It has been over a week since my straightedge lifestyle has finished. Lots of my friends are asking me if I've fallen back in to my old lifestyle, if i've started drinking loads again.

I say, "Of course I haven't", but really I should say, "Well, kind of". In all honesty I've kept a little bit of my straightedge lifestyle and I've gone back to a little bit of my old, unhealthy lifestyle.

I'm still going to the gym but not twice a week like I used to. I'm finding that I'm making excuses not to go but when I do go I work hard there. As for takeaways, I've been to the chip show twice or so since last week. Not good, I know. Think of it like this though. Before my period of straightedge I used to go three to four times a week, which wasn't healthy for me.

Finally, I come to alcohol.I used to binge drink in the first year. So much so that when my friends asked me if I wanted to go to the LRV dressed as a woman, I did it. Not a highlight of my life.

On the day that I finished this godforsaken blog, I went to the local outdoor and purchased a bottle of wine, red wine to be precise. After a glass I was on the floor. It affected me in a way alcohol has never affected me before.

It was a good feeling though.

I've just come back from the Ember Lounge(Student Union) and it was awesome. Not because of the people I was there with, not because there was something great going on but because for the first time in nearly two months I had a beer.

It was like tasting beer for the first time.....well since the first time over ten years ago.



I won't lie to you guys because I feel by now we can tell each other anything. I felt quite drunk even after one beer. I felt like a girl whose over-done it on the VK Cherry.

We went to watch the football but for the life of me I can't remember who.

I'm going to attempt going to Gobble this Wednesday for the Christmas Party but I don't think I will last too long.

So.....my straightedge lifestyle finishes tomorrow (5th December). Whilst it has been tough to stick to the five rules and whilst there have been a few blips along the way, I feel that it has been largely beneficial.

Rather than write a long, boring post about it, I decided to write a poem to commemorate my last day as a 'straight edge' soldier.

Here goes...

For this blog, I gave up the Booze,
I thought it would be fun, just like a cruise,
But now I know, it's harder than it looks,
Perhaps I should have read some informative books,
I've craved alcohol, pepsi, tea and junk food,
The lack of these things put me in such a mood,
Despite all this, there are positives that I see,
I've lost weight and it's all down to straightedge and me.

Hope you all enjoyed this 'poem'.

Throughout this period of straightedge, which is now into it's seventh week, I have been attending the gym frequently with Darren and George,

When I say frequently, I get the feeling people think I'm going four to five times a week. This is simply NOT the case. When I say frequently I mean around two times a week....at a push.

My little weedy arms and legs couldn't stand anymore days at the place where the motto is quite clearly 'Brawn over Brain'.

There is two basic sections to the gym: the cardio-vascular area (featuring such items as the treadmill,rowing machine and bikes) and the weight resistance machines(lat pull down and shoulder press)

I won't lie to you, my loyal followers. I tend to stay in the cardio area around 99.9% of the time. The other 0.01% I'll spend chatting to my friends in the 'muscle' area.

Anyway, I digress, After seven weeks of gymage I have been updating my weight loss on the main page. There's been steady drops in weight throughout the last month and a half but only minor, nothing to shout about.

That's why, during my pre-boxing match like weigh in, I was astounded to find out I had dropped a whopping 4lbs. It was pretty special but would probably not be nominated for this years 'Besties'.

When asked by George how I felt, I replied 'Lighter'.

When I think back to when I started this blog, I remember feeling optimistic. I remember being really excited about it and wanting to start as soon as possible. It quickly became apparent that the key to being straightedge was having other people around you who were straightedge.

That was my problem, I didn't have anyone like that around me. That night at the LRV was kind of like the last straw. Being surrounded by drunken messes did not really help my straightedge lifestyle.

I found this video on YouTube the other day, it really gave me more of an insight into the straightedge lifestyle. It made me realise the the straightedge movement is a lot more than just not drinking and taking drugs. It's about keeping yourself 'pure' to a certain degree.

Since September, myself and my two friends ,Darren and Tom, have been playing a game of Football Manager. For anyone who doesn't know what Football Manager is, it's a long running, football management simulation game that allows players to take over as manager over there favourite football team.


In our game, I'm my beloved Birmingham City, Darren's Reading FC and little old Tom is Derby County . I can't explain how addictive this game is. We regularly play for seven hours plus.

The best thing about our Football Manager sessions is alcohol. It makes us (obviously) drunk and allows the banter to flow. For example, when we're playing our matches, we take a leaf out of cult football show 'Soccer Saturday'. We'll behave like we are actually there in the studio and are giving minute by minute coverage of our matches.

It's kind of lame but we like it.

In one of our great seasons we made a bet where the person who finished highest would get £5 off the other two of us...Darren won. We also had a prize for the player whose team got the most bookings. That person would be the recipient of a condom. Tom was that man.

So when I told Darren and Tom about my plan to eliminate alcohol from my diet for 50 days they weren't best pleased. They thought it would make the banter less...errmm..banterish and i'll have to admit that it kind of has.

If you're reading this guys, then i'm sorry..

Not long left now though!

Sundays are known as the day of rest. A day when families go to church,mosque and temple or sit down to have a Sunday Dinner(mainly consisting of a meat,potatoes and veg).

Unfortunately, as I am no longer a Christian(long story) and I can't afford to go home to sample my moms Sunday roast, I'm forced to eat whatever is in my cupboard at my humble Uni house.

Today, that amounted to a stale loaf of bread, a jar of marmite and some gravy granules. Luckily George and Darren(yes, they are mentioned again but they're not my only friends) were making homemade pizzas and, being the nice lads that they are, invited me to join them.

We purchased the ingredients needed from Sainsbury's. Only cost us about £1.60 each. Bargain!


After about 20 minutes of preparation I managed to put together this masterpiece. It consisted of Ham,Chicken and Onions(as well as the default Cheese and Tomatoes)


I put it into the oven for about 15 minutes. I burnt myself when putting it in, my fault for not wearing oven gloves really. Mine is the top one...I think!


Out it came and it looked (in the words of Stacey from Gavin & Stacey) LUSH. I won't lie to my loyal readers, I ate it very quickly. I'm not sure if I even chewed.


All in all, I'd say it was a good day.A very good day indeed.