The lead up to now......

My original plan was to visit my family in Queensland over the festive season, and then begin a year of non-drinking in January when I returned to my home in Sydney, but as with any attempt to give up something(s) that has been a part of your life for so long, I managed to find a few excuses not to quit!

The first of my "justifiable reasons" was that I had another month of leave before I was to fly back to Singapore and begin work for the year, and who would quit drinking/smoking while they were on leave and at home.

I spent the first 4 days back in Sydney re-inventing the meaning of the word drunk, and then changed my mind and decided to begin my year off drinking in January after all.

I lasted 6 days, then my father and step-mother came to Sydney and stayed with me for a few days, and justifiable reason #2 was "I can't have my Maori father in town for 4 days and not have a few beers with him", so within 2 hours of Dad and Sue's arrival, I had taken them to the pub across the road, and invested in a packet of cigarettes.

I re-set my quit date to 7th February, when I was due to fly out of Sydney to Singapore.  I stopped drinking the day before, but managed to justify smoking until the following Monday.  The Saturday after I arrived in Singapore, one of the guys I work with gave me the perfect excuse to drink.........
"so....you're giving up drinking so you can give up smoking right?"
"yeah."
"and you're giving up smoking on Monday, right?"
"yeah."
"so, why don't you just drink until Monday?"..........

And how can you argue with logic like that?  So at the barbeque at the girls house on Saturday, I gained agreement to suspend the bet that I had with my friend Chris for the sake of the day, and recommence it on Sunday, and I indulged in my Australian sailor penchant for drinking.  I recall various parts of the night, but the next Monday, heard that I was at one venue that I have no recollection of attending, so I'm guessing that I was probably an excellent example of drunkenness.  (eating an American quarter is normally a good indication!)

The positive to this story is that I was so hung over the next day, that I've managed to successfully avoid drinking since.

I didn't quit smoking on the following Monday, but did manage to give it up on Tuesday 15 February 2011, and am now entering week 4 of my gagillionth attempt to quit smoking.

I have even managed to have a night out in Clark Quay (clubbing/drinking district in Singapore) without crumbling on either drinking or smoking.......although I'm certain that I doubled Red Bull's profits in the number of hours that I was out last Saturday

:)