The Myth Of Drinking

“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.”~ Edgar Allan Poe

Due to recent events, it is time to set the record straight.

I have been getting asked very frequently in recent days about whether or not I drink. Most specifically if I drink alcoholic beverages.

Most of my social life revolves around live music, which everyone knows. And of course live music venues are usually clubs and bars where the sale of alcohol is their prime business. A large percentage of people that know me, well that’s where they see me. In venues.

Happy to say that they are kind enough to want to buy me a drink. However, 99.98% of the time I either politely decline their offer outright or I tell them that I don’t drink and come up with a counter offer to something like a Coke or a soft drink of some sort.

Ever since I started enjoying live music, this is how I have operated. People are accepting of it and respectful.

The other night however I was spotted by a great number of people enjoying a beer. Suddenly, people were very, VERY confused at what they saw. One person said that they thought that they were dreaming.

And another night, someone said that they saw me having shots with some band members.

So now, this is my public service announcement to those who are stumped, confused, and essentially losing their mind over the subject.

I will start out by actually answering the question: DO I DRINK?

Answer: Yes.

As just about everyone else on the planet, after I surpassed the legal age of drinking, I did have my times of going to the night club, watching people, enjoying music, and drinking. And I learned what my limit was to where I knew that I needed to stop so that by the time I went home, I was sober enough to safely do so.

But after a while the money that I was spending on buying drinks was growing and growing that by the end of the month I didn’t have enough money to feed myself.

I finally stopped going to the night club because it got very boring to me, and I didn’t like how much money I was spending on drinks. I even stopped going to the store to buy alcohol.

This went on for a while and if I was drinking anything at all, it was at someone’s home. Usually during a dinner or some small gathering of friends.

And now with the atmosphere of live music, and the passage of time, the idea of drinking is less appealing. But that is mainly due to the COST of buying alcohol.

The other factor is whether or not the restrooms in the venue are actually accessible. If I am not able into a restroom at a venue or have a lot of difficulty doing so, then I will simply choose not to drink. And a lot of the times when I politely refuse it is because of the accessibility situation. And that is commonly what the situation is. If I cannot properly relieve myself when I am away from home…. I won’t drink.

My travels in recent years to Houston, I may have ONE beer if anything. But that is only because the venues that I have attended are not accessible at all. Some in Austin are a lot easier but not quite what I would need to make sure that I can get the business done.

Having Spina Bifida makes consuming alcohol more of a pain in the ass!! It goes through the bladder a lot faster than the average person. To put this very bluntly, if I am at some venue and I have a drink or whatever and I have to urinate, because of the decrease in bodily function and control, all it takes those few seconds that I am transferring from the wheelchair to the toilet before it just comes pouring out of me getting all over me and my clothes. And essentially making me unfit for social interaction for the rest of the night.

There have been times when I have been on antibiotics or other medication that warn against drinking while taking it. Thankfully, that is not the case all of the time.

So I am NOT necessarily against drinking. It has nothing to do with personal beliefs or anything like that. I’m not necessarily restricted from drinking. It just depends on where I am and what I am able to do when nature strikes. It obviously would be a lot easier to deal with at home as I can just clean up and if need be change clothes. It is not that easy to do when I am not at home. Even if I take extra with me.

And I am definitely NOT trying to offend anyone or hurt their feelings when they want to buy me a drink and I say no or counter offer them with something else. It is just my way of self-preservation.

I AM against the idea of being drunk and trying to ride the bus home. Bus drivers are instructed to deny passengers too inebriated from riding. I have witnessed others being told to get off the bus. I don’t wish to be stranded somewhere when I am not close to home. Or at all!!

So for those reading who have tried to buy me drinks, keep in mind the following:

If I can’t easily get into the rest rooms where I am at. I won’t drink.

If I am on medication, I won’t drink.

I will not go beyond my personal limit of consuming alcohol.

I have no problem with your courtesy, in fact it is appreciated. In fact, I would LOVE To have a drink with you!! And I will always thank you later for it. But there are just parameters that I follow when the question of drinking comes up.

I hope this answers the questions that you have had and/or clears up any confusion. Feel free to start a conversation in the comments below if there’s anything that I missed.

Prohibition Repealment Day

“Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. “~ W.C. Fields

Happy Ratification of the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, everybody. Or in short, repealing Prohibition.

On the 5th of December in 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified and repealed the 18th Amendment of the United States Constitution which was the prohibition of alcohol.

In 1919, the requisite number of legislatures of the States ratified the 18th Amendment to the Federal Constitution, enabling national prohibition one year later.

Many women, notably members of what was called  the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, were pivotal in bringing about national Prohibition in the United States of America, believing it would protect families, women and children from the effects of alcohol abuse.

But to repeal this and get rid of Prohibition, another Amendment had to be voted on and ratified. It is the only Constitutional Amendment to be repealed in its entirety. 

So congratulations. It is a very historic day. Even though it is not receiving a lot of attention. If it wasn’t for this 21st Amendment, you couldn’t go to a bar, buy beer at the grocery store, or have that glass of wine after each and every meal.

In honor of Prohibition Repealment Day, I think you know what is the best way to celebrate.

