Five

Thursday the 11th of January, 2007

How, exactly, does one write a post that purports to list ‘five things you don’t know about me’?

No matter how it’s written, someone out there will probably already know most–if not all–of the items (hi, Mum!). Should it be written for the person asking the question, in which case it might be a different list to that offered to new friends which, in turn, might be different to that offered to fresh visitors from search engines. Maybe I’m just over-thinking the whole thing.

To make this a little more interesting (for me, at least) I’m going to change the game a little and write in detail about one thing (and one that I often have to explain, at that), along with a shorter list of a further four things.

Non-alcoholic

For seven years or so, I’ve abstained from drinking alcohol.

Yes, you read that correctly: a 24 year-old guy that doesn’t drink. No need to alert the media.

On a friend’s birthday (I believe it was his 18th), all those years ago, I got heinously drunk. A bottle of Bacardi, bottle of Jack Daniels, multiple lagers, and an amount of vodka by 10 o’clock and being unable to recall the rest of the drinks consumed until midnight kind of drunk.

Needless to say, I stumbled back home (which, thankfully, was just around the corner) by about midnight and after attempting to sleep and—being troubled by the fact that my room had, apparently, been relocated to a turntable—decided that being violently sick with my head down the toilet for the next six hours was a smart course of action.

Over the next two days, I came to the conclusion that taking a break from alcohol was a good idea. I never intended this break to last very long–much like anyone with an awful hangover–but I held out for a week or two. The next thing I knew, it was a year later and I was telling this story to new friends at university. 7 years on, and I still don’t drink.

I’m often asked if I miss it, or if I’d consider drinking again. I’ve certainly thought about drinking again, but every time I find myself wondering exactly what I’d gain from it. Who knows: maybe one day I’ll give drinking another try.

…and the rest

Pass

Rather than passing this on to the usual suspects (who are, incidentally, very suspect—and welcome to take this as passing to them, if they like), I thought I’d try to pass this on to a different bunch: