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Driven to drink by Dry July

David Penberthy

by David Penberthy

14 Jul 01:34pm

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Filed under: Alcohol, Charities, Dry July, Society

71 comments

The simple act of having a quiet beer with friends, or even a slightly loud one, has now become a fraught operation.

Fremantle asked if Movember could be held in September as they knew they'd have nothing on then. Photo: Ian Munro

Not that long ago you could ring a mate with confidence and suggest a relaxed catch-up in a licensed setting. Now you have to check the calendar to make sure it isn’t Dry July or Febfast or Ocsober or Just Say No-vember, and that your once-entertaining companion hasn’t signed on for a month of sobriety to raise money for kiddies who are suffering from Tourette’s Syndrome.

As the kiddies themselves might say, bollocks to that.

Giving money to charity is a noble and valuable pursuit, especially when it involves sick children, and this certainly isn’t an attempt to besmirch the commendable intent of initiatives such as Dry July in raising funds for oncology wards at our major public hospitals.

As penance for writing this article I’ve donated $50 to Dry July and suggest that you do the same by following this link to the donation page at www.dryjuly.com

But it is getting to the point where it’s no longer enough to give money to charity, you have to grow a moustache, shave your bum, come to work in your pyjamas and stop drinking as part of the bargain.

Aside from perpetuating the dangerous myth that you don’t need alcohol to have a good time – a sentence which has been inserted here to irritate humourless health professionals – these months of sobriety wreak havoc on the most basic and long-standing form of human interaction.

The non-participants are left to feel somehow inadequate and heartless by sitting there chugging away on lager as charities cry out for more funds. It’s as if every sip of beer is a middle finger lifted at the sick and the impoverished, regardless of whether you’ve written a cheque in the past year for the Red Cross, Daffodil Day or the National Foundation for Kids Who Shout “Arse”.

On the social level these dry months also legitimise and encourage the act of “going out for coffee” which as most self-respecting people know is something you should only ever really do with your mum or a partner in a troubled relationship.

A dear old friend I caught up with on Tuesday night explained that we would have to go somewhere that served tea – not tea as in veal parmigiana but tea as in that warm watery stuff that is served in a china cup. We may never see each other again.

In an interesting social indicator, a small Facebook group called Wet July has now been formed encouraging people to pledge to drink alcohol every night for an entire month to raise money for the charity of their choice. Its members log on each night to discuss what they’re drinking and how smashed they are.

It doesn’t really abide by the maxim of all things in moderation but then again neither does Dry July.

Wet July might have just 57 members but like the Early Christians their message can only grow from here.

Oh and for the cynics among you:

Here's the proof.

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71 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Peter says:

      03:35pm | 14/07/10

      You should check out where I work. We get an emailed invitation to have a Friday afternoon social drink in the break out area, then a few minutes later it is followed up by another email advising us of our companies responsible alcohol comsumption policy. After reading that, no-one one turns up for drinks. I reckon they have been putting out the same slab of Jimmy Boags for the last 3 years now…

      Reply

    • AliceC says:

      03:48pm | 14/07/10

      I guerss that’s one way for the company to save money…..

    • Elphaba says:

      04:30pm | 14/07/10

      We get the ‘responsible consumption of alcohol’ email too - it doesn’t stop our social club functions from going off though!

      I don’t drink much, and I have a friend participating in this.  I donated some money, no problem.  A couple of mates participate in Movember, and I donate to them every year.

      Meh.  It’s a novelty thing, so if it raises a bit of money for people in need, I’m ok with it.  Unfortunately, the dark side of these things is that it can put people under a lot of pressure to donate and participate.  Donating to charity should be like religion - grand philanthropic gestures aren’t needed. Just do it quietly, not to impress other people, but because it helps others, and makes you feel good.

    • Up In Arms says:

      08:53pm | 14/07/10

      “Just do it quietly, not to impress other people, but because it helps others, and makes you feel good. “

      Spot on Elphaba.  Unfortunately that seems to out of fashion now.  You have to wear the right wristband or support the ‘cause de jour’ in a highly visible way.  And don’t get me started on being loudly berated in the street by backpackers working on commission

    • Elphaba says:

      09:03am | 15/07/10

      Up In Arms, that totally gets my goat too.  I get comments from them about how nice my clothes/hair/shoes are, or “Gee, what’s the book you’re reading?”

