Latest / Death by Multimedia / Dry July vs #31DaysOfScotch vs Truth Serum

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Dry July vs #31DaysOfScotch vs Truth Serum · Death by Multimedia

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  This is thoughts from the Metal Cabin, where only one opinion
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  matters and it's not yours. G'day there.
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  Look, thanks for tuning in to this podcast, which is now into
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  what I would consider season seven in the long run.
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  I'm basically starting my 4th year on this podcast and there's
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  been, I don't know, I think it's over 250 episodes and a lot of
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  those. Have had to do with sport, with
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  cricket or an NRL and some music and some other stuff.
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  And look, I must admit that does interest some people but it
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  basically doesn't interest a lot of other people.
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  So I've got to come up, you know what I don't have to do?
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  But what I've done is I guess I've become jaded about talking
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  about exactly the same things as I was in those sports related
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  episodes over. The three-year period I've been
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  doing this and I really have, it's been the same thing over
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  and over again. That just keeps cropping up.
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  So I keep repeating myself and nothing changes.
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  And in the long run, I think a lot of people are just getting
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  bored and tired with it. And that's pretty much happened
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  to me as well. So with season seven starting,
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  I've sort of taken a month, taken the month of July to
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  reassess. And see exactly what I really
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  want to do with this podcast going forward into season seven
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  for the next six months. I mean, I could well change my
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  mind next week because that's one of the great things about
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  podcasts. If it's just me, I can decide
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  whatever it is or that annoys me or that I wish to convey and
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  just get out there and do it. So I've spent all of July doing
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  two things. Firstly, thinking about what I
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  may want to do with this podcast going forward that isn't.
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  Sports related that maybe will be of interest to more people
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  than three or four people who are happy to hear what I have to
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  say about different sports stuff.
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  The other thing I've done is not participated in Dry July, but in
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  fact have participated in my own thing which I have now been
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  doing for nine years. And a lot of people ask me about
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  it as to why I do it and what benefit that I see from it.
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  So I thought today's episode would be me describing that and
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  seeing what you might think about the way that I go about
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  not participating in Dry July, but instead participating in the
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  31 Days of Scotch. So that is what today's fabulous
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  episode is going to be all about, right here on the podcast
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  that continues on Motors on for another season.
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  Thoughts from the Metal Cabin? So most of you out there who
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  bother to listen to this podcast, and let me reiterate
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  that from the start, that I appreciate the fact that there
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  are people who want to listen to this podcast because you're
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  basically just listening to me ramble on.
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  And most of you have known me for any part of your life, try
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  to avoid that at all costs and have done so very well at it.
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  And those people out there who listen who don't know me at all
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  from what is it, what's the phrase?
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  Wouldn't know me from a slice of white bread.
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  The fact that you bothered to listen to me as well, you must
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  be bored. There's no doubt about it.
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  So let's get this out from the start.
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  The Dry July campaign and foundation is a fantastic thing
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  since it has been brought in and it's been, I think it's over 15
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  years now that this has been going on and I think it's a
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  terrific cause and a terrific thing to do because.
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  It supports people who are affected by cancer and we've all
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  been affected by cancer in one way, shape or form.
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  Whether we've had it ourself or we've had loved ones who have
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  gone through it, or we've had friends who have gone through
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  it, or we know people who unfortunately have fought it and
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  lost that battle. So the fact that Dry July occurs
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  every year and all of the funds raised go to assisting people
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  who are affected by cancer is a fantastic thing.
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  So I don't want anyone for one minute thinking that what I do
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  as a response to that is anything against what Dry July
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  is all about. And the fact that Dry July
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  operates every year and there are people who sign up for it
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  every year to go through with it is terrific.
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  So we all know that in essence, Dry July is about signing up,
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  hopefully finding people to support you trying to raise
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  funds. And you go without drinking any
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  alcohol for the 31 days of the month of July, which is a
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  brilliant thing to try and do. It's interesting if you go to
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  the thedryjuly.com website and they talk about not only about
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  the campaign and about how things occur with that also
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  giving you the rules, which are fairly simple, as I just said,
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  you go 31 days with their drinking, you can.
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  If you have a special occasion on for in sometime in July, you
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  can buy what they call a golden ticket, which gives you the
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  night off from the challenge, and what you do is you give a
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  donation yourself. A minimum of $25 allows you to
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  have the night off and still not only be participating in that,
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  but then also show that the people who are supporting you,
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  that you're actually doing the right thing by this.
