Torn, I don't think your problems sound like whining at all. I sometimes like to joke about "first world problems" for stuff like this. As opposed to the problems of those less fortunate living in third-world countrie and struggling for food, clean water and shelter, being upset about what you describe seems sort of absurd....my point isn't to diminish your issues, just maybe try to give you a new light to think about it. Lots of what you describe with graduate school and being tied to my current job due to partial tuition reimbursement I can relate to. Being in grad school and working full time is VERY hard. With that said, sometimes I just have to tell myself it's a "first-world problem" I love right now that I am not adding alcohol to that mix making the balancing act all that much more challenging.
Yesterday was a good day for me. After class, I was invited to head to a bar by some classmates to have a few beers and watch the end of the hockey games still going on. Just said that I needed to get home, and that was that. No real excuse needed. I didn't feel like it was a good time for me to go and try to drink just club soda, so just made the smart decision and left. Very happy o made that decision as had I gone and gotten drunk, woulda been terrible this morning, and had I gone and stuck to my club soda, I still would have gotten home late and thrown off my bedtime/wake up cycle, which I've really gotten down to a much more regular routine than when I was actively drinking.
I hope everyone else is doing well. I have Friday off this week since I'm going out of town for the weekend with my brother, so this is sort of like my Wednesday. Yay