Hmm. These are very dark waters to be swimming in. It's almost as if you are leaning towards intellectual excuses for drinking, which is a bit strange. I think society has become distinctly fucked-up in terms of self-gratification, which I naturally put down to Thatcherism. In truth I think Thatcherism to begin with, was a celebration and a consequence of changes in society. It did go on to magnify those trends, but I think Thatcher was elected because her policies appealed to those who wished to get what they want, rather than was for either the collective good or the long-term individual good.
Where I see your thinking as flawed is in seeing 'getting drunk tonight' as a positive outcome of the drinking. There are some positive aspects to being a little tipsy - it gives one greater social confidence and some of the nicest social occasions that I've had have been when I've had enough booze but not too much. For me these days, this means having between 3 and 5 glasses of wine.
Drink less and there are usually soft drinks whose taste/thirstquenchingness I'd prefer. Drink more and you embark on the down-slope that leads to (a) being a drunken bore who is talking bollocks and (b) having an increased chance of hangovers or other physical consequences.
The difficulty is in being rational about it. The first 2-3 drinks are fine and that 3rd glass makes my life better. So does the 4th. But the difficulty is that the decision to have a 5th and etc glasses is being made less rationally and is based on the state of mind after 4 glasses where the brain says "hey that was good I'll do it again". It takes iron self-control to override this and think "further alcohol will impede me from having as good a time". And if you have that control, then you aren't getting the advantages you were seeking in the first places.
A genuine Catch-22. God I hate people who use that as a label to mean someone with two difficult choices
A good distraction from the decorating
Date: 2006-02-20 10:25 am (UTC)Where I see your thinking as flawed is in seeing 'getting drunk tonight' as a positive outcome of the drinking. There are some positive aspects to being a little tipsy - it gives one greater social confidence and some of the nicest social occasions that I've had have been when I've had enough booze but not too much. For me these days, this means having between 3 and 5 glasses of wine.
Drink less and there are usually soft drinks whose taste/thirstquenchingness I'd prefer. Drink more and you embark on the down-slope that leads to (a) being a drunken bore who is talking bollocks and (b) having an increased chance of hangovers or other physical consequences.
The difficulty is in being rational about it. The first 2-3 drinks are fine and that 3rd glass makes my life better. So does the 4th. But the difficulty is that the decision to have a 5th and etc glasses is being made less rationally and is based on the state of mind after 4 glasses where the brain says "hey that was good I'll do it again". It takes iron self-control to override this and think "further alcohol will impede me from having as good a time". And if you have that control, then you aren't getting the advantages you were seeking in the first places.
A genuine Catch-22. God I hate people who use that as a label to mean someone with two difficult choices