      They’re not interested in me, they’re interested in my credit card details.  They should just stop beating around the bush and ask me - so I can say no.

      I prefer the people with the buckets.  No hassle (so far), just walk up and drop the spare change in.  No fuss, no dramas.  I don’t even have to stop mid-stride.

    • Dognuts says:

      03:43pm | 14/07/10

      Penbo, I agree wholeheartedly. July is probably the dullest month of the year, so if you can’t drink, you may as well neck yourself!!

      Seriously though, I reckon these initiatives aren’t such a bad idea. Anything that makes you stop and think about why we drink can’t hurt. The dickhead yobbo grog culture we have has resulted in city pubs serving grog in plastic cups like a kiddies party, and an endless supply of poor beaten up buggers lining up in emergency wards or morgues every weekend. The notion that sometimes a drink free night out can be fun (but admittedly less so when you end up talking to drunks!!) needs to sink in otherwise the nanny state will roll on with even more oppressive measures to “keep us safe”

      Reply

    • Hayden says:

      04:41pm | 15/07/10

      Well said, I guess you just can’t disagree with someone called Dognuts.

    • AliceC says:

      03:50pm | 14/07/10

      I have a similar issue with the 40 hour famine. Yes, raise money for the charity, but how does it help by going hungry yourself? If you had all you can eat pizza, you can still raise money.

      Reply

    • Tane says:

      05:58pm | 14/07/10

      Drink your beer! There are sober children in Africa!

    • Kate says:

      07:57pm | 14/07/10

      It’s about empathy AliceC. The 40 hour famine isn’t only about raising money. If you find it hard to go without food for 40 hours, imagine what it’s like when you don’t have the safety net of that clock telling you when you can eat again. I think it’s great for people who are used to being able to grab a snack whenever they like, and hunger simply isn’t a real issue. It gives people a very small taste of how lucky they are! Sure, it makes no difference to the starving people in Africa but it might inspire a person to try and help more.

    • Pat says:

      11:36pm | 14/07/10

      Oh Really Kate you don’t say! Although do we really need to walk a day in their shoes and more to the point would we not be better fixing our home grown issues before taking on a natural selection issue that is as old as time itself….

    • Jayda says:

      09:13am | 15/07/10

      Kate, you don’t say?! But really, call me a cynic but I just don’t see how depriving oneself of food for 40 hours (during which time I can still drink clean water and eat Barley Sugars!) is at all akin to being starving in Africa. In fact, it’s allmost insulting to draw the comparison. Add to which, every 40 hour famine is always covered on the news during one of those “yay we completed the 40 hour famine” Macdonalds sponsored events where, at the moment it ends, the truck load of bi\urgers is backed in and everyone has a gorge fest.

      Great article Penbo, drink Friday night?

    • ABC says:

      03:52pm | 14/07/10

      I reckon that drinking is the key to making charity money - I think the Salvo’s have the best approach.  After about two beers or a couple of red’s in the pub of a Friday and the little Salvo’s fellow (he always seems to be little - has anyone noticed that?) comes along - I get very magnimous (I quite cheerily chuck a $10 or $20 in his little red bag).  Anybody that is prepared to run the gauntlet of Friday nights - to raise money for charity deserves to be rewarded.

      I donate money throughout the year to a number of organisations - a couple of which get standing direct debit contributions each month.  I don’t feel the need to promote myself and bang on about what I donate by making a big fuss of things by doing something like Dry July.  I’ll do what I do and do it without the promotional fanfare and partake of as many Coopers Sparklings or red wines during the course of any given month as I see fit.

      Reply

    • Jimmy says:

      11:00pm | 14/07/10

      ABC, I was with you on this. Until the night that the young & attractive (can you believe it)  salvo girl walked into my local, She had been happily taking my money for months until the one night i was between shouts and had not yet visited the ATM, at that point she was quick to point out her box had not been filled, in a very public manner in front of the pub.

      Since that point I have no longer donated money to the Salvos and no longer will. Im all for charity but not when your made to feel like the criminal.

    • ABC says:

      08:50am | 15/07/10

      Jimmy,

      Very fair call.  I also have a problem with those that are a little aggressive in the sense of purposefully rattling their tin and looking at you pointendly, its kind of like demanding money with charitable menaces.

    • Nikki says:

      04:05pm | 14/07/10

      Doctors drink plenty. Who else buys all that Grange and Hill of Grace?

      Reply

    • Justin says:

      04:05pm | 14/07/10

      I object to Dry July because it punishes one of the most Australian industries we have. Most of wine & beer is made here by companies that employ massive numbers of Australians, the ingredients are grown here by Australian farmers, the end product is transported around the country by Australian owned transport companies & largely sold in Australian owned outlets (owned by Coles & Woolworths), where yet even more Australians are employed.

      Would a charity based boycott of other genuinely local products be tolerated? No Apple-ril perhaps? Scurvytember? Now that only lepers smoke, alcohol has become the whipping boy of political correctness.

      But don’t joke about going out for a coffee - that’ll be next.

      Reply

    • Kordez says:

      04:09pm | 14/07/10

      I signed up for this crap, I’m actually a few days ahead though, and it’s shithouse! TV seems less entertaining, takeout tastes worse, the social life is a disaster and instead of drinking I smoke more!
      But on the other hand it does increase motivation and awareness throughout the week.
      Can’t wait to get a Jimmy down @ 12:00am on the 1st!

      Reply

    • Nic says:

      07:26pm | 14/07/10

      Totally with you there! Raised a fair amount of money, great cause and good reason to stop, but work is making me want it more - nothing a couple of Golden Tickets can’t fix though. Feel a bit better in some ways, especially in the pocket, but good God I’ll be hitting it on the 1st!  Peter, I’ll take that slab of Boag’s of your companies hands if you like…

    • Jarrod from Melbourne says:

      04:13pm | 14/07/10

      It’s the only way to get charity donations for the most part. The exposure received from random celebrity X growing a moustache/going sober/wearing strange pants/etc is just as good for that charity as well.

      I do Movember yearly and don’t mind making a fool of myself with a piss weak moustache, but these sobriety-months do nothing for me. I’d rather pay someone to stay sober for me than do it myself. Febfast happens during cricket season so there’s no chance I’m going to watch T20s and ODIs without beer in tow.

      Reply

    • Mike says:

      03:09pm | 15/07/10

      I wouldn’t stay sober during either cricket or footy season, why does it have to be a month, why not just a day, like 29th of Feb for example.

    • David says:

      06:25pm | 16/07/10

      I agree with Mike, but with one exception. A far better day to go dry would be June 31. . .

    • MattJ says:

      04:22pm | 14/07/10

      I signed on too.  Not a well thought out, self righteous look at me kind of sign up.  Just an interesting test of my own will power…given I spend my life caving in on just about everything else!

      Reply

    • Allan says:

      09:53pm | 14/07/10

      Thanks Zeta, Best laugh I’ve had in weeks.

    • Zeta says:

      04:37pm | 14/07/10

      I lasted exactly three days into Dry July before getting completely wankered. I don’t mind charity, I mean, it’s charitable and all, and I’m reasonably healthy, so why shouldn’t the kids be reasonably healthy too? I love kids. All that scrapping about they do, talking rubbish about nothing, those toys that fire the foam darts - fantastic. Kids are great.

      Obviously, I wasn’t going to go completely dry - but I did set limits. No drinking straight spirits, and no mixing two spirits at once with a mixer. No ‘party beer’ or throw downs, like Coronas or those carb free jobs that the ladies drink. So really I was just sticking to Jack Daniels & Coke with Toohey’s Old in between, but it seemed dry in comparison to my usual, liquor based diet.

      So there I was, at the pub, with a few other blokes doing Dry July, drinking beer because ‘Dry’ really means ‘drunk’ and we were reasonably confident we weren’t going to get drunk, just lightly smashed - or ‘Fighting Drunk’ where you’re just pissed enough to start a fight with your girlfriend over that surf instructor she pashed in 2007 but not so drunk that you’ll care if you lose the fight - also the kind of drunk where if you’re glassed by a juicer in an Ed Hardy shirt at 4:00am you might be lucid enough to not embarrass yourself in the ensuing struggle.

