I love your story Luling - reminds me of mine. I kept making excuses too. AA isn't just a 12 step thingy its also a group of people from all walks of life that help each other get and stay sober. That being said there are also several other ways of doing it too. Can't speak to them as I don't know anything about them, but there are lots here who can.
I'm somewhat biased towards AA as it took the drunken SOB that I was, took the drunken part out and then over time fixed the SOB part. ... OK so it's taken most of that part.
Over time I've also developed a great circle of people that are sincerely interested in being friends with me and I live a life now that never would have believed possible back when I was drinking.