sj, I feel the same way! It's helpful to read everyone's experience, of course, but I think we probably face a lot of the same situations.
Congrats on not drinking tonight! That's fantastic. I think on my side I am going to have to go on a social situation case by case basis- I definitely have a few friends who are triggers for me and that I think I should take a break from as I figure this out.
As I said in my intro thread, I quit for a couple of weeks this July. During that time, I also went to a housewarming for some good friends where the age group was older and the party was less drinking focused (daytime into evening). Luckily for me, one of the cocktails they had was gin and tonic- my water, lime and mint leaves fit in so well that no one even guessed
I also had a work event with an open bar- again, the seltzer and lime in a highball glass worked well! I actually love seltzer, so that is a good go to undercover drink for me. I am still having trouble figuring out how I will handle events with less people.
I think your roommate is on the right track as far as a sense of humor is concerned- we are so used to taking ourselves seriously and being hard on ourselves for drinking/not drinking that humor can help immensely. I realized as I read your post that people have been telling me a gluten free diet is "too hard" and a few have actually pressured me to just eat cake/cookies because they can't imagine doing differently. What they don't realize is that it's really not that hard because gluten makes my stomach hurt and after focusing on fresh food for the past few months, that's all I usually crave.
As I mentioned in my intro thread, the Mr. is not a drinker at all so he's been helpful too. When he goes out, he is the champion of having only one beer (and leaving an inch at the bottom, like a weirdo). If he gets pressure to have more, he usually says "nah" and changes the subject and that's the end of it. Need some of that confidence!
Here *I* am rambling early morning because I can't sleep in anymore! Anyways, keep posting, and feel free to pm me if you need support