Originally Posted by
Skydawg 
... I know it sounds like a bad idea and it may prove to be but I can't imagine living sober but giving up music and social interaction also over something like a beer or vodka cocktail. I am not only confident today but kinda feel a bit of a challenge because the consensus opinion being that it can't be done. I just have more faith in the human mind than to think we can't outlast our temptations if we want it badly enough.
I believe you are making a genuine effort about how to avoid trouble and still drink alcohol. What I mean by trouble is whatever it is you are trying to not have happen any more when you drink, because you have decided that the drinking WAS what was causing those troubles.
It didn't really take me long to know that it was drinking that was causing me lots of troubles. And I tried REPEATEDLY, over and over, to moderate. You have been more successful than I was. If you succeed in drinking without troubles, you have all my blessings.
A note about reasons to keep drinking:
I also worried I would never be able to enjoy music and other socializing without tipping a few. When I finally quit for good (and knew it) I truly experienced a grief and sadness about losing one of the roles that had become such a major part of my life - being a "Hail Fellow Well Met" in the bars and more. But I knew that role had become wrong for me because of all the troubles from that grossly self-indulgent, chemically enhanced stupidity.
Then I discovered something very refreshing after about one year abstinent. I really enjoy Dark Side of the Moon, live band music, EuroJazz, SO much better than I ever remember enjoying that stuff on booze (there was no EuroJazz back then). I don't listen as much as I used to, because my life became so much more diverse and busy. But, hot dang, I can really get into it when I want to. The chills are more frequent and electric, not dulled or absent. My connecting with others and controlling my body is 100% more reliable. It's really a different and much more satisfying sort of pleasure within the same setting and sensual input from when I had been drunk. And now I can remember it all so well, too.