Life is bittersweet, alcohol is bittersweet.  I think that it’s easy to accept this familiarity and think they belong together.  Being drunk is all about base emotion, fight or flight, sex, life and death, something some people feel they generally lack in the relative safety of modern life, so then proceed to smash their brains out at the weekend down the bar.  Of course, in general terms, there’s a time and a place for most things, but, I’m recovering from 7 consecutive nights last week on the biggest bender I’ve ever had.  The sense of time and memory has twisted and turned and I’m rarely left feeling strong and secure the morning after.  x7 and well, hmmm.

People like Aldous Huxley have suggested what the world could be like under different substances, but I don’t expect any major changes.  I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but it’s logical that alcohol pervades when it limits our progress as individuals.  Ironic that enlightenment is a peaceful way, tragic that some people fear that.

Still.  Stop doing it and you’re free and you’ll be surprised how quick it is to break the habit.  Predict a vacuum and fill it with something you want to do, and use the money you save to pay for it.  When I get back it’ll be Tai Chi.  And I needn’t worry so much, just learn from the experience and next time, make better arrangements than staying a week in a hostel with a 24hr bar in reception.  Self control isn’t always about ‘saying no’, but often about not putting yourself in a situation where where it’s easy to make poor decisions.