Thinking About Drinking

A recent birthday celebration for a friend had me ruminating afresh on the subject of my drinking policy. I enjoy drinking, but it's a long way from being essential in any facet of my social life. I do not make a point of stocking any at home, and do not decide on committing to social outings on the basis of alcohol provision. It's a nice little plus when it's there, but only a bit more so than any ordinary drink.

Any particular non-alcoholic drink could rise above an alcoholic counterpart in my estimation. A cold, frosty cream soda would be so remarkable and welcome that it would provoke in me a much more favorable response than some non-descript alcohol. Of course, less commonly provided liquors such as bourbon, ouzo or absinthe would outshine beer, wine and Irish, Scotch or Tennesee whiskey by a long shot.

As far as consumption, I have a rule which I mostly adhere to and which tends to serve me fairly well. When alone, I don't have more than one drink in a day. It just works out that way- that part's not really a rule. What is a rule is that I try to have no more than a couple of drinks in any social setting, given that I'm loud and boisterous enough already when utterly sober. Thus, I'm drinking for the initial phase of the party, then enjoying innocuous soda (most often) for the remainder. 

This creates a good arc of moderate inebriation and hopefully leaves my dignity and standing among my peers intact upon my exit. The purpose of drinking at all is to loosen one up for social interaction, and I do require that from time to time, although most of the time I'm already there (as I indicated above). To keep going upon completion of that objective has never yielded pleasantly surprising results for me. 

Why the caution and concern? I fancy myself as something of a writer, and so I derive the most pleasure from the formulation and expression of thoughts and ideas. I find that drinking to excess tends to impede that severely. Other writers would tend to disagree (Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski and F. Scott Fitzgerald being just three of many who come to mind immediately), but each person has a unique means of achieving similar ends. My methods will hopefully help me steer clear of the pitfalls which hamstrung so many of the greats. To employ another area of achievement as a metaphor, I strive to be Roger Maris and not Mickey Mantle.