The benefits of alcohol

I went to a family (in law) get together last weekend. It was the first time I met many of them and I felt quite welcome.

However, looking back on the evening later, I realized there had been several awkward moments and slightly tense exchanges. Everything was resolved quickly, as the general atmosphere was good and there was genuine love present.

…or not.

I came to the conclusion once again that most of the irritated glances and insensitive remarks had one thing at its core: alcohol.

This morning, as I strolled through my news and blog apps, I stumbled upon several alcohol related stories, finally ending up at this one, describing the health benefits of wine.

And I couldn’t help but cringe… No matter how intellectual people get about what “good wine” is and what foods you can (or can’t) combine it with, the conclusion for me is always the same: it is poison.

Don’t get me wrong, I know there are situations in which alcohol can be used for good; as a disinfectant for example. I also know alcohol acts as an anticoagulant, which I suppose can be positive for some people. I guess snake venom and plant toxins have been used for medicinal purposes since the beginning of time, so why would alcohol be any different?

The thing is that most articles and blogs I read about the benefits of wine (or other alcoholic beverages), to me, are just sorry attempts of drinkers trying to justify a bad habit. I truly believe more bad comes of it than good and hardly any drinker consumes their poison to a degree that is beneficial to their bodies, let alone their spirit (no pun intended).

If I ever were to bring this up at a party (risking acute ostricization or eviction to pariaville) I imagine one of the reactions I would get, would be “That Coca-Cola you are drinking isn’t exactly good for you either”, which would absolutely be true.

I was going to say that drinking Coca-Cola may harm my health but at least it doesn’t turn me into a shitty person, but I guess diabetes can make you kind of moody too, so I’ll have to rethink that one…

But you catch my drift. Alcohol is not cool. It’s not good for your body, your self-esteem or the general atmosphere in the room, and I think you know it too.

 

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Odd Jobs #4

As I drove through the Hague with my mother today we passed a stately white building in the city’s diplomatic neighborhood that brought back memories of the time I had spent there as a receptionist.

I can’t even really recall how long I worked there all together, but I think it was just for a couple of months during two consecutive summer holidays and after that every now and then when they needed someone extra. It was a law office specialized in corporate law with, if I recall correctly, about ten lawyers and half a dozen secretaries.

My work consisted of making coffee for clients, ordering flowers for special occasions, sorting the incoming and outgoing mail and transferring phone calls. I think figuring out how the phone worked was the most complicated part of the whole job. It was great. I got a lot of studying done there, and they were fine with that as long as the few tasks I had were done correctly.

And yes, even here there were lessons to be learned.

• Marble entry halls are pretty but they are also cold and echoey
• I kind of like making fancy coffee with good Italian espresso machines
• Flowers are actually very expensive
• So is (good) wine
• Neither flowers nor wine are gifts that make me particularly happy.
• Receptionists are invisible to some people
• Lawyers are (often) full of themselves and cling to ideas of status and hierarchy to extremes that are almost funny. To me. Not to them. Never to them. Nooo.
• All though I had to come to this same conclusion again later on in life, I had already found out during this job that I don’t enjoy having to dress “professionally”.
• I could still pull it off though.
• The Hague is a pretty interesting town

Nothing life changing, as you can see, but it’s still part of my life’s path, so might as well share!