I’ve never wanted to be considered an average drunk – I’d much rather be considered an exceptional drunk, along the lines of F. Scott Fitzgerald, or William Faulkner, or even Edgar Allen Poe. I don’t know if I will ever write anything that can be put on a par with these three, or compose anything that rivals the great musicians who are-and/or-were drunks – but I’d like to keep drinking and trying.
How does that old saying go? I know money can’t buy me happiness – but let me try it, and I’ll decide.
What famous English poet suggested that “Nothing in Nature is sober found”? Was it Abraham Cowley? I remember ol’ Mr. Mahoney, of Grey High School (that’s in Port Elizabeth, South Africa [for those who don’t know]), telling us about his old rugby club in Ireland. Mr. Mahoney used to say (in an Irish brogue): “Both teams would go to the pub together and get drunk – to make sure we all played at the same speed. After the game, both teams would go back to the pub together to forget who won.” Life just isn’t as fun (or colorful) without alcohol.
I have told Brother Paul – who has again threatened to stray into organized religion – that alcohol is the White Man’s drug – we metabolize it and get it out of our systems pretty quickly. Just don’t drive under the influence, por favor (and no one has been more guilty of this more than I have been [I thank my guardian angels for making sure that I didn’t wreak havoc on my fellow man])! Chauffering children thankfully slowed me down.
I feel sorry for Dubya though, that he had to clean up his act for 8 years – but I’m sure that he is actively making up for lost time these days – and he probably won’t get picked up for drunk driving down in Crawford – I know that Brother Paul won’t tell me if he does.
Dontcha just hate people who chastise you when you have that good buzz going? Dontcha just want to move to a country that doesn’t want to stick you in a 12-step program for enjoying your grog? Like Mr. Mahoney’s Ireland??
Child-rearing and parenting can really put a crimp on one’s drinking – and if we can survive parenting, we live to drink again. HG wants me to try some absinthe next weekend and we’ll see where this stuff takes us musically. But HG is poised to do the marriage thang, and, additional child rearing – so I don’t know how many absinthe trips are on his near horizon…
There have been many times that I felt I should quit the evil fluid – what with arguments and fights between lovers and strangers. Heck! I remember having a knife put to my throat cuz I drunkenly touched a man’s hat west of the Mississippi. I remember wretching my guts out after attempting to consume 21 shots of tequila. Would I like to repeat any of these events? Not on my life! And thanks to my guardian angels and advancing years – I doubt very much that I ever will. Still – I must never say never – cuz I still need my wine to enjoy my meal – and I’m still in search of Xanadu.