[pope04]

I've got some bad genes - my father was a functioning alcoholic - but I like to drink, usually only on the weekends and typically not to excess.

Once I quit for a year, and it really wasn't tough. I just wanted to see if I could do it, but I'll echo what a few of you've pointed out: There certainly is a stigma to someone that declines a snort or two in a social situation.

There were a couple references to cancer in this thread. I lost track of my dad, a lifelong heavy smoker, for a decade or so - no contact at all - and when I finally tracked him down, he was in a hospice in Penticton just riddled with cancer. Skin and bones. My siblings and I don't smoke, but just seeing him was a hell of a good incentive for my mum to quit. There are quite a few of my cousins and good friends that smoke, and I wish they could've seen my father in that state.