started equating it to cheap ---smurfy--- beer. Once I got away from some of the low end mass brew crap and was drinking micro brewery stuff the head aches went away and I could drink like a champ again. I was looking into it and a lot of people experience this. No one could say exactly if it was an allergy to a particular ingredient or not. But finding a beer that doesn't give you a head ache is one possible solution.
And if you don't want to drink for other reasons then use the DD excuse or say that your body hates you when you drink and makes you feel like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. No one can argue with that.

[hyiu]

I also don't drink ...

well, I did have tasted alcohol before...
like a sip of beer, wine, and some cocktail drinks over the yrs....

I have tried a few cocktail drinks that are sweeter and masked the alcohol flavor...
but still, I never really liked the taste...

so, most time, I'm the driver of the night...
and I'm ok about it...
:-)

[shateredsoul]

dude, you don't "sip" beer.. you drink, chuck, get poisened by it.. but not sip

I didn't like beer before, but got used to it. But, you're better off staying away from it... might as well if you don't drink it.  The social aspect is pretty nice.  Jack and Coke (aka rum and coke) is pretty good and not too alcoholic.  Also, mixing cactus cooler or squirt + tequilla is also good.  Hard to taste plus they aren't girly (if you care about).. just be careful.

If you'd like to get a buzz but want to get it over with as soon as possible.  Drink 1 Adios (aka AMF aka Adios Mother ---smurf---).

I also don't drink ...

well, I did have tasted alcohol before...
like a sip of beer, wine, and some cocktail drinks over the yrs....

I have tried a few cocktail drinks that are sweeter and masked the alcohol flavor...
but still, I never really liked the taste...

so, most time, I'm the driver of the night...
and I'm ok about it...
:-)

[Benevolance]

There are a lot of non-drinkers on this forum. I call dibs on your drink tickets at the 20 year BYOAC renunion.

[LLUncoolJ]

I'm drinking right now...Skyy & Monster (Green)...Yeah, you know it PinballWizard79!!!

[Flake]

I'm thinking about drinking.....does that count?

[LLUncoolJ]

I'm thinking about drinking.....does that count?

Sure...sort of.

Taking the family to the demolition derby at the county fair tonight and wife is on call = drunk big daddy.  

[Silas (son of Silas)]

I gave up alcohol completely on new years day this year (no relapses, no exceptions). I was a drinker in my twenties and cut down a fair bit in my thirties (I'm 37 this year) but still drank more than was probably good for me so decided to completely stop.

It is pretty strange. My entire social life seems like it was was geared around drinking (I think that's generally true for a lot of people in the UK). Go for a meal +have some drinks, Watch a movie +have some drinks, go for a curry +have some drinks... etc etc.

When I stopped drinking it made me realize that that all I had in common with some of  my friends is we liked having a beer or two. When I saw them socially without alcohol I suddenly realized that, if I am honest I didn't *really* like some of them.

It took quite a few months for me to see any real benefit from it, but now I look back I am definitely much better off not drinking. I am way more productive and do so much more with my life. Whereas before I might have come home from work and had a beer or 2, now I fill my evenings far more productively. I am also way more motivated to improve myself. Since stopping drinking I have found a new job, lost weight, got fitter, finished so many of those jobs around the house that I have been putting off (except my arcade cab, but it's getting there), sorted out my finances and for the first time in over 10 years I don't have a credit card, I don't have any personal loans and I actually have some (albeit very small but growing) savings in the bank for my daughters education.

Here's raising a glass of Becks Blue to all my fellow non-drinkers  

[LLUncoolJ]

Stay thirsty my non-drinking friends

[shateredsoul]

congrats Silas 

[Benevolance]

Kudos on the success, Silas.

I like to drink, so I exercise every day and eat clean so that I can fit a drink or two into my routine. And every year, my wife and I do 'Sober October' to make sure we're both not yet raging alcoholics. We mostly stick to the hard stuff, though, and recently started infusing our own gins and vodkas.

