{"id":1564,"date":"2012-08-13T16:43:36","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T00:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.wordpress.com\/?p=1564"},"modified":"2012-08-13T16:43:36","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T00:43:36","slug":"27-that-no-one-gets-away-with-smoking-drinking-doing-drugs-or-not-flossing-for-very-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=1564","title":{"rendered":"27: That no one gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for very long"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hot-patootie, bless my soul…sex drugs and rock n\u2019 roll<\/em><\/p>\n

… though I\u2019ll admit that I do need to pay better attention to my dental health…I don\u2019t smoke (I\u2019m a singer, if I lit up a smoke I would be killed by multiple people long before lung cancer could take me out), cannabis smoke gives me migraines and I\u2019m sure actually inhaling the stuff would make me throw up so \u2013 despite my tendency to be drawn to \u2018rebels\u2019 – I\u2019ve never really had the personality make-up to be a true \u2018wild child\u2019…<\/p>\n

But I have, it seems, forgotten a vice.<\/p>\n

You see, while I seldom indulge (and there\u2019s a reason for this) yes…yes I (occasionally) drink.<\/p>\n

I was 22 when I discovered I could drink.\u00a0 And yes, it was a discovery. Before that I hadn\u2019t ever allowed a sip of alcohol to cross my lips. I never drank in high school, never went to a single cast party, I never even had a glass of wine at the celebration of the end of my first professional gig. It\u2019s not that I was raised to think drinking was bad, it was just no big deal…if I wanted a glass of wine with dinner I could have one, so why bother making an epic about it? I\u2019d also seen a bit of the side of people that came out of the shadows while under the influence…and I didn\u2019t like it. So I avoided it.<\/p>\n

Then I got to university, and discovered clubbing, and dancing and staying out too late and…I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll go any deeper than that, those of you who were there for that period of my life already know; those who weren\u2019t don\u2019t need to.\u00a0 But even that didn\u2019t really turn the tables for me on the drinking thing…it was coming to ships that did it. And you ask any good li\u2019l ship girl, they\u2019ll give you a similar story. I remember sitting at dinner with friends on my very first contract and having the following exchange:<\/p>\n

So, what do you drink?<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t…not really<\/em><\/p>\n

…oh…well…just wait. You will<\/em><\/p>\n

Ships teach you to drink; it\u2019s one of the few ways we have to unwind on board and one of the few social activities that\u2019s both constantly available and within almost everyone\u2019s budget. While I never did become a true party girl, (never have been probably never will be) but I came home from that contract able to drink my friends under the table and remain standing. To this day this actually isn\u2019t a skill I\u2019m proud of, it\u2019s more a skill that frightens me \u2013 I still remember what lurks in the shadows of that temporary release. \u00a0I have an addictive personality, and I\u2019m well aware of this fact.
\nNow, 6 contracts on, I\u2019ve calmed down again. Found my balance, found my centre. Found me. Because yes, I lost me there for a there. I go to bed early, I get enough sleep, I don\u2019t drink coffee and I limit myself to one or two drinks a week if that. On the rare nights that I do go out with my friends, I turn down more drink offers than I accept, or I make them buy me bottled water…<\/p>\n

Because just because you \u2018can\u2019 do something, doesn\u2019t mean you should<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true \u2013 you can\u2019t get away with it forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hot-patootie, bless my soul…sex drugs and rock n\u2019 roll … though I\u2019ll admit that I do need to pay better attention to my dental health…I don\u2019t smoke (I\u2019m a singer, if I lit up a smoke I would be killed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-30-things"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-pe","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}