I Like the Nightlife, I Love to Boogie

on saturday work is sending me to Japan for eight days. other than my impending cold, I'm quite excited about it--to the point that I had to watch Lost in Translation again tonight. Nice film, has a wonderful mood. However, I do know that a lot of drinking will occur in Japan, all of it free, and my previous time there I was more than happy to partake. And believe me, I love sake and shochu (rice-based liquor). On our last trip, I was the one that began passing the bottle of shochu around on the bullet train, after which my (Japanese) boss says to me, "You really enjoy alcohol, don't you?"

Knowing this, I've had more than one person say to me, "Why not just make an exception for international travel?" and lordy is that extremely tempting. I'd love to take a week and live the old free-spirited life (didn't intend a pun there, but I'll let it go, just this once). But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that my friend whom I'm supposed to be supporting doesn't get to have a "free" week with heroin. Same for alcoholics or anyone else with addictions. t's just not that easy. And I don't want to do this half-hearted, or just for kicks. So I won't be drinking.

and once I make it through this, new years will be a breeze.