I felt compelled to go dig this up after reading today’s article on CNN, “Enough with Celebratory Gunfire.” After all, guns … or the bullets fired from them … kill a … Continue reading On my last nerve (and it’s still only the 3rd)
Category: drinking
‘Not 100% sober’ isn’t necessarily ‘drunk’
Anyone who watched the president’s State of the Union address last month must have noticed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg nodding off on the front row. I cringed at the time, … Continue reading ‘Not 100% sober’ isn’t necessarily ‘drunk’
Giving new meaning to ‘mixed drinks’
A few days ago, USA Today ran a story about fast food restaurants serving alcoholic beverages. I think it’s a really bad idea and was disappointed to read that some of my favorite chains — Burger King, Sonic, and Pizza Hut — are already doing so in Florida.
Fast food is fast — eat and run or grab and go. Add alcohol to the mix and you’ve got accidents waiting to happen. Of even more concern is that so many children are taken to fast food places. Whatever happened to the idea that alcohol was not to be sold or served in the presence of minors?
This was running through my mind today when I heard about three children who were mistakenly given strawberry margaritas at a Chili’s restaurant in Longmont, Colo. The kids were ages 8, 6, and 19 months. Fortunately, the kids are okay, but I couldn’t help thinking this was not an isolated incident. Hadn’t this happened before?
Sure enough, the story closed with a list of three other such incidents in 2011:
- In April, a Chicago-area mother said her 4-year-old was served an alcoholic mudslide instead of a milkshake.
- Also in April, a Detroit-area 15-month-old was mistakenly served apple juice with alcohol in a sippy cup.
- At the end of March, an Olive Garden in Lakeland, Fla., served sangria to a 2-year-old instead of orange juice.
I can’t help but think that more alcohol in fast food restaurants is going to result in more mistakes like these. Kids and alcohol don’t and shouldn’t be mixed.
Maybe I should change my ways
Based on some chatter on CNN just now, I should consider changing my ways.
According to their little report from Nature or wherever they get their science news, my chances of developing dementia will be about 40% less if I have a drink or two every day. Not just red wine, but beer, liquor, or other alcohol of choice.
As it happens, I’m pretty much a teetotaler. Mostly because I’m a cheap drunk. And also because I don’t like the taste of most alcohol. A couple of sips of almost anything gives me a buzz and makes me flush. And I learned back in college that I’d get sick long before I’d get happy. These days, some of the meds I’m on warn against drinking, and then there’s all the bad stuff I’ve heard about drinking alone, etc. So there’s just no payoff for drinking. Still, dementia is one of my great fears. Maybe I should buy a bottle of Bailey’s or something …
The other study said test subjects could endure pain (hands in ice water) longer when they cursed. I’ve never been much on swearing either. A very strict upbringing forbade the utterance of “hell” or “damn” when I was growing up. And besides, I was taught, it isn’t “ladylike.” These days, in private, with no kids around, I may let a word or two fly if I’m provoked. But I’m certainly no Samuel L.
Anyway, I made a note of these studies, in case I need an excuse to drink or curse. I’m no bigger on pain than I am on dementia.