Earl Grey gin is surprisingly awesome. Jean Luc Picard would have been way more relaxed if he'd made that switch.

[hypernova]

I don't drink myself either.  At least in the general definition of the word today.

I'll drink wine coolers on holidays or special occasions.  I do not like the taste or smell of beer.  Or champagne.  Or wine.  I only like wine coolers.  And as everyone knows, there's really not much alcohol in those things to do anything.  I've had two or three at one time at most.  (Those things are plenty carbonated to make me feel full/tired of them quickly.)

And I've only done this maybe half a dozen times.  So I am quite the lightweight.

[Xiaou2]

Besides a few sips, I really didnt drink till about age 25.

 After getting upset with some troublesome woman in my life,
I then decided to make drinking a  "Sport"   for a few months.  heh

 I dont like the taste of beer, and it makes me sick way too easily.
I pretty much drink Long Island's...  which Im sure is very bad for my health.
(especially the way some bartenders make it)

 Eventually, I snapped out of it.  Didnt like feeling like garbage for 2days in a row,
and it costs too much money too.

 Now I only drink a few times in a year, and never let myself get to far carried away.

[Malenko]

Didnt like feeling like garbage for 2days in a row

2 days? ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?---. I could get totally ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- faced and be fine the next day. I got so hammers (not a typo) that one time I did a cement mixer......then a second one. Still cool the next day. Long islands are a great drink for you ladies though

[drventure]

I try to have a bailey's and coffee on the way in to work every morning.

Other than that, not much of a drinker.

[pinballwizard79]

Pizza, beer, redbull, vodka, blackouts, cusswords, pinball, arcade games, stories, good ideas, more pizza & booze, drunk dials & bad ideas.

I cant give any of that up, ever.

[gryhnd]

Hmm, sounds like Friday around here....

[danny_galaga]

I don't normally drink because I really don't find it interesting and I don't actually like the taste of alcohol. Last I drank was last week when I went out. If you are in a bar trying to score, you need alcohol  I had three drinks and got bored and went home alone. At least they had a 60 in 1 cab in the bar.

Before that was probably months ago, a wine at dinner or something. I can go any amount of time without alcohol- months, years. If you can't, that's a problem...

[HanoiBoi]

Ive been thinking for a while about giving up alcahol. I like a beer as much as anyone but the next day I feel like poo.I hate wasting time to being hungover. The less and less I drink the worse it gets. I used to drink alot between the ages of 18-25 but now I just feel id be better off without it.

For the first time in a long time I have good cholesterol and blood presure which is a driving factor.

I remember reading on here a guy who said he gave up alcahol for the whole of 2008 and felt great. If you are her speak up!

So why dont you drink? Social, health, religeon or sommthing else?

Rusty, I didn't really see anyone hit on it, but the actual brand of beer makes a huge difference.  I also feel horrible the next day if I ever end up with domestics like Bud, Miller Lite, Coors, etc..  But, I feel unaffected with microbrews like Sierra Nevada, Magic Hat, Victory, Leinenkugel's, Sam Adams and such.  Honestly, I could drink 6 Sierra Nevada Pale Ales and be fine, but if I drink 1 or 2 domestics during any night, the morning sucks.

Also, some people react differently depending on whether they are drinking drafts or bottles.  Different fermentation or something...I don't know for sure what the differences are, but there are differences.

Personally, I stick to beer and rarely venture into alcohol.  And if I do, I'm at home and it's something like Margaritas, Tanqueray & Tonic, Apfel Korn, or something else that doesn't make me 'shiver'.  I've got 2 beers on draft at home and I enjoy it in absolute moderation.  Tonight, a Friday night, I had 2 glasses of wine with my wife and had just 2 beers after.  If I have a headache tomorrow, I know it'll be from the wine.

If the only thing that makes you want to quit beer (and alcohol?) is the hangover, find yourself a different beer.   

