No one likes a quitter.
Good luck to all of you! I’ll admire your commitment from the sidelines.
Welcome to this, the first night of Dryuary 2022. But first, a recap of last night’s festivities. Two friends joined us for the evening. We began by opening my last bottle of 2017 Liquid Farm White Hill Chardonnay. It was just about perfect on its own, and paired well with the turkey dinner. We noshed away the evening with Chandon Brut Rose’ and a delicious cider from Michigan’s Left Foot Charley, then capped off the night with a bottle of Roederer Estate Brut. My glass was poured right before ball dropped!
Today was a Dryuary breeze. It helped that I stepped on the scale for the first time in several months. I had weathered the first wave of the pandemic fairly well, physically and mentally, but the Delta lockdown was a letdown. I’ve probably gained 10 pounds since August. I had a light salad for lunch and leftover turkey for dinner. No bread/rice/carbs in sight.
So, 1 day down, 30 to go. Tonight’s musical selection hit is “Baby, Baby” which hit number 1 on the charts back in 1991. Amy Grant was a precocious teen who recorded three faith-based albums before she turned twenty before charting a lengthy career that straddled the pop /Christian line. Now, you might think “Baby, Baby” is a boy/girl kissy-face snoozer, and a strange musical selection to kick off the year, but you’d be incorrect. The song is about a mother’s love for her child. Amy wrote the lyrics while looking at her six-week old daughter, Millie.
Through that lens, “Baby, Baby” is infectious, sweet, and bubbly, like a crowd-pleasing sparkling wine. Sure, there’s some residual sugar, but that’s OK.
Here’s to a bubbly and (non-Covid) infectious 2022!
Runner Up:
“Feels Like the First Time” (Foreigner)
Honorable Mention:
“Theme from The Golden Girls” (RIP, Betty)
Two down, twenty-nine to go.
Welcome to this, the second day of Dryuary 2022. I had a heckuva time getting any sleep last night. I guess I should have read last year’s thread because I had the same problem then. I woke up at 2:44am, then drifted in and out of consciousness until I finally gave up at 6:30. Wine today was the farthest thing from my mind, though I enjoyed learning more about sparkling wine on the Berserker Charity Thread.
Tonight’s musical number is Elvis Costello’s “(What’s So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,” continuing yesterday’s theme of positivity for the new year. Also, I’m a sucker for a good cover song, which Elvis’ version actually is – it was originally written by Nick Lowe when he played bass in an early band called Brinsley Schwarz. However, the cover I chose is a live version from October 2004, featuring Bruce Springsteen and an all-star cast.
As I watched the video, among the sea of guitarists, I thought “Hey, that’s Mike Mills from REM!” It immediately brought me back to 2004 – not October, but mid-August, when a fortuitously-timed work assignment on Long Island enabled me to attend a pair of Rush’s 30th anniversary shows at Radio City Music Hall. My friend Matt also decided to make the trek from Indiana. He did not have a fortuitous work assignment and ended up getting fired. Matt was also going to see Phish in Vermont, so that makes sense.
Matt had heard that Rush drummer Neil Peart (RIP) was staying at the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which had been open less than a year. After the first show ended, we hightailed it over and parked ourselves on the sidewalk near the front entrance. Nothing happened until around 3am, when a large Towne car pulled up to the curb. The door opened and a blond-haired gent walked right past us. My sleep-deprived brain thought “Hey, that’s Mike Mills!”
Alas, Neil was a no show. Either our intel was bad, or he used the side entrance that we did not know existed until the sun came up. Ah, the joys of youth.
Enjoy! (That’s Mike Mills in the left corner of the video still.)
Runner Up
“It Takes Two” - Marvin Gaye and Kim Winston
Honorable Mention
Elvis Presley’s cover of Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” (One for the money, two for the show.)
This is my 13th year of DryJanuary + Keto eating. As time has gone on I tend to partially extend it into Feb for a couple of weeks. A little cheat here and there in Feb.
