My suggestion, and it's worth every penny you're paying for it, find a hobby you like that is not associated with drinking. Mine is spinning and knitting - and there are groups that meet generally once a week for knitting, once a month for spinning and get involved with them. Take up bridge - there are probably numerous bridge clubs in your area. If you care to look, I'm sure you'll find something. Or, if there's something you always wanted to try to do - take it up now.

>Guess what? I agree with everything you just said. I am a pretty good guy when sober. Drinking, another story. The trick is staying sober. People who don't have the disease sometimes don't understand that it is a disease, not a weakness. But people can and do manage to live sober. One of the things I like about AA is being around people who have been doing so for decades. And the interesting thing is they never stop worrying about relapsing. One of my favorite members, an ex-Marine, likes to say there is no graduation date.
>
>I did intend to leave the UT this time but changed my mind. John Baird and others are probably having a merry chuckle about I wondered how long it would take him this time. That's OK. I don't need to isolate myself. I am too isolated already. Most of my friends live in other area codes. My neighbors are nice enough and I am on amicable chatting terms with all of them, but it is a subdivision of families and couples so that only goes so far.
>
>This has been a bad stretch for me. That is no excuse for not making some changes for the better. In a memorable phrase from a book I read last year, unhappiness is a choice. (Lorrie Moore? I'm not positive about that).