'Alcohol put us here today' says grieving dad at funeral

[barryqwalsh]

Addressing the packed congregation in the Star of the Sea Church, and hundreds of mourners who stood in silence outside, Mr Mungovan said: "I don't want anyone going out tonight or any other night drowning their sorrows in Stephen's name. The culture of excess drinking with young people is frightening.

"It was alcohol that has put us here today. We wouldn't be here and we wouldn't have the problem only for that. People might call me a dinosaur. I came from a different time when people like me and those around me didn't drink and we were still able to live a life."

"If we want a monument to Stephen, let us start now so that other children don't wind up in the same position because they do not know what they are doing."


'Alcohol put us here today' says grieving dad at funeral - Independent.ie

 

[Iron Head]

One time years ago, back when I was in college, I was at this all night and day fiesta at a friends house. I had been downing bourbon for hours starting at about 9:00 pm until I left. I do not remember exactly what happened, except that it was a whole night and something happened between me and some Puerto Rican chick.

Apparent at like 11:00 am the next morning apparently I decided that I had to leave. I jumped in my Jeep and left. I lived about 30 minutes away and had to hit the interstate highway through metro Atlanta.

Long story short, I missed my exist by like 40 miles. I just kept going north on I-75. I guess I blacked out. Right after I came too my Jeep started sputtering. I ran out of gas. Well north of Atlanta I had to get out and hike to the next exit about 2 miles away. A truck picked me up about halfway and dropped me off at the exit. I tried to thank him but I was so fucked up I couldn't even talk.

I bought some gas and then hiked all the way back to my Jeep. When I got back there was one of those orange plastic barrels they put up in construction zones wedged up under my Jeep. I had ran over the fucker and been dragging it for miles.

I got my Jeep running and got to the gas station. Unfortunately I forgot to get the orange barrel out from under my truck, so it was still there when I got to the place. I then had an uncomfortable though non-violent confrontation with an old man about the barrel after I extracted it and through it to the side in the parking lot.

I paid for my gas and got the fact out of there. I rolled down my window so the cold air could keep me awake. It was winter and the air temp was in the 20s or 30s. I finally got home and then passed out in bed.

Hours later when I came too I started getting really paranoid. I thought that if I drove for that distance while blacked out that I could have hurt someone. I watched every local newscast on TV, checked out the news on the radio, checked the newspapers and inspected the Jeep for paint. I was afraid of hearing some story about a horrible traffic accident caused by an at-large drunk driver. I just knew that the police were going to show up at any minute and arrest me because somebody may have got my license plate number. Then I started feeling guilty about putting others in danger.

So I never drove drunk again after that. Yes, I drove after drinking, but never THAT fucked up. It is dangerous as fuck!

 

[Iron Head]

There was this other time that a buddy and me when to this stripper club on the south side of Atlanta. I wasn't even 21 yet. I think I was 20. I had possession of an "ID" that got me into the place.

We had been drinking for hours. My buddy had a total crush on this one chick and wanted to go see her. I was always up for looking at titties and ass so I was up for it.

I was driving again, of course. Getting there was not a problem, as I was just a little buzzed. But I drank like a fucker while there. I think it was one of those incidents where I switched over from beer to whiskey.

We stayed for hours. My buddy met up with his stripper crush and arranged for some kind of rendezvous at a bar down the street when she got off work at something like 3:00 am. So we left eventually and went down there.

Now, when I get REALLY bombed I get a little obnoxious and combative. The doorman would not let me into the place because thought that my ID was fake. It was. I got all upset. Next thing I know there were like 3-4 HUGE bouncers surrounding us and then escorted us off the property. We got in my truck and left. I was driving.

We drove north through Atlanta. On the north side, on I-75 north, the road splits. One way is I-85 that goes up into South Carolina, the other is I-75 that goes north. I was so fucked up that I took the wrong way and went up I-85. I got off the interstate and plunged into midtown. If you have ever been to midtown Atlanta you know that it is not particularly easy to find the interstate even if you are sober. We drove FOREVER looking to get back onto I-75.

Finally I found the I-75 on-ramp. So, we start back heading north again. We are just shooting the breeze and listening to music. When we get back to the I-75/I-85 split again (btw, this was before there was HOV lanes) I AGAIN missed the fucking road and get us on I-85 north again. This time I just fucking keep going and an extremely roundabout way of getting home. What should have been about a 30 minute drive ended up taking about 2 hours.

