cutting back on drinking days, not drinks

turning 30 -- as i'm about to do -- is the crossroads age for young people and thus a good time for some self-reflection. and so i'm happy to report that i have discovered something about myself that will drive up my productivity.

though other people my age have probably reduced their alcohol consumption in favor of more socially-acceptable pursuits -- like getting married and raising a family -- i've gone the opposite direction. the past month has been among the wettest of my 359, including a three-day stint in montreal that involved roughly 50 libations.

obviously, after drink number 14, it's not as if i rushed home, flipped open my laptop and devised a proof for a formerly intractable math problem or found the cure for a rampant flesh-eating disease in africa. no, i was lucky to spend those evenings in a bed as opposed to slumped over a toilet bowl in a public restroom. but those nights are the ones where adventure happens, friends are made, or converted into more valuable friends, strangers are consummated with etc...who in their right mind would want to excise those from their lives?

no, it's those other days that i must cut back on. those days where i have one glass of wine at happy hour. or two amstels at a pub and call it. those are the real bane. for it's those nights where i've added nothing historical to my life, yet i know that i'll be about as productive as a seal sunning itself on a clear day.

perhaps, there are those individuals who can do the one-drink and then be productive, whether that be study, work, etc. that's just not me. that one might well have been a dozen, because though sober, i'm unmotivated. a real success at that point would constitute checking my email or reading the nyt. shit, watching a movie might be the midpoint of productivity.

so my new motto for a new decade: one and done, no more.

that needs a little work. lucky i still have 29 days.