I've been planning this post for over a month now and planned to call it, Are You Ready for Sober October, but now that we're a week in it's a bit late for that right? My friend left Laos to go back home to Scotland on the 2nd and when I dropped by to say goodbye on the 1st, his wife bought a bunch of beer and my wife invited her friends over so I thought I had already failed, but it's still worth a shot because there are 31 days in October.
I never heard of Sober October until I saw Joe Rogan mention it on his podcast. I'm sure all the alcohol companies just love him for making it go mainstream. God, I miss Joe Rogan on YouTube. I was about to rant about how much I hate Spotify for robbing Joe from my life and then making it impossible to listen because I refuse to pay them and the free service wasn't available in my country, but it looks like The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast is available "in my country" now. It isn't my country by the way. It just happens to be where I rest my head you pricks! Banks love pulling this bullshit too. Have any other ex-pats had problems with banks just because you choose to live outside your country?
Beer
I love beer, especially in Laos. They have some of the best-tasting and cheapest beer in the world. A big bottle will only put you back $1 and a small one will cost the same even when you're getting ripped off.
Lao people are very friendly and like foreigners. When I'm walking around town and a group of local people invites me over it can be very difficult to say no. It's even harder if they are attractive women.
This month is a huge holiday here. It's called Loi Krathong. They will buy these little floaties with flowers, candles, and incents and release thousands of them into the river. They are made of all-natural materials so it doesn't add to pollution, but I remember back in the day they would use styrofoam which would turn into a disaster for the trash people to clean up. It's like Valentine's Day because you're supposed to celebrate it with your significant other, but I've gone with just my friends and kids too. With Loi Krathong and Halloween in the same month, it will be hard for me to stick to Sober October, but since Halloween falls on the last day of the month, it should be OK to celebrate being sober all month with a few beers right?
Weed, Coke, Coffee, and Facebook
Quitting weed won't be a problem because I get it from my friend and he's not here anymore so that's an easy one. It's the hardest thing for me to quit when it's available though. It just makes life so much more enjoyable. Got a boring job? It doesn't make it more interesting, but you don't seem to care that it's boring anymore. I love smoking a joint before watching anything new from the Star Wars universe or playing video games, but not smoking saves money and it makes your dreams really vivid for some reason. Does anybody know why that is?
I identify as a guy who doesn't give a fuck, but since this pandemic thing came along, I've been labeled stupid shit like anti-masker and anti-vaxxer. I teach adult students English online and some of them are doctors and none of them have said they disagree with my decision to stay unvaccinated. They can't say that to their patients, but they can to their teacher. I'm not trying to go on a Covid-19 rant, I just think that I have developed myocarditis from the virus. About a year ago it felt like my heart was always skipping a beat and would even feel like it wanted to explode sometimes so maybe cutting all caffeine from my diet would be a good idea. My heart is feeling better now so let's see how it feels after a month without Coca-Cola or coffee.
I don't know why I still waste time on damned Facebook. I know it's terrible, I can't stand its founder, and it's a total waste of time, yet I still do it. Well, I've deleted it from my phone so I won't even think about it until the holidays. I'm sure that a month without Meta will be positive for my mental health. Let's see how it goes. How long have you gone without using Fakebook or other non-crypto centralized social media? I'm only a week into my first Sober October so I honestly don't feel any different, but let's see how another three weeks will affect me. Thanks for reading about my first Sober October. I drew the cover photo using Procreate on my iPad two years ago and took the pictures of beer and my puppy with my Samsung phone. Are you participating in this year's Sober October?