      Some bright spark had the notion that perhaps we should know exactly what charity Dry July was in aid of. Kids with cancer or some such. We all agreed kids were alright, in moderation, if they stayed in school, and that cancer was bad. But I was interested in exactly what kind of cancer, because some are better than others, and I didn’t want to be missing the 2 for $65 deal on Justerini & Brooks at Dan Murphy’s for just any cancer. I wanted one of the real nasty ones, like self replicating intelligent brain cancers, or Lupus. It’s an economy of scale with charity. I mean, we all love breasts, so it’s no big deal to look like a complete bell end in a pink shirt at the cricket in aid of breast cancer research. But I could take or leave bowel cancer so I wouldn’t celebrate Lara Bingle’s Bowel Month by wearing an offical Lara Bingle novelty Bowel Band on my wrist.

      So thanks to the marvel of iPhone technolgy, we’re informed that it’s to build oncology wards in public hospitals. I took a sip of my beer, and mulled this over.

      Suddenly, lightning struck my brain, like taking a shot of Chartreuse, which I realised, to my suprise, I just had.

      Here I was, supposed to be not drinking to help public hospitals… but if I did drink, the big whopping drink taxes would help hospitals even more!

      I tried to articulate this to my compatriots, only to discover we’d clearly come to the same, silent conclusion at once because when I open my eyes,  we were in a different bar, and a scantily clad woman was asking me if I’d like a ‘private dance’ to which I replied I’ve never been much of a dancer, but had Dry July affected sales of liquor in her establishment? Turns out it hadn’t, and when I told her my theory, that drinking more would help the kids by sending my taxes to Canberra, she kindly reminded me that broad based alcohol excise had remained stable taking the increases in Cost Price Index into account and if I really wanted to help the kids, I should purchase a round of pre mixed drinks. One carton of Smirnoff Mule later, I woke up to discover I possessed of a warm, pleasant feeling about my mid section and realised, this must be what charity and selflessness really feels like.

      Turns out I’d wee’d myself.

      Reply

    • AliceC says:

      04:41pm | 14/07/10

      BRILLIANT!!!!

    • Elphaba says:

      04:45pm | 14/07/10

      those toys that fire the foam darts

      There are 2 grown men in my department who play with those when they haven’t got any work to do.  They’re the ones with the suction cup tips.

      They can get them to stick to the exit signs, the plasma screens, and arc over the partitians right onto someone’s keyboard.

      The ammo gets lost though.  We’ve lost count of how many went to Dart Heaven.

    • Lap Dancer says:

      04:47pm | 14/07/10

      Lupus isn’t a form of cancer. It is an autoimmune disease associated with an increased incidence of malignancy but not a malignancy in itself.

    • Kordez says:

      04:51pm | 14/07/10

      Oh Zeta, you had me at wankered, I also lol’d

    • thebigmicka says:

      05:17pm | 14/07/10

      Greatest Comment Ever!

    • nic says:

      05:51pm | 14/07/10

      Post of the year lol

    • Rach says:

      06:20pm | 14/07/10

      Gold!  Zeta, I’m forming a religion in your honour… So not only will you be able to claim those Mules, you will also have a legion of fans donating to your service.

      As for the lupus isn’t cancer comment, isn’t any condition a ‘cancer on society’?  Move on Lap Dancer.

    • rick says:

      06:51pm | 14/07/10

      Zeta you’re a genius

      LapDancer - you should go get a drink. one that unw**kers you.

    • dancan says:

      07:50pm | 14/07/10

      It’s like Jesus came to these forums and posted.  And then bought everyone a dirnk

    • DavidH says:

      09:08pm | 14/07/10

      I’ve been reading the punch for about 2 years and Zeta always makes me smile without fail. Something about talking perfect sense using dry, cynical humour. Have never commented before but this deserves it. Zeta, I tip my proverbial hat to you.

    • Jenni says:

      04:37pm | 14/07/10

      First thing I’m doing when I get home is joining that facebook group =D many thanks for the link!

