Answers! I Got Answers! Part Two

First, in the "Sad News Comes in Threes" Department - Dennis Weaver has passed away. Our heart goes out to his family in this sad time, and this seems a sad time for beloved character actors.

But since only two people (!) asked me questions this last go-round, this meme is...well, I think it's run its course. I'll have to write actual content next time round.

Roger asks a three-fold question:

What do you want for your birthday? What are you likely to get?

Here's what I want; however, this is a birthday I'm not so enthusiastic about. (Not in a bad way - I've just got so much on my plate that if all I get is a trivia team for an event on the 11th, I'll be happy)

Has anyone ever broken up with you by e-mail, phone or snail mail? Have you ever broken up with someone in any of those manners?

Actually, yes, and she did it over the phone on Valentine's Day.
Darn, you, Roger - darn you to heck for bringing up that memory! You're the devil for doing so!

(And no, I've never broken up with anyone by e-mail, phone, or snail mail.)

There's a school of thought that believes that an alcoholic can just drink less, rather than the AA abstinence position. What do you think?

Wow, and here I thought I had escaped the chemical dependency field...

I do believe in the disease model of alcoholism (and am a strict DSM-4 diagnostician in terms of abuse and dependence) - however, I think alcoholism is in the same class of disease as cancer and diabetes. You try your best to prevent it - if you can't prevent it, you don't engage in behaviors that worsen the disease (for example, you don't wolf down Twix bars if you have high blood sugar). My belief - if you think you are an alcoholic, it's probably not a good idea to even drink moderately.

(And just to clarify - I'm not trying to discourage legal drinking, far from it - even Alcoholics Anonymous doesn't get finger wagging. In their view, if you think you're an alcoholic, and want to stop drinking, that's your business. They don't preach against the evils of alcoholism, they talk about how they can't drink - at least, that's how my AA friends describe it)