Profitable Alcohol

“Always profit from disaster”~ Jefe 

So today I received a telephone call. It was a friend wanting to know if I wanted to go to the liquor store with him. He’s got a brand new vehicle, and I had told him that I wanted to take a joy ride. So this was my chance.

As I abandoned my own meal that I had prepared for the evening, I took off into the Land of Booze. My friend was clearly on a mission, and I was just there to run around. I had no intention of buying anything there. Even if I did want something, I left my wallet at home.

And then I would turn the corner and go down the last aisle and find something familiar. Something that I would want. VAT 69.

I’ve had this before. The label says its Scotch Whiskey. The label also says “Imported from Scotland”. I still to this day have no idea if whether this is a scotch or a whiskey or if its really all just the same.

I’m not real big on drinking. I never really have been. And even when I go out, I don’t drink. So I honestly don’t know too much about the different kinds of alcohol and what they are.

But I’ve bought VAT 69 before, in the 1.75 L bottle. Tonight, I had my friend buy the only size bottle that they had, which was “1 litre”.  He paid $15 for it.

I was remarking about my journey to another neighbor earlier this evening, and I told her about my FIRST bottle. And what happened to it. That neighbor’s request has prompted this story to be told in this blog post.

When I had the 1.75 L bottle, I had paid almost $45 for it. Alcohol is not something that I normally would buy and so I knew that this would last me a while. And if I didn’t like it, it would last me a lot longer.

But I blame Hollywood for that first purchase. And I blame Hollywood for my interest in trying Absinthe.

This VAT 69 was purchased only because I became a fan of the HBO series, “Band of Brothers”. It was shown in an episode towards the end of the series. And since I liked the series so much, the next time I found myself in the liquor store… I looked for it.

For whatever reason, be it ignorance or whatever, since the series was set in World War II- I wasn’t even sure if VAT 69 was around any more. I would always look for the specific black label that was shown in the series, but never saw it. Instead it was always VAT 69 GOLD. Proving that yes, it is still being sold. 

So I would sit down and drink it the first few nights. But I wasn’t really drinking heavily at all. It wouldn’t even seem like I was making a dent to the bottle.

Then at one point, I had a bad tooth that needed to come out. So I would drown the pain away with VAT 69. At least I had the sense to stay inside of my home when I did that. And even still, that would never make a dent.

Enter: Neighbors In Need. 

A married couple had been displaced because of Hurricane Ike. And now they live here where I am. The husband very tall and yet quiet and perhaps shy. The wife being friendly, yet living the life piously of “a good Christian life”. She would berate me like she was my own mother if I were to say words like “crap” or “dang”. Heaven forbid I uttered the truer profane words of “shit” and “damn” in her presence! Not only would I receive the third degree for using profanity in her home, but anywhere else that I might have been where she was at as well.

Then her health began to take a turn.

Unfortunately,  she was not always financially able to get the medications that she needed at the time that they were prescribed.

Some other friends incessantly offered to make her a drink in place of the medication, saying that it would help ease her from the pain of whatever ailment she was suffering at the time. It would be an easier fix until they were able to afford the medicines.

Being that she lived this pious lifestyle, she would always refuse their offer. Drinking alcohol was just not something that she was curious about or had any desire to do… up until the evening where she felt she had no other choice because the misery and pain was too great. Desperate for relief, she called them back and begged them for a mixed drink. Of which I do not think that I need to mention was very, very stout.

She enjoyed it, and all the pain just melted away.  I understand that she even got a good night’s sleep that night.

A few days later, she would call upon that same neighbor for another drink. I don’t think it was too long after the first time. But those neighbors were not at home.

I had gone over to their place to watch television with them, and she went on and on and on about how much pain she was in, and she wished the other neighbors were home so that she could just “get a little something”.

Now, I know what you are thinking. No, we did NOT corrupt her into being an alcoholic. Neither did we corrupt her to stray away from the Christian lifestyle that she lived.

When I heard her whining about the pain and heard these wild stories about how she believed she was in the midst of a “spiritual/religious warfare” with her doctor, I finally stopped her from nagging about the religious differences and told her that I had some alcohol at home and offered her some of the VAT 69.

(Note: her doctor at the time was from India, and she didn’t believe that her doctor was a Christian. And why she was so shocked to hear that I had alcohol at home is beyond me. I AM of legal age to purchase and consume alcohol.)

At that time, I probably still had 80% of the bottle left. I came back to her place and gave her the bottle. She thanked me and blessed me and called me her “saving grace, her guardian and protecting angel”.

The bottle was then passed over to her husband where he would pour some of the VAT 69 into some smaller container. Measuring by finger width, he probably took two fingers. Not that much at all. Then she insisted that she pay me for the alcohol.

This would repeat. She would call to see if she could have any of the VAT 69, and that she would pay for it.

Then I started getting $20, $20, $20, $15, and so on.

Eventually, she would  take the rest of the bottle. It was all gone. And she paid for it all.

I paid $45 for the complete bottle. The neighbor would end up paying a total of almost $100.

It was a very profitable endeavor. All in all, she still has her lifestyle. But she quit complaining about her pains, and I got a little richer.