      Reply

    • Ben G says:

      04:45pm | 14/07/10

      I think everyone should take a month off every now and then, just to get an idea of how ingrained alcohol is on our society. I once did a year completely sober, it’s amazing how hard it is. Not the not-drinking, you get the hang of that after a little while, the hard part is explaining it to people. Conversations often went like this:
      Mate: “Whaddya want?”
      Me: “I’m right thanks mate, not drinking at the moment”
      Mate: “haha! Beer it is”
      Me: “Nah mate, seriously, not drinking”
      *Beer arrives in front of me*
      Me: “Honestly mate, I’m not drinking at the moment, haven’t had a drop in X months”
      Mate: “Geez, You alright? some sort of health problem? Or did you find religion?”
      Me: “I’m fine, and I’m still an atheist”
      Mate: “What’s wrong then?”
      Me: “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just not drinking”
      Mate: “Are you okay?”
      . And at that point you have well and truly hit what I call “the cognitive wall”, because it will go back and forth five to six times like that, and never truly be resolved. You just move on and your mate doesn’t understand why you won’t tell him what’s wrong, mainly because he can’t conceive of the idea that nothing is wrong, you’re just not drinking. That’s all.
      I wish I was joking, but I really had about a billion conversations almost exactly like that.
      My advice: If you’re going to give dryness a crack, you may as well do it in July, at least that way you can blame it on a bloody charity.

      Reply

    • notsoboozy says:

      06:44pm | 14/07/10

      So very very true. What is it with people and booze in this country? I’m probably the last person people would have thought would stay off the grog for any length of time but having done it I feel like a different person. It’s now about when I’m drinking as opposed to when I’m not. I know that I will be off my game for days after a single not even big drinking event. I so prefer the clarity of mind that not drinking much anymore offers me. I just wonder how many people are walking around performing at well below capacity every day just because they can’t stay off the booze for anything more than a day or two.

    • Becky says:

      10:12pm | 14/07/10

      Ben I have done the same thing, didn’t drink for a year and don’t really drink that much now.  I have two alcoholic parents, it’s a great way to grow up (NOT).  People treat you as though there is seriously something wrong with you.  It’s quite interesting being in a pub at 2am and watching all the sloppy people pash on with each other, not able to speak or walk properly and spew in the garden on the way out.  And there’s something wrong with me because I don’t wish to do this. I think the govt ad a few years back was hiliarious.  My ex husband (also an alcoholic) must have loved it.  ‘Becky’s not drinking tonight’. Priceless!  The view on drinking in this country is truly sad and it just continues on through each generation

    • Jenna says:

      10:36pm | 14/07/10

      I didn’t drink until I was 25 (I’m 26 now), and you find people don’t care if you’re drinking.. get this.. if you’re still fun! If they offer to get you a drink get a coke, a red bull, whatever. It’s in the culture. They don’t care what you drink, just be holding a glass!

      If you don’t know how to talk crap or dance on a podium sober, you’re certainly not doing it right when you’re drunk.

      And in all my years of non drinking - I agree with the author - Coffee Catchups should be banned. Unless there’s cake.

    • Dan says:

      12:17am | 15/07/10

      Ever noticed how drunk people are only fun to be around when you’re drunk too?  I realised that when I pretty much gave up booze a few years back.

    • Lee from WA says:

      05:02pm | 14/07/10

      I feel bad that I don’t drink so joining Dry July is kinda pointless and I have no intention of taking up drinking so Wet July is out of the question. You could invent a charity month for teetotallers but you wouldn’t get many people signing up…

      Reply

    • elopdat says:

      05:17pm | 14/07/10

      @Zeta, that’s just too funny… Thanks

      Reply

    • JC says:

      05:59pm | 14/07/10

      I dont have a problem with the dry july/movember/red nose day type of charity thing. The only time i get pissed off is the ones on the street corner like a two-bob hooker asking if i have time for greenpeace or unicef or whichever charity.
      If i want to give money. i will but not to them.

      Reply

    • Heather says:

      08:10am | 16/07/10

      try my favourite trick, when they come on to you with their usual comment like, “do you CARE about the environment/starving children/saving lives/whatever” just answer simply, “No” and walk off.