[DillonFoulds]

I drink 3-4 litres of good old h2o, per day, during the work week. On weekends when I'm at home and don't have my trusty water cooler with me, I seriously wake up feeling hung-over. Days when I've drank the night before can be extra intolerable, so I've been getting in the habit of buying flats of water to drink around the house.

The nice part about an IT job, is that when someone needs a home computer serviced, I'll volunteer to do it for a case of beer. I've had a few different kinds of beer around to give a variety for guests, and haven't had to buy a single case in the last year (gone through at least 12 cases). I'd say my beer situation takes care of itself, I just need to worry about taking care of myself!  

I've got a friend that is an alcohol "virgin". He's never had a drop of alcohol, never smoked, 0 drugs. Kudos on him for that effort. When he's around we do lighten up on our drinking considerably, as to not alienate him. Depending on the crowd though, things don't always make him comfortable, so he's been known to duck out of evenings early (really, why WOULD any sober person hang out with drunks? Can't blame him!) When it's just a handful of us, we'll keep it mellow, and fire up the MAME cab for some good clean fun. I got the cocktail with only the arcade classics, and that's fine for drinking nights (harder to hurt stuff spilling a drink onto a cocktail, thankfully!)

[pinballwizard79]

I gained a wife due to booze

[ray_slup]

If thats not a reason to give up drinking i don't know what is 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Maybe I should extend on this thread.
I just want to make clear Im not a problem drinker, I probably get bad hangovers because Ive hardly drink at all thease days!
When I look around thease days I just seem to see alcahol doing more bad than good.
Today for instance I was walking with my son to the park and over the road was 2 familes with kids and every adult had a can in their hands obviously the worse for wear ( it was about 12 midday!)

I live by a complex of bars called the waterfront. In its heyday (about 10 years ago) it was a great place to socialise, drink, meet girls etc. Now its mostly closed down because of trouble, 3 shootings, licences revoked etc.

Its like you cant trust folks with booze....

Oh BTW a good tip for a beer with no hangover effects: Find one that is brewed to German purity laws. Off the top of my head Becks is one.

[Xiaou2]

2 days? ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?---. I could get totally ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- faced and be fine the next day. I got so hammers (not a typo) that one time I did a cement mixer......then a second one. Still cool the next day. Long islands are a great drink for you ladies though

 Long Islands:

1 part vodka
1 part 1800® Tequila
1 part rum
1 part gin
1 part triple sec
1 1/2 parts sweet and sour mix
1 splash Coca-Cola®

 The strength depends on IF the bartender actually puts all the ingredients in
(have had them neglect some), IF they put the full amounts of each, and how much
cola/sour mix they pop in.  Some even add water to tone it down.   However, the bartenders at places I regulared make it so strong , it was hard to drink.

 And of course, the biggest problem was how much was drank per unit of time.
I downed the thing in a few minutes... and ordered a 2nd.  Drank the 2nd a little
slower...  and after and in less than an hour, was on my 3rd.

 I was only 150lbs mind you, with almost no fat. When it finally hit me, I got to the
point where music and voices were echoing.  On the bad nights... I was litterally
crawling to my car (to sleep in, not Drive. I never drive drunk), treading through my own
vomit.  I probably nearly died of alcohol poisoning.   Easy to do, when you dont understand the  delay time of hard liquor... and just keep drinking more.

 If you fall asleep without first drinking like a liter of water, you awake severely
dehydrated, and the impurities from the liquor are concentrated in your digestive track,
as well as elsewhere.  Giving you massive headaches that advil wont even touch... and
making you sick to your stomach for at least a day, sometimes longer.  Once the
impurites are re-hydrated (eating / drinking anything) , they get back into your
bloodstream, making you ill.  It can take a lot of eating and drinking fluids to fully
flush your system out... however, because you feel so sick, you dont feel like eating
or drinking anything.. so it makes it even worse.

[Malenko]

             

I was just yankin your skirt nancy.

[LLUncoolJ]

I gained a wife due to booze

+1

mmmmm, sweet Kentucky Bourbon, brownest of the brown liquors