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  And of course, what else does it tell you?
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  Where the fundraising goes, how it affects everything.
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  It also shows you the benefits of not drinking alcohol for a
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  month, the health benefits. That is just generally just the
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  health benefits. Lots of great stories on there
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  and in essence is basically there to help support you if you
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  sign up to do it in going the 31 days of the month without
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  drinking alcohol. There are a lot of people out
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  there who would find it difficult to believe that it's
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  hard to go a month without alcohol.
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  Sometimes it's not until you actually stop and think about it
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  and try it that you realize how hard that is.
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  Because that means not just turning up at the pub on a
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  Friday arvo and having one beer before you go home.
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  It's not about coming home and just.
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  After dinner, pouring yourself a glass of wine and having that
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  just by yourself or with your partner or your family, sitting
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  in front of the TV or doing the knitting or reading a book, all
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  these things become habit forming.
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  And it's very difficult to get beyond that until you're
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  actually there pouring the liquid into your glass and then
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  suddenly thinking, oh hang on, I'm not supposed to be doing
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  that this month. And how often does that happen?
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  A fair bit. If you do, if you participate in
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  this or in other things like freshwater, is it the freshwater
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  challenge in September? I think that my daughter does
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  every year. Now we all you do all month is
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  drink water. You don't drink anything else.
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  Now she's not eighteen, so she doesn't have to worry about the
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  alcohol side of it. But it was no soft drink, no
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  juice, no anything like that except for water.
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  So that's just as difficult, I think.
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  So we get to. Dry July and that wonderful
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  thing it is. And there's no doubt that what
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  I've done in response to this initially did put some people
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  off until I had to explain why I'd do it.
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  So firstly, in this first part we've explained Dry July, why it
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  occurs and the fact that is a great cause.
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  So if there's anyone out there you know who has actually?
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  Participating in Dry July or is participating participating in
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  Dry July? Then you should definitely
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  support them. Even just 20 bucks to support
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  them, to get their sponsorship up and to help raise awareness
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  of cancer and help to help people with cancer is a
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  wonderful thing and makes it worthwhile for the person who is
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  actually making the sacrifice for that month.
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  So let's talk about what I do and why I do it.
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  And it comes down to the fact that back in 2014 I I'd gotten
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  to the point where I'd had a number of people over the
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  previous few years. Asked me to donate to their dry
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  July campaign and I thought, OK, that's fine.
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  And so I there was three people that I could name but I won't
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  who asked me for donations for the month and I said, Yep, that
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  sounds great. Here's my donation.
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  Terrific. Have fun.
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  In July I'm going to be having a beer, but I'll be thinking of
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  you while I do. Ha ha ha, very funny.
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  So. That was all fine.
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  And then of course, social media being social media.
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  Two of those three people are then, during the month of July,
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  saw pictures on their social media pages of them out drinking
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  on a Friday and a Saturday night with no shame.
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  And they were quite happy to be out there and flaunt the fact
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  that they're out there drinking. And I can guarantee this was
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  before this golden ticket idea came up to that you could buy
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  your night off or whatever it was in the long run.
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  They just decided they wanted to go out for a drink and they got
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  on it. And as it turns out, I worked
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  with one at the time. And of course they turned up one
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  day and they were still hungover.
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  So I actually. I didn't confront this person,
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  but I did in a joking way, go up to them, say, oh, so how's dry
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  July going? How's my donation to you for Dry
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  July going? And they just said, yeah, well,
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  wasn't too dry last night, I can tell you that.
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  There was no shame in the fact that they were not making the
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  effort to actually stay off alcohol for a month.
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  They're quite happy to raise the money and send it off.
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  But as to them actually doing anything about it couldn't give
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  a rat's ass. And that really annoyed me.
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  And it wasn't the fact that I'd given money to these people to
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  go to a good cause, because it had gone to a good cause.
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  So my money was still doing good for the community and for the
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  people who needed it. But the people that I had
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  sponsored, or 66.6% of them, were quite happy to not actually
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  have to go through the sacrifice.
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  Of actually not drinking for a month.
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  And yeah, that really ticked me off.
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  So it was the following year, in 2015, where I decided I was
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  going to do my own thing. And I didn't ask people to
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  donate money to me. I didn't ask for for, you know,
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  help. I didn't ask for people to
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  follow me. I didn't ask for anything.
