Thanks dvdb. That's a good point and I appreciate your insight. Of course, I would like this to stop before I have to hit a super low point so I will try to learn from others' experiences. It's really frustrating because my parents always warned me that drinking a lot in university, even though "everyone does it" is what led one of their friends to becoming a severe alcoholic down the road. I always thought I would curb after school (turns out I'm doing years of grad school so that's not really a helpful goal anymore!!) - and that I couldn't have been that bad because I actually drink a similar amount to a lot of people in my peer group. However - I think my friends are not the greatest population sample because when I did the survey in the toolbox, I am in the top 2% of people my age and gender for amt of consumption + according to that pyramid thingy, I am dependent. Now that really freaked me out... So yes, I think not drinking at all would be best for a significant period of time. It's going to be very awkward at family dinners, let me tell you that.