It’s been one year since I last picked up my pen to write something albeit virtually. Sincerely, this is my nth attempt to do with n being a integer beyond the scope of my fingers. I always believed I am a dreamer of sorts and I always craved for the moments of complete loneliness gathering my thoughts and building castles in the air. May be it is the machines at work that are compelling me to restrict my thought process to a more rational point. Or may be it is like that. We all are slowly turning into machines as we age. Do you remember when was the last time you dreamt of lying in a valley of flowers in the midst of snow capped mountains with your eyes closed and only the sound that can be heard is of the cool breeze that brushes past your ear to break the silence. Has this involuntary change of thought process affected you my any means. Ok, it didn’t matter you either. That is innocuously the case with probably many people, leaving aside the artists of any form who consider it as a part of their profession and hence dream religiously. Dreams, I believe has a special significance because dreams have the real you, they help us come out from otherwise society imposed cocoons and they enhance creativity. Probably the only point of time at which we try to come close to a pale shadow of our true self is when we take that elusive puff from a filter relaxing in the coziness of neon 9 or a glass of neat whisky. The grasp of rationalism starts to loosen up and we try stretching its limit. The reality takes a back seat and you enter a different dimension which brings up the boundless wishes you’ve been living to die for. You begin to realize the Einstein’s theory of time dilation and how it holds good for you. Someone has rightly said “reality is an illusion that occurs due to lack of alcohol.”
That philosophy I feel holds good for a drinker like me who believe that beer is a proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. But there are other’s who have a different philosophy. This is a philosophy I once got in a forwarded mail.... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the lowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine and that is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
Hhmmm…quite thought provoking. Here’s few more…
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. - -- Frank Sinatra
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk, and go to heaven. - -- Brian O'Rourkell
I drink to make other people interesting. - George Jean Nathan
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. - Earnest Hemingway
"Whiskey is for drinkin', water is for fightin'."- Mark Twain
Traditionally people from European countries go by Mark Twain’s philosophy and take wine with meal. And if they want to enjoy the liquor they will retire after the meal have their creative discussions over a glass of wine and they are strict on the number of glasses they gulp. He knows he has to get on with his life, and can't be hampered by nursing a hangover. In fact it is looked down upon if one is drunk or can't handle the liquor.
Therefore an American research had categorized the phenomenon of drinking to three categories. The following is the abstract from the research website.
A social drinker typically:
Drinks slowly (does not gulp drinks)
Spaces out drinks (does not drink more than one drink per hour)
Eats before or while drinking
Abstains while taking medication
Never drives during/after drinking
Knows and obeys laws related to drinking
Respects nondrinkers.
A problem drinker typically:
Drinks to get drunk
Drinks to cope with problems or stressful life events
Experiences personality changes or mood swings and may become loud, angry, and violent, or reclusive, remote, and withdrawn
Drinks when she or he should not--before class, before/while driving, before a game
May have "blackouts"--alcohol induced amnesia--the person has periods of memory loss while drinking and cannot recall what happened though he or she seemed "drunk normal" to people at the time
Has lower grades than his or her non-drinking and low-risk drinking peers
Causes other problems--physically or emotionally hurts himself or herself, family, friends, and strangers
Is defensive and justifies her or his drinking/other drug use
May drink to "cure a hangover"
Seems unable to have a good time or to party unless alcohol or other drugs are available
Hangs out with other people who have similar drinking habits.
An alcoholic:
Loses control of her or his drinking--experiences an inability to keep promises to self about limiting drinking or other drug use--unable to stop drinking when she or he wants
Spends much time thinking/talking about drinking and planning when he or she can drink next
Hides his or her drinking and keeps bottles hidden for quick pick-me-ups
Denies drinking
Needs to drink before facing a stressful situation
Transitions from having hangovers to more dangerous withdrawal symptoms, such as delirium tremens ("DTs"), which can be fatal
Has or causes major problems - with classes, friends, family, and police.
