Healthy Vices

Healthy Vices

When I was in Jakarta, I used to consume a bottle of wine every week. But I don't consider myself a wine connoisseur--most of the time I drink cheap table wine from the supermarket. In KL, I only drink when I go out with friends and that's usually beer.

Being a seasoned boozer, it's quite difficult for me to get drunk. People usually get drunk because they do not know how to pace themselves. Once upon a time, I was into clubbing a lot and that was during those good old days before the police started doing breathanalyser tests. The greatest challenge for me then was to drive all the way home to Subang Jaya after a wild night of boozing in town. Sometimes I'd just sleep in my car until I was sober enough to drive or I'd take a shorter drive back to the office and slept there instead!

Alcohol intoxicates the mind, which is the main reason why many religions forbid its consumption. It is like taking drugs, one can get addicted to it. People are fond of drinking because it is a form of escapism: it makes them lose their inhibitions and forget about their problems. But escapism doesn't interest me because the real world is more interesting. I enjoy drinking because I like the taste of wine and beer--it's as simple as that. Some people like eating, I just prefer drinking.

Can I live without consuming alcohol? The answer is definitely yes. All it takes is a "simple" effort of the will.

Then why not?

Not yet. Anyhow, I've toned down a lot--I'm a very moderate drinker these days. But the real reason is that I want to consciously maintain some "healthy" vices in my life.

Why? Because I don't want to end up being a monk, which I have a natural talent for! I want to reserve my right to stop drinking--it's a "pleasure" to be kept for the right time and ocassion, in the not too foreseeable future.

If I do stop drinking one day, nothing will prevent me from taking the next logical step of becoming a vegetarian. As a matter of fact, there were short periods in my life when I did dabble with a vegetarian diet. But it's not the right time yet...

Wine drinkers like me derive particular pleasure from reading about the many health benefits of drinking red wine. But I'm not a health freak; if I do stop drinking, it will be because of spiritual reasons.

The other vice--smoking--is not a problem for me. I've never really been a smoker, even though I did indulge in some social smoking once upon my time. But through some deft reverse psychology, I've managed to overcome even the temptation of taking a social puff.

Womanizing is too costly a vice to indulge in, even though most men I know have a weakness for it. If you want to waste your time and energy, there are less costly ways of doing it. Go surf the Net or watch TV.

I think it's good to maintain some "healthy" vices or life would be so terrible dull, don't you think? I've chosen mine, what's yours?