We got back to my place, finally, around 6:00 am. Again, alcohol was totally to blame in this incident. I never blacked out because I had the good sense to start taking someone along with me on outings involving alcohol so they could watch my back. Still though, it was dangerous and should not have been done.

I don't drink anymore. I have not driven while under the influenced in probably 25 years.

 

[barryqwalsh]

Like World No Tobacco Day, there should be a World No Alcohol Day. It would not solve the issue, but it would encourage people to consider the issue.

 

[waltky]

Alcohol can increase the risk of developing cancers...

Gene deficiency might link alcohol with cancer
Sun, Jul 31, 2016 - SLOW POISON: Medical researchers said the long-term accumulation of acetaldehyde, which is metabolized by ALDH2, can increase the risk of developing cancers

A group of medical researchers from Taiwan and the US found that about half of Taiwanese have an aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 family (mitochondrial), or ALDH2, deficiency, which might link alcohol consumption to an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer. The second Taiwan-Stanford Symposium on ALDH2 Deficiency and Human Diseases was held at Taipei Medical University yesterday, which was attended by about 100 medical researchers from Taiwan, Japan and the US.

Alexander T.H. Wu, an associate professor at the university’s doctoral program for translational medicine, told the symposium that the ALDH2 gene plays a critical role in metabolizing alcohol. When alcohol enters the body, it is first broken down by alcohol dehydrogenase, a group of enzymes, into acetaldehyde, a probable human carcinogen, and ALDH2 can convert acetaldehyde into acetic acid radicals, he said. If an individual lacks ALDH2 to metabolize acetaldehyde, the long-term accumulation of the chemical compound in the human body can increase the risk of developing certain types of cancers, Wu said.

He said consuming an average of two glasses of red wine per day can increase the risk in people with ALDH2 deficiency of developing cancer in head and neck areas, with a more than 50-fold increase in the chance of developing esophageal cancer, as well as increasing the incidence of other types of cancer. He said studies have suggested that up to 47 percent of Taiwanese lack ALDH2, which is possibly the highest rate in the world, compared with about 35 percent in China, about 30 percent in Japan and about 20 percent in South Korea.

If people with ALDH2 deficiency consume moderate amounts of alcohol, they can suffer symptoms such as severe flushing (also known as “alcohol flush reaction,” which is a result of acetaldehyde accumulation in the body), impaired bodily functions, headaches, nausea and heart palpitations. A study led by National Taiwan University College of Medicine director Wu Ming-hsien found that ALDH2 deficiency is also linked to increased chances of developing digestive tract cancers, suggesting that people with ALDH2 deficiency who often consume alcohol should regularly undergo an endoscopy. An international memorandum of understanding was signed between Taipei Medical University and Stanford University to develop small-molecule medicines that increase the activity of the ALDH2 gene.

Gene deficiency might link alcohol with cancer - Taipei Times

 

[yiostheoy]

So I finally got to go drinking today -- Saturday !!

My usual drinking day is Friday evening but I had to work all day and night yesterday to finish a client's project by this morning for our meeting on Saturday morning.

I had 3 drinks -- 2 whiskeys and 1 beer - on a completely empty stomach while the tire shop fixed my nail flat next door. It felt very good while I waited for the car.

The female bartender was a sweetie and fun to chit chat with.

The ladies in the bar were fun too.

I have gone to that bar occasionally and had notice the tire shop next to it, so this afternoon after I had seen the nail in my car tire I went over there after my client conference.

Anyone who cannot control their drinking should not drink however.

To drink responsibly everyone needs rules. Here are my drinking rules:

1 - no drinking of any kind of alcohol allowed on Sunday for any reason; Sunday is a detox day.

2 - two drink limit per day Monday through Thursday whether lunch or dinner or both.

3 - more drinking only allowed on Friday or Saturday evening but not both.

4 - never pick up dates while you are drinking or else you might have to gnaw off your arm the next morning to get away.

 

[yiostheoy]

Like World No Tobacco Day, there should be a World No Alcohol Day. It would not solve the issue, but it would encourage people to consider the issue.

Every Sunday should be the World No Alcohol Day.

Then Saturday should be the Drink Until You Drop day.