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  But what I decided I was going to do was in response to this.
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  I was going to have each day I was going to have one Scotch
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  when I got home from work or from where I was, and I would
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  hashtag that the 31 days of Scotch.
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  So it wasn't as if I was going to go out and have 10 scotches
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  every night. That wasn't what the idea was.
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  The idea was to have a drink every day during July.
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  Take a photo of me having said drink.
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  With a hashtag 31 days of July and smiling and looking at it,
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  and then at the end of the month I would donate to the Cancer
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  Council of NSW because that's what we're all supposed to be
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  doing. So instead of giving my money to
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  someone else so that they could not drink, I was going to
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  basically sponsor myself in the fact that I would actually have
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  a drink every day of July. And take a photo of myself in
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  every day of July having a drink and hash tagging it and throwing
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  it up on social media. And that was it.
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  That was the extent of it. Now, of course, when people
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  first saw me doing this at the time, I got a number of
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  responses saying you're mocking Dry July by doing this.
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  And now I explained the reasons that I've just explained to you
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  as to why I did it and why I was doing it.
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  Still, I had people basically saying, well, no, that's the
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  wrong thing to do. You shouldn't be doing this.
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  You're making a mockery of what other people are trying to do.
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  Again, I am not and I don't. I mean, people claim, oh, you
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  because you can't stay dry for a month.
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  Well, it wasn't that I couldn't. It's just that I didn't
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  necessarily want to and I didn't want people to have to try and
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  sponsor me for doing the best I could by going a month without
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  drinking. And I certainly wasn't asking
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  people to sponsor me for drinking every day.
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  Like I said, it was my little rant.
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  It was my way of still donating to the Cancer Council every July
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  and but still making a protest, I guess, is the best way of
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  putting it against all those people.
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  And I'll guarantee you there are more people out there who did
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  the same thing. Who said they were going to go
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  do dry July, but then when they were out one night just said,
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  you know what, Who cares? It doesn't make any difference.
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  I'm just going to have a drink anyway.
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  So there you go. Since 2015, I have done hashtag
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  31 days of Scotch and I have taken photos of myself and what
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  now? There's one year that I didn't,
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  and it just happens to have been last year in 2022, and at the
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  time I was. I had decided to go to stop
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  drinking for my own reasons. And it wasn't just for a month.
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  I actually went. It was more or less six months,
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  give or take a couple of weeks that I didn't drink any alcohol
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  at all. And part of that length of time
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  happened to be last July. So I guess I could have done dry
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  July last year and got people to sponsor me.
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  But again, that's not what I was after, not what I was looking
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  for. And I still.
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  Gave my donation and I still give my donation and I will
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  donate to people who are doing dry July.
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  I do that every year for not necessarily the same person
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  every year, but I certainly try to donate to at least a couple
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  of people to show that I'm aware of what they're doing and that I
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  applaud them and that at the end of the month they can have a
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  drink again. And that's terrific.
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  But it doesn't stop me from doing the 31 days of Scotch
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  which I. Have just completed again, as
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  you're listening to this podcast, or as I should say as
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  I'm saying this podcast, maybe not when you're actually
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  listening to it. So I hope that helps.
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  Explain a little bit the difference between Dry July that
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  everyone should support and get behind, and the 31 days of
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  Scotch, which is what I do because of the way some people
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  treat Dry July and not the way that it should be done.
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  So as a part of all this, here's a quick aside.
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  So the other night I was partaking in the 31 days of
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  Scotch and I went beyond one when I went to quite a few.
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  And as it turns out, generally. With any alcohol, I think
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  anywhere between 4:00 and 6:00 drinks.
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  For me, standard drinks. I get to a point where it acts
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  as truth serum and I'm quite happy to give my actual opinion
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  on anything. No holds bad.
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  And that, of course, can be good or bad.
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  Often both. Depending on what is asked and
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  what sitting we're in at the time and who is there at the
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  time. One of the reasons that I don't
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  drink around certain groups of people, as it turns out.
