Day 165
I enjoy a lot of the shows on the Food network, particularly Kitchen Nightmares, Iron Chef (original), and Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels. But, one of the things I can't stand about the whole network (and arguably the biggest problem with having shows about food) is watching as people try to emote the taste of things for the viewing audience. It's just so awkward to watch someone put food in their mouth, go "mmmm" and try to express the gastronomic satisfaction of it all.
The only thing more annoying (in this ball park) is when someone takes a sip of wine and pretends to know how good it is. I saw this hundreds of times yesterday working the oyster/wine fest at my hotel job. The wine rep would describe six or seven different flavours and hints in his bottle "oak, cherry, apple, honey etc etc" and the people would sip and kind of make this nodding "mhm" gesture, as if to express experience of these tastes.
My BS meter was off the charts. There were dozens of them, faux high society types: women with rock solid hairstyles wearing far too much makeup, men in their 40's with short jelled hair, khakis, and tanned, oddly glistening (ie. greasy) skin. They poked around, drinking wines and eating oysters, slowly becoming undone as the alcohol took its effect.
Other than the higher wage due to gratuities, I think I've stayed in hospitality because there is always an anthropological aspect to the job if you choose for there to be one. It is observational, and while you do cater to people, they do in some sense ignore your presence because you're not "one of them." For the thinking person, this presents an opportunity, and in my case, an opportunity good enough to hold me over from boredom until I find a real career.
At the staff afterpary (there was a lot of leftover wine), I was yet again the only person not to take drugs, other than a couple of drinks. The young culture in this town is so oriented toward drugs, drug talk, drug lingo, and drug stories. I just sit there quietly and listen, like a pious Christian listening to his friends talk about sex. It's as though getting completely buggered up on some brain-damaging substance and wandring around town is now worthy of bragging about to people. It's to the point where I genuinely feel like a social conservative because I'm not smoking meth or dropping acid like the rest.
"Why don't you do drugs man?" I am asked this all the time. I'm never quite sure how to respond, because I don't want to be a preacher and sink the mood of the party, but I also want to give a good and respectable answer. "I prefer my mind the way it is." For want of a more lengthy explanation about things like brain damage from drugs themselves and all the other horrifying cleaning supplies you usually ingest with them, that's the best I've got to say.
And one of the things that really gets me deep is when I'm accused of closed-mindedness as a result. It is the last ditch effort of all cults, radical religions, pseudo-sciences, conspiracy theories, self-help sensations, and yes even drug users, to accuse the non-believer of simply not understanding, of being unwilling or ignorant or closed-minded on the matter.
-------------------------------
"You don't understand the message of Christ because you haven't accepted Him."
"You don't understand the power of alternative medicine because you've been mindwashed by the pharmaceutical companies."
"You don't follow (insert self-help guru's name here) because you haven't bought the book yet."
"You don't realize 9/11 was an inside job because you've been blinded by biased media coverage and government conspiracy."
"You only object to (insert drug here) because you haven't tried it yet."
--------------------------------
Forgive my french here, but give me a fucking break.
The only thing more annoying (in this ball park) is when someone takes a sip of wine and pretends to know how good it is. I saw this hundreds of times yesterday working the oyster/wine fest at my hotel job. The wine rep would describe six or seven different flavours and hints in his bottle "oak, cherry, apple, honey etc etc" and the people would sip and kind of make this nodding "mhm" gesture, as if to express experience of these tastes.
My BS meter was off the charts. There were dozens of them, faux high society types: women with rock solid hairstyles wearing far too much makeup, men in their 40's with short jelled hair, khakis, and tanned, oddly glistening (ie. greasy) skin. They poked around, drinking wines and eating oysters, slowly becoming undone as the alcohol took its effect.
Other than the higher wage due to gratuities, I think I've stayed in hospitality because there is always an anthropological aspect to the job if you choose for there to be one. It is observational, and while you do cater to people, they do in some sense ignore your presence because you're not "one of them." For the thinking person, this presents an opportunity, and in my case, an opportunity good enough to hold me over from boredom until I find a real career.
At the staff afterpary (there was a lot of leftover wine), I was yet again the only person not to take drugs, other than a couple of drinks. The young culture in this town is so oriented toward drugs, drug talk, drug lingo, and drug stories. I just sit there quietly and listen, like a pious Christian listening to his friends talk about sex. It's as though getting completely buggered up on some brain-damaging substance and wandring around town is now worthy of bragging about to people. It's to the point where I genuinely feel like a social conservative because I'm not smoking meth or dropping acid like the rest.
"Why don't you do drugs man?" I am asked this all the time. I'm never quite sure how to respond, because I don't want to be a preacher and sink the mood of the party, but I also want to give a good and respectable answer. "I prefer my mind the way it is." For want of a more lengthy explanation about things like brain damage from drugs themselves and all the other horrifying cleaning supplies you usually ingest with them, that's the best I've got to say.
