Day 101: how to not drink.

So I've blah blahed about my trials and tribulations enough times for you to know the drill on how not drinking is going for me. It's going fine. Today, considering its number, I thought a basic crash course in the clevers of how to not drink might be in order. So:

How to not drink 101

1. Don't drink. Sounds simple, and it is. (Remember what Yoda said about "trying".)

2. Set your time frame. Then don't drink. (No special occasions, no amnesties, no emergencies. Just no drinking and no bull.)

3. Get yourself some nice alco-frees. After all, you have to drink something.

4. People might try to tell you you're a boring party pooper. You're not. You're a rebel, and you are totally in control. Remember this.

And that's as far as I've got. Could use some work maybe? Yes yes. I can test them out this afternoon when I head to my first new agency party. It's a Valentine's theme apparently, and the bubbles will be flowing. Bubbles schmubbles. You ain't got nothin.

Day 100: ah yoga.

Heavens be praised I finally did a yoga class. The 6am-ers are always awesome, and now I feel suitably worked and energised. The views from my new 28th floor office are very pretty, and right now I can see the Sydney harbour water sparkling splendiferously. Feeling fabbo, now let's do some work! (Have I gone mental?) Happy hundredth day to me and happy birthday to my Dad.

Day 99: everything is new.

There is certainly not enough time to do all the things one might like. This week it has been all I can do to keep up with the constant barrage of newness storming my tubes and assaulting my grey matter. The work I've been doing has been interesting and varied and, dare I say it, fun (!) so no complaints there. And the environment is pacey, friendly and energised, so that's good too. But when something as simple as buying a salad for lunch is a hectic adventure, a day's length of such stimulus can be quite exhausting. Apart from walking to and from work, I haven't managed one iota of exercise (what is an iota, incidentally?), and gathering the energy to plan and cook dinner has taken an effort nothing short of heroic. We (me) are getting there however. Oh, and I think I have officially (according to the Claire Falloon Book of Handy Rules and Guidelines for Non-drinking) reached the status of entrenched non-drinker by the way. Me drinking alcohol seems like an ancient myth or questionable cult religion to me now; it seems perfectly likely someone made it all up. "Once upon a time, after a hard day's work, a girl called Claire drank several glasses of wine with her dinner to relax". Nup. Don't believe it.

Day 98: random sheeyite.

I had vivid, weird dreams last night, and my flatmate's ceiling fell in (at 3am, on account of all the frickin rain we've had lately). Intense. It also occurred to me today that coke has now taken on the role of "special drink reserved for nights out" in my silly, rapidly purifying mind. Am I for real? Yep, heading out for a big night on the Coca-Colas. Whee. Oo no, better not have a coke with lunch - all that sugar with lunch on a weekday?! Craziness. I am also heading to Ben's this evening to hear what he's done to our little computer song. New job has also been occupying most of my brain space today, which might account for the randomness of my blog-blither. I will endeavour, in future, to more successfully get my shit together.

Day 97: woa-a.

Today I attended two briefings and two client presentations, wrote a press release on myself, posed for photos and wrote a 60 second TV commercial (the doing of which takes considerably more than 60 seconds). Welcome to my new job. My day started at 9 and ended at 8, which is fine. First days are always mayhemic (I invented that word), and it's nothing special for an advertising person to work these kinds of hours. In truth my day was pretty controlled, as things go. It occurred to me though that, true to form, I have set myself quite a number of challenges this year. There is the not drinking, the pursuing of my musical dreams, the getting of one's driver's license, and now the pursuit of excellence in an entirely new place of work. Have I overstretched myself? Most likely. I suppose I'm only lucky that drinking is out of the picture, because otherwise I wouldn't have a hope in hell of achieving any of it. As it happens, the only thing I have a hope in hell of achieving right now is going to sleep. Zzz.

Day 96: oh bugger.

Today yoga boy turned up at the studio again. He had the t-shirt tan marks of someone who's just been on a legendary summer holiday, a newly shaven head, oh yeah, and a girl with him. To make matters worse, she was tall and really thin and had black hair. Compare this to my 165 cm, athletic build (thigh muscles, BOOTY, strong arms that I wish were willowy), and actually white blonde hair, and I'm guessing I was exactly not his type. Or maybe things don't work that way, but whatever. What it boils down to is I missed my chance, if I ever had one. Was not drinking at the yoga party to blame? No, probably not. While I do seem to be quite profoundly retarded when it comes to boys, I have also had some sensationally great relationships in the past with some gorgeous lads. Indeed, the best ones have always seemed to come together kind of magically and effortlessly, so why worry? If it's not happening, there's not a hell of a lot you can do. Mehh, wrong answer. In actual fact there are at least a couple of things that I can and will be doing. But I'll tell you more about those a little closer to the time.

P.S. That'll teach me to brag about getting thin. What's that saying of my Nanna's? "Pride cometh before a fall".

Day 95: excessive shopping.

Since stopping drinking I have gotten quite a lot thinner without much effort. This of course has been freaking great. Naturally, I exercise fairly regularly, but while in general eating more chocolate and ice creams than I used to, I have still managed to lose a good six kgs in weight. Today was the first day I tried going shopping with my new leaner bod, and it was a disaster... for my credit card. The shopping itself was radical. Never before have I had such a good jeans buying session (I bought three pairs!), and in general things just fitted really well. It made it quite difficult to control myself. In addition to the jeans, I bought three tops, a beautiful silk frock from Paris, some shoes and a skull broach. And a lipgloss. It was an awesome reward for the alcohol-free time I have put in so far. And actually, because I no longer spend squillions on boozing each week, it actually wasn't that much of a disaster financially either. As long as I can keep the habit under control of course. I don't want to be having to do 365 days off shopping any time in the near future now do I.