I’ve found a number of benefits:
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Weight loss. I lose around 7.5% of bodyweight during the period. That puts me back at my yearly low and removes the holiday excess. Each year, once a year, I return to the same base weight. I’ve found that people that really lose control of their weight do it over the course of a decade or decades. If you can touch the same base weight at least once a year you can never get too far off course. For my 2020 weigh in, just before Covid, I hit my college weight (from 1981). Last year not quite as good. Let’s see what this year is…
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Alcohol hits harder and wine tastes better. By late December, I have a harder time feeling the pleasant effects of alcohol and while wine tastes good, it’s such a regular thing that it’s not ‘great’. After 4-6 weeks off, that first glass of wine tastes magical and 1/2 bottle gets me somewhat tipsy, this is a fun thing to experience and taste, if only for the short period before things return to ‘normal’
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Sleep. It really improves. And I wake up rested and ready do go each morning, I think and write better in the mornings on no or limited alcohol.
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The evening. Sort of the same as #2. I tend to not fall asleep on the couch at 8:30-9:00pm. I can stay up later w/o falling asleep. My wife likes this as less work for her (forcing me to get up and go to bed)
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I am not sure if it’s a good idea to chock my liver and other organs in this abrupt way 
However I will at least do a mini Dryuary for a couple of weeks till family birthdays are coming up (three within a couple of days).
After that mini break I might return to a dry spell for rest of the month. Or if my lever and general body response is positive and thanking for the break, then I might even go more radical and reassess the consumption playbook on a permanent basis (i.e. strict 1-2 nights per weeks, 1-2 glasses per night x 3, or any other formula).
58 hours down. 686 hours to go.
This will be my fifth dry January. I find it hard to begin, but much easier, once I get 2-3 days into it. I always appreciate the resultant weight loss and other benefits. Sadly, the weight loss portion of dry January requires more effort each year.
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I am also in but I am ending on Jan 29th (it’s my dad’s 80th bday and we have a celebration planned). Still, 4 weeks of no wine and a tightened keto diet.
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In as well started the 2nd and ending February 2nd.
JF
Doing my first and looking forward to it. In addition to the above benefits, I am curious to see how socially the absence of alcohol is going to work and get a clearer snapshot on what role alcohol plays in my life.
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I’m your age and completely agree 2, 3 and 4. Working on # 1 
Got my Dryuary fundraiser op and running for 2022! No wine, lots of mileage, and money goes to homeless kids… triple win!
Is it February yet?
I am usually dry 3 days a week, but I ordered some non-alcoholic wines/beers for weekends. Hopefully that is not considered cheating.
You, Peter, and I have another commonality (although I am not doing Dryuary for weight or alcohol reduction).
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The social aspect of dry January is a very interesting point that I’ve never really thought about that much. Over the past few dry January’s I’ve found it easier to keep on track if I limit social plans a bit. Another thing I do is head up to VT to ski more than I might otherwise as this gets me out of the social mix even more.
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Victor, why do you do it?
I find January is the least ‘social’ month of the year, anyway. People all done from December. Easier to do Dry Jan if you’re not going out to restaurants with friends, I agree…
Yep…I find the same thing. The weather is most likely getting cold/wet. People are getting back into the swing of work/school. For me, I’m skiing more on weekends. Dry August would suck.
Last year with the delta surge made things easy for me. Sadly, omicron may do the same this year.
I’m in this year. Not going to be going out much (at all) with the Omicron surge anyway, so it should be significantly easier than prior years. While I don’t drink all that much to begin with (maybe 3-4 bottles a month), I’m trying to get healthier in general, and cutting wine will probably help with that.
Three down, twenty-eight to go.
I still went to bed way too late, but felt OK during the day. Avoiding refined carbs helps. I enjoyed a bowl of lettuce, leftover turkey, roasted sweet potato, and walnuts, with a cilantro-lime-tahini dressing. I went back for more and did not feel bloated or foggy.
On the wine front, I’ve had no desire to open anything. But I have been reading the board more than usual. I found a good thread about different corkscrews for opening old wines. I actually found it by googling “Ah So vs Durand” and the Berserker thread was the #1 result.
Today’s musical selection continues the theme of harmony, this time it’s the musical kind. 1982’s “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills and Nash was my first real exposure to CSN. I was 14 years old when the song was released and the music video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Yes, MTV had music videos. And Martha Quinn.
CSN might not exist had it not been for “Mama” Cass Elliot. She introduced Nash to Stills and Crosby, back in the heady days of the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles. Dozens of musicians lived in that neighborhood and the creativity must have been off the charts. For an overview of that era, I highly recommend the documentary Echo In the Canyon.
Enjoy!
Runner Up
“Harmony” - Elton John
Honorable Mention
“Understanding” - Bob Seger