Well, in a certain sense, today marks a new milestone, I suppose. Not only did this mark the finish of my second week of work at eSoft, but it was also the first time in my life that I have ingested an intoxicating beverage. The primary subject I am here to muse about. (And besides, this page is well overdue for some lengthy, wandering, semi-philosophical musings.)

Upon entering the company, it doesn't take long to learn of the tradition of "beer-o-clock" on Fridays. Although consumption is strictly prohibitied on company premises, and employees are admonished to never drink during work hours, an official exception is made at the end of the week, mostly because it's been that way ever since the company (and its subsidiary, Apexx, where many of the current programming staff came from) wasn't much bigger than x13. The engineering staff wouldn't have it any other way.

So anyway, given that I've never actually drank, or thought much about that reasons why (other than that my parents never did, and authority figures have always said alcohol is "bad"), deciding whether or not I would partipate was a non-trivial brain process. Well, I've had some time to think about it over the past few days, weigh the pros and cons, and today, choose to do what I did. Since I've already revealed the conclusion, the purpose here is to go through some of my thoughts on the subject.

Background (for those who don't know): As a child, I was raised to follow the religion of the Seventh-Day Adventist church. It is Christian, but differs from other mainstream Christian religions in some ways. It includes a lot of odd (along with a few not-so-odd) traditions and rules of its own, such as no wearing jewelery, no going to movies, no dancing, no eating dead animals, no smoking, and... tada! No drinking.

While the former two, three, or four (depending on who you talk to) restrictions have, in practice, been cast aside by all but the kookiest extreme element within the church, the last two are still adhered to quite strictly by most members.

[Bitscape leaves momentarily to go grab a drink...

of water]

Ok. Another cd started. Check.

A little more background. At age 16, I decided I had had about enough shit shoved up my ass and into every other bodily orifice imaginable. Ahem. Let me rephrase. I decided I had a difference of opinion on quite a number of subjects, and church was a waste of my time. If other people are happy with it, fine. Blind dogma, adherence to nonsense, and a weekly ritual to go and "worship a dead guy" (using the words of almighty Goddess Tori Amos. [smirk]) just aren't my cup of tea.

Nevertheless, I still retained some of the habits learned in that religion, including drinking. Why? Well, mostly a matter of default, really. I never went to parties in high school, being the anti-social geek that I was. In college, nobody else drank either, so the opportunity never presented itself. (Why I ever enrolled at ucollege.edu, believing as I did and do, is a subject for a whole 'nother rambling.) Although easily of legal age for quite some time now, I guess I never really cared about it. Habit, propaganda, the way I was raised... Whatever.

Of course, I am aware of the physiological effects of alcohol on the brain and body. Impaired judgement, slowed reaction time, more or less addictive (the more or the less determined primarily by genetic elements), a sense of relaxation, a high, and, in the case of excessive consumption, memory loss. Probably a few other things too.

So there it is. Nothing that's gonna make you drop dead from having a drink or two, every now and then. So why not try it, just to test the experience?

Well, for me, there's the tradition I grew up in. But the rest of it is BS, why not this too?

I could argue that it's about keeping my perceptions untainted. My senses clear. My body free of neurotoxins. Equally stupid. I am neither a monk, nor a body builder. If I really cared about such things, I wouldn't go and consume junks foods that are chuck full of strange chemicals or repeatedly enjoy the recreational high of caffeine on fests. It ain't about purity. I ain't about purity.

Then there's the theory that I could become addicted. "Once you pick up the bottle, you'll never be able to put it down." It's called slippery slope. A logical fallacy.

The truth is, if I never even try the experience, I cannot know whether I like it or not. Whether it is worthwhile or not. Hence, my decision for today.

My philosophy of life is not, "Do what God says (or what somebody else claims God says)." We're way beyond that. Nor is it, "Do what you've always done." Nor is it, "Better not take that new car for a drive, or you'll wear it out."

More like: "Live life to the fullest. Do anything you enjoy, as long as it doesn't harm someone else." Part of living life to the fullest is trying new things. Taking risks. Understanding the human experience. Experiencing the human experience. If I don't like something, don't do it again.

So, the obvious question that follows. What of next Friday? Will I have another bottle, or join the ranks of the minority who abstained? Let's describe today's end-of-week celebration before jumping to that.

First, the flavor. Beer tastes about as good as it smells. Which is to say not good. Maybe it's an acquired taste, like coffee or licorice. I used to detest coffee unless it had lots of cream and sugar to dilute the bitterness. Now, I dig the flavor. That isn't to say I don't still use those additives, because I do. It's just, as I said, an acquired taste.

My suspicion about beer is that those who drink it develop a strong Pavlovian association between its effects and the flavor, and hence grow to like the taste.

What about the much-hailed, also much-derided psychological effects? After taking a few swallows, I felt a couple mild waves of dizziness, then everything was normal again. I soon joined the others in leaning around the reception desk-cum-bar, and had a few laughs.

Frankly, aside from the bit of dizzines described, and the recurring sting that kept hitting the inside of my right eye, I didn't notice things as being any different than normal.

That's gradually changed as I've been writing here. Over the last hour or so, a general sense of contentment, comfort, glee, relaxation, carefree euphoria, has flowed through. Kind of hard to descibe really. Maybe it took longer to have full effect because I was still on a full stomach from lunch. That's just as well. Better to start out in small doses to evaluate something initially. I can see the appeal of this.

So, briefly, cause my swap meter is almost at the top. Would I do it again? I'll have to wait and see how it feels tomorrow. Go over the whole experience later to really decide. Right now, my general sense is, "Yes, but not in excess or as an everyday habit." Kind of like I do with caffeine. Although I'm gonna have to watch that, cause I've been drinking a lot of coke lately at lunch on a daily basis.

Here's a philosophy to think about: Always follow everything in moderation, including this statement. How bout that? A recursive paradox for a philosophy. The way of a programmer.