And one of the things that really gets me deep is when I'm accused of closed-mindedness as a result. It is the last ditch effort of all cults, radical religions, pseudo-sciences, conspiracy theories, self-help sensations, and yes even drug users, to accuse the non-believer of simply not understanding, of being unwilling or ignorant or closed-minded on the matter.
-------------------------------
"You don't understand the message of Christ because you haven't accepted Him."
"You don't understand the power of alternative medicine because you've been mindwashed by the pharmaceutical companies."
"You don't follow (insert self-help guru's name here) because you haven't bought the book yet."
"You don't realize 9/11 was an inside job because you've been blinded by biased media coverage and government conspiracy."
"You only object to (insert drug here) because you haven't tried it yet."
--------------------------------
Forgive my french here, but give me a fucking break.
Comments
However, I would also argue that the reason that a lot of people in this town we live in in particular do substances is because we are from a very left-wing city, where hippies run amuck and intellectuals are a dime a dozen. It isn't a coincidence that authors, philosophers, artists were both brilliant and mad, the sheer weight of the world resting on their feeble minds so often consumed them such that they lead horrible lives of alcoholism, violence and drug abuse.
With you, I feel two things in regards to this matter. First, that you are a rare breed of person who doesn't need any drug to 'expand' the mind, or see things from a different perspective. Your reality is such that you can change it whenever you damn well please, a feat many people couldn't tackle ever. This is a trait about you I admire and respect, and aspire towards being more like in my own life.
However, I do also know a second thing, and that is that you, if you were to experiment, would probably, like many, enjoy the experience, as I personally believe there is something to be gained from it, seeing things in that way, exploring the outer regions of the universe, tapping into the neurotransmitter vaults.
Hence why I think strongly that it is a wise decision you've made to stay away from them.
It's the quiet ones you gotta watch.
I'm inclined to agree that histories greatest thinkers have been, on the whole, less happy than the rest (with many exceptions), but the comment about drug abuse and violence is not true in the slightest. Examples come to mind on all sides, but there is no trend.
I'd also want to point out that people typically don't do drugs to gain or find something, they do drugs to get away from something. Happy people aren't looking for a dealer. And the question is, if you're not happy, is that the best or only solution? Is it a solution at all?
I think I know who I'm talking to here, and If I'm right I'll say this: you are not a physically hardy person, and you never really have been. You know this. I've encouraged, even begged, since the day I met you to treat your body like a temple, and not subject it to unnecessary trial and tribulation. It genuinely pains me to hear you are punishing the one and only body and brain you'll ever have; it may well damage you in ways that far outweigh whatever benefit you see and find now.
Tonight as I fall asleep, I shall reserve my thoughts and hopes for you: I wish to spend the respect you say you have for me on asking that you reconsider this part of your lifestyle, and reconsider the personal integrity of anybody who has encouraged you toward it.
The things that we decide to eat/ingest will forever be changing the biology of our body and the chemistry of our brain whether or not legality stands in the way. (I'm not trying to infer that that is a platform you are discussing, but being absolutely drunk or excessively full of crap food is something every person, including you and including me, have consciously decided to do.)
You may be able to pursue intellectual exploration without the assistance or nudge from drugs, but you also cannot deny that you DO pursue the effects of inebriation which (other than the occasional glass of wine) is nothing other than detrimental to your physical and mental health.
This is not meant as defensive arguments for drug use, but rather questioning why it alone has instigated this discussion.
1. Drugs "expand" your mind, and help you explore the outer reaches of the universe.
2. We all want to "escape" now and then, and you, when you eat a bowl of ice cream, or have a beer, or drink coffee, are just another kind of "drug user", no different from people who use coke, e and/or meth. Um...yeah.
3. You seek intellectual discourse and stimulation, just like drug users, so you should use drugs too because you have this in common with them and you will therefore like drugs and benefit from them.
And the stupidest of all, imho:
4. There have been some brilliant and disturbed people, at once dramantically crippled and inspired by their great and complicated minds, who have used drugs, including authors, philosophers and artists. This means that people who use drugs are brilliant and complicated, or that using drugs helps or enhances ones ability have brilliant and disturbed (and of course complicated) thoughts. Plus (this is never stated directly), being a drug user suggests that one might just be one of those brilliant and disturbed and complicated people.
Remember, drug users, when you're on the drugs, your view of your own words and thoughts is affected by the drugs. In plain language: you're not as brilliant and complicated and disturbed as the drugs make you think you are. And neither are the people you're talking to. lol. You're on drugs, remember?
And to agree with the anonymous poster (Colin?) there is a pretty obvious difference between indulging in drugs and indulging in unhealthy food.
And while I'd recognize that trying a few drugs on a purely expirimental basis, occasionally, probably won't cause serious health issues, my objection to drugs is more spiritual and philosophical than it is pragmatic. I find that the appeal of the drug (aside from chemical addiction) is wholly antithetical to the appeal of a life of thinking, learning, and experiencing. The drug pretends to offer things that it cannot, and it steers people away from trying to develop themselves mentally and/or spiritually in a way that is meaningful and efforted.
In short, drugs make you less of a human.