1EQQ8ZzGD

And some of them were suggesting that I might be partying a
bit too hard. I dismissed them as boring a-holes.
But life in a ski town wasn't so much fun anymore, so I
went to university. In order to make the money to go there, I
headed up to Yellowknife to tend bar at the Gold Range. The
way the patrons drank made my drinking seem the epitome
of restraint. So, I was able to tell myself that I didn't have a
drinking problem. When I started university, I got a part-time
job serving tables at the bar where the CFL and nHL players
partied. once again, my drinking and drug habits seemed
pretty normal. I dated a player (who would later be booted
out of the league for his coke use) who liked that "I could keep
up with him." I told myself that I didn't have a problem with
drinking because I only drank when I was with other people,
so I was a social drinker. ReAL alcoholics drank alone — but
I had groups of "friends" who lived by different clocks. I could
always find people to drink with.
I was twenty-one and drinking was still, mostly, fun. I was
getting great grades. But there were warning signs; people
I wouldn't hang out with because they were boring (didn't
drink more than a glass or two on weeknights), classes I
missed because I was too hungover to make it in, I had to
borrow money to pay rent and bills, because I was spending
my earnings and savings on booze and drugs. Time passed;
I dropped out of university because, I told myself, "I don't
want this." Actually, I was failing that semester because I was
drinking and drugging so heavily that I couldn't do course
work or pass exams.
So then, like countless alcoholics before and since, I decided
that the problem wasn't me, it was where I lived. So I
moved. But no matter where you go, there you are. I was able
to stop doing coke and speed in my new town, but my drinking
got even heavier to compensate. oh, and drinking no longer
worked its old magic. I had to drink so as not to go crazy,
but it didn't make me feel good, it didn't fill me with warmth
and good cheer. It had become a dreary necessity.
Drinking pretty much took over my life. I had a few
friends who drank as hard as I did. We prided ourselves on
it and thought the rest of the world were boring sheep with
no sense of adventure. I did things I was ashamed of. Maybe
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