Drinking Liberally

I've often been intrigued by the "Drinking Liberally" logo on Atrios' site. Today I actually followed the link to see that there are now 50 chapters of Drinking Liberally across the country, including one in Austin. It meets every Thursday at 6:30 (til) at the Dog and Duck Pub (406 W. 17th St.). Julie Baxter and Shelly Brisbin are the hosts.

The event kinda sounds like fun. It's always nice to get into an echo chamber with other like-minded folks and gripe for a while. But I don't really drink.

Even before I had to think about interactions with medications, I limited myself to one, maybe two, scotches a year. (Well, if you're gonna drink, why mess around; drink something real. Beer is just another word for water, and putting "mixers" in good alcohol prolly means you shoulda stuck with Coke anyway.) The predisposition to alcoholism became, at some point in my life, a wee bit too clear, so I decided not to run the risk. But, oh how I did love my little glass of scotch when I allowed myself to have it. The enjoyment was only slightly marred by the constant mental lecture I had to give myself about not ordering a second glass.

I rather think I won't pop over to the Dog and Duck anyway, since there are memories there. I used to go the Dog and Duck with the Chairman of my Board of Directors whenever he came to town. He was British and thought the atmosphere was "like home." I'd have a lager and lime, just to fit in with the ethnic tone of the place, and he's have to finish it. The Chairman was, as you might expect, somewhat reserved in his conversation. It took quite a while to get to know even a little about him. It took me two years to realize that he had a killer sense of humor, but his humor was so dry that you really had to think to keep up with him. He was a good chair and did a lot for our work. About six months after he left the board, he was murdered.

He owed his dealer (his lover's dealer?) about $200 for marijuana. The guy showed up and demanded money. The Chairman declined. The dealer killed him.

I was surprised to think that this very intelligent man was smoking dope. That was another item that I gave up long before I gave up alcohol. I guess I just thought that everyone else had outgrown it, too.

I was even more sickened by the reason that his killer gave for killing him, when he really didn't have to. Turns out he thought the Chairman was just too stuck up. The ignorant sod had no clue that British folk tend to act just a wee bit differently than Americans.

I think that Drinking Liberally is probably a lot of fun, but I guess I'll just have to miss the fun. Now Eating Liberally--that I could go for.