Mayo clinic defines alcoholism as a chronic and often progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.
Mayo also describes binge drinking as a pattern of drinking where a male consumes five or more drinks in a row, or a female downs at least four drinks in a row — can lead to the same health risks and social problems associated with alcoholism. I couldn't find anything about using alcohol as a crutch. For a significant part of his life, my friend had been an alcoholic. He was one of those alcoholics who thought he was a person of different sobriety and not the former and as long as he maintained sobriety of conduct ("as long as situpi mbao", he would say) it was fine.
I had long ago concluded that he believed life revolved around football and alcohol and that - especially under the influence of too much of the latter- sometimes it just revolved so I never tried matching him drinks for drinks. You don't need Mayo clinic to know that was an alcoholic or at least on the path to being one. He eventually saw the folly in denial and got into a cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT) program three months ago. He came home today. My other friend who is a chain smoker (this one likes his 'fwaka' like a problem) and womanizer asked him about the program and if he can recommend it. "Hiyo yako si addiction hiyo ni character defect"
So I decided to delete my bookmark to beer advocate.com and tapper off my drinking by substituting my beer with another narcotic called television and for the last one week I've been sitting comatose in front of the TV mindlessly consuming episodes of Hannibal (that chap can throw down in the kitchen though!!). On the upside, the lethargy from that is better off than from over imbibing. Whatever spurt of annoyance or stress or boredom that always leads me straight to the chilled glass pint of tusker, it turns to pixie dust (my mathee made sure my siblings and I read those castle story books of Rumpelstilskin and snow white) and blows away the second I sip my froth. This is an upside to my tusker. The scales don't seem to tilt much for television so far
I bet my spot at the local watering hole, Lumte Bar Nyaru has been taken by now.
What's on my book shelf
Peter Taylor's Smoke ring: Tobacco and multinational politics (borrowed it from my smoker friend actually)
What's on my playlist:
They don't love you no more- Khaleed ft. Jay Z, Meek Mill and French Montana
Dumbest thing I've heard today:
"That explains why you drink a lot of tea, it's everywhere so you're trying to get rid of it" (When my cousin visited Kericho and saw the plantations)