If the categorization seems very harsh, you still have the freedom to make few sub-classes and put yourself in the thin lines separating two categories. Now this self imposed freedom allows me to put myself in a safer position just above the line of a problem drinker. Sitting comfortably in a safer zone, think that lingers in my mind:- is drinking solving my fundamental question of again realizing my true self. Has it been able to kick- start my creativity? I don’t know. But then somebody has rightly said “not everyone who drinks is a poet. Some of us drink because we are not poets.” However I have one more reason to drink:
the liquor was spilled on the bar room floor,And the bar was closed for the night,When out of the house came a little brown mouse,who sat in the pale moon light.Heeeeee lapped up the liquor on the bar room floor,back on his haunches he sat,And all night long, you could hear him roarrrrrrrrr...BRING ON THE GOSHDURN CAT!!!
Cheers!!!
That philosophy I feel holds good for a drinker like me who believe that beer is a proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. But there are other’s who have a different philosophy. This is a philosophy I once got in a forwarded mail.... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the lowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine and that is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
Hhmmm…quite thought provoking. Here’s few more…
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. - -- Frank Sinatra
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk, and go to heaven. - -- Brian O'Rourkell
I drink to make other people interesting. - George Jean Nathan
An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. - Earnest Hemingway
"Whiskey is for drinkin', water is for fightin'."- Mark Twain
Traditionally people from European countries go by Mark Twain’s philosophy and take wine with meal. And if they want to enjoy the liquor they will retire after the meal have their creative discussions over a glass of wine and they are strict on the number of glasses they gulp. He knows he has to get on with his life, and can't be hampered by nursing a hangover. In fact it is looked down upon if one is drunk or can't handle the liquor.
Therefore an American research had categorized the phenomenon of drinking to three categories. The following is the abstract from the research website.
A social drinker typically:
Drinks slowly (does not gulp drinks)
Spaces out drinks (does not drink more than one drink per hour)
Eats before or while drinking
Abstains while taking medication
Never drives during/after drinking
Knows and obeys laws related to drinking
Respects nondrinkers.
A problem drinker typically:
Drinks to get drunk
Drinks to cope with problems or stressful life events
Experiences personality changes or mood swings and may become loud, angry, and violent, or reclusive, remote, and withdrawn
Drinks when she or he should not--before class, before/while driving, before a game
May have "blackouts"--alcohol induced amnesia--the person has periods of memory loss while drinking and cannot recall what happened though he or she seemed "drunk normal" to people at the time
Has lower grades than his or her non-drinking and low-risk drinking peers
Causes other problems--physically or emotionally hurts himself or herself, family, friends, and strangers
Is defensive and justifies her or his drinking/other drug use
May drink to "cure a hangover"
Seems unable to have a good time or to party unless alcohol or other drugs are available
Hangs out with other people who have similar drinking habits.
An alcoholic:
Loses control of her or his drinking--experiences an inability to keep promises to self about limiting drinking or other drug use--unable to stop drinking when she or he wants
Spends much time thinking/talking about drinking and planning when he or she can drink next
Hides his or her drinking and keeps bottles hidden for quick pick-me-ups
Denies drinking
Needs to drink before facing a stressful situation
Transitions from having hangovers to more dangerous withdrawal symptoms, such as delirium tremens ("DTs"), which can be fatal
Has or causes major problems - with classes, friends, family, and police.
If the categorization seems very harsh, you still have the freedom to make few sub-classes and put yourself in the thin lines separating two categories. Now this self imposed freedom allows me to put myself in a safer position just above the line of a problem drinker. Sitting comfortably in a safer zone, think that lingers in my mind:- is drinking solving my fundamental question of again realizing my true self. Has it been able to kick- start my creativity? I don’t know. But then somebody has rightly said “not everyone who drinks is a poet. Some of us drink because we are not poets.” However I have one more reason to drink:
the liquor was spilled on the bar room floor,And the bar was closed for the night,When out of the house came a little brown mouse,who sat in the pale moon light.Heeeeee lapped up the liquor on the bar room floor,back on his haunches he sat,And all night long, you could hear him roarrrrrrrrr...BRING ON THE GOSHDURN CAT!!!
Cheers!!!
