Falling off the Wagon

After reading Nasim’s post about smoking. I was pondering the instances where I dabbled with addiction.

Smoking: When my grandfather died many years ago, people came to our house to give condolences. As is apparently customary they were served black coffee and cigarettes. All known brands of cigarettes were available. My grandfather was dead, and we were offering people a chance to smoke in his honor ! As I had never smoked before, I was intrigued. I took one cigarette from every brand, along with a few matches, sneaked behind the house, and lit up. Needless to say I had been coughing for half an hour, when I realised I would never put a cigarette in my mouth again.

Alcohol: Lacking any religious affiliation, I didn’t have any moral inhibitions about trying alcohol, however after 3 occasions, I also decided I wouldn’t touch it again.

1. The Accident: One summer, I think I may have been 12, my parents sent me to a camp to learn French in Switzerland (The Swiss speak French and German). One day, I went to the supermarket, and wanted to pickup some sparkling Apple Juice. Unfortunately a lot of the products were only labeled in German. Rather than asking, I went for the nearest bottle with the picture of an apple on it. Once I tried it, I thought it tasted horrible, and then realised what it was, and gave it to my camp instructors. They were happy to get free booze, and didn’t bother asking what a minor was doing with alcohol, but hey this is Switzerland.
2. Let Me Buy You A Beer: This happened in Montreal, I was with a friend I went to college with. We were walking home, when she suggested we stop some-place and have a beer. Once inside I explained I’ve never had one before. She said it would be fun, and chose a lemon-flavored beer for us. She told the proprietor that we’d drink it from the bottle. (No glasses). It wasn’t horrible like the Cider, but I didn’t like it either, and light as it was, I could feel my shields dropping. This feeling I didn’t like at all.
3. Drown your sorrow: Let’s say there have been 3 women in my lifetime, that I have been fond of. On this day I was particularly distressed about one of them. In a foolish moment, I thought alcohol could make me feel better. So I went and bought two “6-packs”. With each can, I felt worse. By the time I finished 6, I wanted to throw the other 6 away, but instead fell asleep. Needless to say I wasn’t feeling wonderful when I woke up.

Drugs: While I knew several friends in college who liked pot, I was never foolish enough to go down that road, I don’t even like to take medicine for a headache. If I want to alter my mood, I prefer to use music.

Food: This is the only real addiction I have, and the easiest to justify. After all I’m also addicted to Oxygen. Since 22-September, I was planning on following my self-created “Spartan” diet for a whole month. For 2 weeks, I succeeded in resisting temptation from every direction. Until that is at the beginning of this week (3rd diet week) I received some bad news.This was enough to erode my willpower, so I took a few days off the diet to re-group. At the end of the 3rd week, I’ve only lost around 5Kgs instead of the planned 9. I allowed myself to indulge in some items that I had been craving. Below is a nice sample.

Camembert Cheese: This is my favorite of all cheeses.

Smoked Salmon: The brand i normally buy says (Scottish Salmon) and comes in a blue package, but that wasn’t available, and this brand looked interesting. I’ve never seen salmon come in bubble wrap with a certificate of authenticity. In any case appearances are deceiving because this “Alaskan” Salmon wasn’t sliced, and as far as I’m concerned Salmon is only edible when smoked, thinly sliced, and coupled with lemon, capers, onions, cream-cheese, and French Bread.

Pink Lemonade: My second favorite drink in the world. My favorite is Mexican Agave Cactus.

Cashews: Of course getting Cashews freshly roasted at a specialty store is preferable but I was in a hurry

Chocolate: I’m not fond of the coating on the Ferrero Roche chocolates, just the melted chocolate inside, unfortunately this tasted like its been sitting on the store shelf for 3 years

Mushroom Burger & Spiral Fries: These never look as good in real life as the commercial, but there is something to be said for a nice juicy mushroom burger, I was so happy when Hardees opened in Amman and offered Spirals. The only way to have fries !

Nachos & Dip: They taste much better at a Mexican Restaurant, but when you just want to satisfy a craving the packaged stuff will do, plus I haven’t tried any Mexican Restaurants yet.