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  But enough of that. So I just thought I'd share what
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  I did that night. So this is a few nights ago and
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  I. That had my 4 four to six, let's
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  say. And I was on a messenger chat
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  with my closest group of friends and I more or less just said,
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  well, here's your chance. I'm at that point where the
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  truth serum is in. So if there's anything you want
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  to know, let's go for the next half an hour or so and ask
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  whatever questions you want and I will answer them as honestly
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  as I possibly can. So then I got quite a few
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  questions straight at me in my opinions on.
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  The government and on religion, which of course are two things
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  you should really not talk about politics and religion.
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  But on this occasion I gave my opinions, which I'm sure
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  everybody already knew. One question that was asked by a
• 18:19
  very good friend of mine, Nev, was actually the key to success
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  in life and I had to answer honestly, which is I wish I
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  knew. And that I haven't had success
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  in life, which is true and not true, but I certainly haven't
• 18:37
  had enormous massive monetary success or or job success or
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  anything like that. But I know what he was talking
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  about. So I offered this answer, which
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  is I wish I knew. I haven't had success in life
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  but Ioffer this amazing partner job that you can manipulate to
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  what it is you want. The ability to live to your
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  means and not someone else's. Know what it is that you enjoy
• 19:07
  during enjoy doing and find a way to continue to do it.
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  Remember that love is everything and have a bunch of friends who
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  accept you for all your faults and still want to be around you.
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  Now I share this simply for this reason in that.
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  I have found out far too many times in my life that too much
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  alcohol is a bad thing and that being able to control your
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  intake is a necessary thing and that you can actually go without
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  alcohol and not miss out anything in your life.
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  But it is something for me, and I'm sure it is the same for a
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  lot of you listening, is that you get to a point where you've
• 19:55
  had a certain amount of alcohol where you are.
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  Your inhibitions have gone and you are quite happy to just lay
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  on the line with exactly what you think.
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  And sometimes that's a good thing because we all come to
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  places, places in our life where we feel as though we can only
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  say certain things because we don't want to put people off or
• 20:18
  certain people off, Or we have a, you know, an enormous sort of
• 20:21
  different friend group, but they all have different beliefs in.
• 20:25
  Generally politics and religion and things like that.
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  And so you always feel constrained perhaps as to
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  exactly how you might express what you feel or what you think.
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  And I know I certainly do. So sometimes a few drinks, not
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  too many, but a few drinks gets me to a point where I'm happy to
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  offer my opinions straight down the line.
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  And as I said, I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing
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  at times, to be able to actually come clean with what you
• 20:56
  actually think in life, because we're only here for a short
• 20:59
  time. And I think that sometimes you
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  just need to say what it is you actually feel.
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  So that's enough for this episode of Thoughts From the
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  Middle Kevin. I guess in a way, this is the
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  kind of thing I might do a little bit more of, which is
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  have a rant about stuff that isn't necessarily sport, and
• 21:31
  give my opinions on stuff that's going on in the world which may
• 21:35
  not necessarily be popular or even factually correct.
• 21:39
  It probably depends on what mood I'm in, and also maybe how much
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  I've drunk before I actually do the podcast.
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  And that's another thing I might even think about doing is having
• 21:48
  half a dozen beers and then sitting down and ranting away.
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  Wouldn't that be interesting? Maybe for some and not for
• 21:55
  others. Look, I hope that you have
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  enjoyed today's podcast and and and what I've explained and what
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  I've I've said. I don't necessarily expect
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  everyone to agree with me. And again, I just as long as
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  people understand it, I don't necessarily mind the fact that
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  you might not agree with me. It's still something that I do,
• 22:18
  that I've created of my own accord, and something that I
• 22:22
  enjoy doing. And you know what?
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  It's it's not even July anymore, but I'm still going to go and
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  pull myself a Scotch right now, because that's what I feel like
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  and that's the kind of thing I can do once again, for everyone
• 22:37
  who's made it this far, thanks once again for tuning into
• 22:40
  thoughts from Metal Cabin, I almost said to 31 days of
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  Scotch. And look, I hope that you'll
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  TuneIn to our regularly published episodes.
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  I'm trying to do one a week now on the same day and it will
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  involve other things, more movie stuff with myself and Helen.
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  Hopefully more things about, I don't know television shows and
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  things like that. And then maybe just renting at
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  the world with a fist pumping in the air and and a Scotch in the
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  other hand. We'll see how we go.
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  Cheers for listening and I hope you come back and check out the
• 23:16
  next episode of Thoughts from The Middle Cabin.
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  You have been listening to a metal cabin production.