    • craig says:

      05:59pm | 14/07/10

      I took my 5 staff out for lunch on the 2/7 to a very good resturant in Brisbane and reminded them of dry july . They racked up a lunch bill of $1001 including french wine.  so hard to find staff that follows instructions these days , We will have to try again in August

      Reply

    • rob says:

      06:01pm | 14/07/10

      Bugger dry July.  Bring on alcoholic August!

      Reply

    • ihatenews says:

      06:08pm | 14/07/10

      What more can you expect from a typical News Ltd. journo nob?

      Reply

    • Ducks says:

      06:35pm | 14/07/10

      Google “Fanuary”. It’s a much more amusing concept than Wet July.
      In addition, there is a good chance you could double your money raised. Your boyfriend would probably match your funds if you agreed not to do it.

      Reply

    • Ben says:

      07:07pm | 14/07/10

      You idiot

      It’s all about sacrificing things we take for granted so that we can somewhat take into account what others live with, without choice.

      Reply

    • Front Bar says:

      08:04pm | 14/07/10

      Spot on, David P.

      Why don’t we all go out and try to drink a thousand ounces of alcohol this month, get people to sponsor us - say 10c a unit - and donate the money to the kids?
      Isn’t that just as worthy?

      I’ve had an absolute gutsful of these puritans trying to hijack the high moral ground.

      As one involved with the pitch on this disastrous idea, I can tell you that the Preventionists spewed at my my proposal that we encourage those who did not have a drink for a month to get together over a beer once it was over and count the cash.

      I don’t work there any more, thank God.
      For info:  On the focus groups (we) paid for, here’s the summation of what real people in Australia think:


      1. I don’t care if people like Nicola Roxon and the medical commissars don’t drink.

      2. They should get the f-ck out of whether I do, and asking whether that makes me a better person.

      3. Choice between Mormon and non-drinker as friends - Mormons by 43 percent.

      4.  Roxon v all - 89 percent.

      We’d all be far better off dying in our mid-70s,  anyway.

      Reply

    • Alannah says:

      09:03pm | 14/07/10

      Brilliant, Zeta. I’m now hauling myself off of the couch to grab a beer!!  Cheers!

      Reply

    • snoop says:

      10:19pm | 14/07/10

      Alcohol
      The cause of and answer to all lifes problems

      Home simpson

      Reply

    • Frank Guetter says:

      10:34pm | 14/07/10

      I truly admired this article primarily for being absolutely ‘real’ for once.
      I have and am donating almost daily. It’s a community thing and hard to explain. However I do not do the Crosses and Mo’s these days anymore, plainly due to the overwhelming amount of ‘asks’. It’s like the article said: I am made feeling guilty when I do not participate ... and screw that! It’s called “Charity” for that actual reason that its a free will thing, correct? Just introducing a new charity for every month in fact decreases my will to give. Maybe the biggos here wanna introduce a FREE month! I’d go with that and ... ahem ... shave something! Just a thought.

      Reply

    • Pavlo says:

      10:57pm | 14/07/10

      “... explained that we would have to go somewhere that served tea – not tea as in veal parmigiana but tea as in that warm watery stuff that is served in a china cup.”

      I’ve never for the life of me understood why Australians often say, “Let’s go out for tea”, when they don’t intend to drink tea at all but instead intend to eat dinner. What’s up with that homeys? Huh?

      Reply

    • Oscar says:

      11:06pm | 14/07/10

      Parched March, Ocsober, Dry July the rest etc can bite me.

      Reply

    • Millie says:

      08:26am | 15/07/10

      I love that as I’m reading this article and the comments, there’s an advertisement for “Stress Down Day” at the top left.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      08:50am | 15/07/10

      Hey, what did tea ever do to you?

      Reply

    • Jon says:

      10:37am | 15/07/10

      Some words of wisdom from ancients Greeks.

      Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live. -  Socrates

      He was a wise man who invented beer. - Plato

      Reply

    • bella starkey says:

      10:43am | 15/07/10

      I once engaged in “the world’s greatest shave” but lacking commitment to the cause i went the hair colouring options and just got my roots done.

      Reply

    • Jesscar says:

      11:54am | 15/07/10

      I signed up for Dry July and it is so much harder than I expected! I didn’t realise that alcohol is involved in almost all my social situations and depressing it feels to drink water/soft drink instead.