 

[yiostheoy]

There was this other time that a buddy and me when to this stripper club on the south side of Atlanta. I wasn't even 21 yet. I think I was 20. I had possession of an "ID" that got me into the place.

We had been drinking for hours. My buddy had a total crush on this one chick and wanted to go see her. I was always up for looking at titties and ass so I was up for it.

I was driving again, of course. Getting there was not a problem, as I was just a little buzzed. But I drank like a fucker while there. I think it was one of those incidents where I switched over from beer to whiskey.

We stayed for hours. My buddy met up with his stripper crush and arranged for some kind of rendezvous at a bar down the street when she got off work at something like 3:00 am. So we left eventually and went down there.

Now, when I get REALLY bombed I get a little obnoxious and combative. The doorman would not let me into the place because thought that my ID was fake. It was. I got all upset. Next thing I know there were like 3-4 HUGE bouncers surrounding us and then escorted us off the property. We got in my truck and left. I was driving.

We drove north through Atlanta. On the north side, on I-75 north, the road splits. One way is I-85 that goes up into South Carolina, the other is I-75 that goes north. I was so fucked up that I took the wrong way and went up I-85. I got off the interstate and plunged into midtown. If you have ever been to midtown Atlanta you know that it is not particularly easy to find the interstate even if you are sober. We drove FOREVER looking to get back onto I-75.

Finally I found the I-75 on-ramp. So, we start back heading north again. We are just shooting the breeze and listening to music. When we get back to the I-75/I-85 split again (btw, this was before there was HOV lanes) I AGAIN missed the fucking road and get us on I-85 north again. This time I just fucking keep going and an extremely roundabout way of getting home. What should have been about a 30 minute drive ended up taking about 2 hours.

We got back to my place, finally, around 6:00 am. Again, alcohol was totally to blame in this incident. I never blacked out because I had the good sense to start taking someone along with me on outings involving alcohol so they could watch my back. Still though, it was dangerous and should not have been done.

I don't drink anymore. I have not driven while under the influenced in probably 25 years.

That's funny that you are a Billy Bad Azz drunk.

I am a kind loving drunk.

I can do Billy Bad Azz while sober no problem.

But I normally don't pick on anyone who does not deserve it however.

 

[yiostheoy]

One time years ago, back when I was in college, I was at this all night and day fiesta at a friends house. I had been downing bourbon for hours starting at about 9:00 pm until I left. I do not remember exactly what happened, except that it was a whole night and something happened between me and some Puerto Rican chick.

Apparent at like 11:00 am the next morning apparently I decided that I had to leave. I jumped in my Jeep and left. I lived about 30 minutes away and had to hit the interstate highway through metro Atlanta.

Long story short, I missed my exist by like 40 miles. I just kept going north on I-75. I guess I blacked out. Right after I came too my Jeep started sputtering. I ran out of gas. Well north of Atlanta I had to get out and hike to the next exit about 2 miles away. A truck picked me up about halfway and dropped me off at the exit. I tried to thank him but I was so fucked up I couldn't even talk.

I bought some gas and then hiked all the way back to my Jeep. When I got back there was one of those orange plastic barrels they put up in construction zones wedged up under my Jeep. I had ran over the fucker and been dragging it for miles.

I got my Jeep running and got to the gas station. Unfortunately I forgot to get the orange barrel out from under my truck, so it was still there when I got to the place. I then had an uncomfortable though non-violent confrontation with an old man about the barrel after I extracted it and through it to the side in the parking lot.

I paid for my gas and got the fact out of there. I rolled down my window so the cold air could keep me awake. It was winter and the air temp was in the 20s or 30s. I finally got home and then passed out in bed.

Hours later when I came too I started getting really paranoid. I thought that if I drove for that distance while blacked out that I could have hurt someone. I watched every local newscast on TV, checked out the news on the radio, checked the newspapers and inspected the Jeep for paint. I was afraid of hearing some story about a horrible traffic accident caused by an at-large drunk driver. I just knew that the police were going to show up at any minute and arrest me because somebody may have got my license plate number. Then I started feeling guilty about putting others in danger.

So I never drove drunk again after that. Yes, I drove after drinking, but never THAT fucked up. It is dangerous as fuck!

I have gotten plastered at airports enough to miss my flight.