      I think I’ll do Wet July next year!!

      Reply

    • Ben says:

      03:18pm | 15/07/10

      At the ripe old age of 23 i had to give up the booze for 6 months after my liver started complaining from the years of abuse.  Worst 6 months ever.  Thank god my liver got better and now i can enjoy beverages again.  One thing i did learn in that six months was that alcohol is not something you should abuse, not for the reasons the do gooders tell you, but for the simple reason that if you do you might be forced to abstain.  That is a much worse fate than if you do it by choice

      Reply

    • Jen says:

      07:53am | 16/07/10

      Well done Ben!  You not only just saved your liver, you have saved alot of precious time in your life (and not squandered it), and needless to say, ALOT of money.  Who wants to end up behaving and looking like Mel Gibson?  There is a lot to be said for natural highs.  All the best kiddo….......

    • jonathan says:

      12:06pm | 17/07/10

      the dogooders are not dogooders they are just trying to educate you…now that you have gone down the bad liver road…you can educate others…bad liver can happen from junk food and lack of exercise as well…alcohol is addictive and like any addictive thing you must be able to control it…whether its chocolates, biscuits etc…as humans we all have certain addictions…

    • Hev says:

      03:29pm | 15/07/10

      Frankly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. I’m 6.5 months pregnant, haven’t had a drink since January, and noone is giving me a bloody medal or offering to throw charity money my way! wink

      Reply

    • Cap says:

      05:23pm | 15/07/10

      Be very careful with these events that convince you to abstain from alcohol! I did the February one and it damaged me greatly. After being sober for a month I lost the taste for booze. I can’t drink more that two beers in a sitting and my old favourite whiskey tastes like window cleaner. I think I’ve had six beers since January and my enjoyment of booze show no signs of coming back anytime soon. I really enjoyed a good drink every now and then, now I just can’t do it.

      Reply

    • Ian says:

      01:22pm | 16/07/10

      I am in the same situation as you, have lost the taste for it, what I don’t miss is all the side effects you get from using alcohol to poison yourself, I not sure people are aware they are poisoning themselves until it’s too late and they’ve become dependent on alcohol, we all have friends and associates who we see struggling with alcohol and damaging themselves and there families,
      To all you knockers, no-ones forcing you to do it, and to that clown who’d rather mormon friends than non drinkers, grow up pisshead

    • Sarah says:

      10:08am | 18/07/10

      It’s so cool and edgy to diss charity, isn’t it? Yeah! Let’s all get sloshed and prove how awesome we are! Woo! Well done. I understand there’s a bit of tongue in cheek here but you’re not saying anything we haven’t heard from 18 year olds with impossible haircuts who think vomiting on the nightride bus signifies an awwwwweeesome night out.

      I suppose my perspective is slightly different to some. For me it’s very personal. July is the month I lost my mother to cancer after years of her being in and out of treatment. I’d often go along with her to chemo and rad, so I got to meet many other people in treatment, some elderly who didn’t have much (if any) family in the area to support them. If money I’ve raised and donated can help in even the slightest way to make these horrible experiences just a bit easier to endure, it’s worth sacrificing my daily couple of drinks and my weekend binges for a mere month.

      As for the actual drinking side of things, It has been an interesting couple of weeks realising how dependent I have become on such a bizarre luxury and my consumption of it. I’m certainly not about to stop drinking forever but I’m going to respect and appreciate what I put into my body a bit more now. I’m just shamed that the prospect of helping others is the only thing that could drive me to some much needed introspection.

      Reply

    • Kazza47 says:

      08:10am | 19/07/10

      I am doing Dry July for 2 reasons, one to see if I could actually not drink every day of my life ( no golden tickets for me) without getting the DT’s and two to raise money for the cancer wards at the hospitals involved. I am not being noble but I did watch my mother in law die of cancer and I have two friends going thru chemo with breast cancer at the moment so I actually want to help.

      I guess if you dont know a loved one who has died of cancer, you dont really care.  Its easy to dismiss the cause.

      How about a $10 donation please people?

      https://www.dryjuly.com/profiles/karoncox

      Reply
 
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