The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2018

[NY cat man]

About all this drinking or not. Wine does not taste like rotten fruit because it isn't. It's fermented which means that the sugar and yeast in it are turning into alcohol with the things that make the certain flavor of the grape still in the resulting wine although somewhat changed. The wine I made is from Concord grapes which have that certain flavor of Welch's grape juice. I am not fond of that although it makes nice jelly. My wine however does not taste like Welch's grape juice although quite fruity but I can't say what it does taste of. Probably has something to do with whatever the bees were visiting before they came to my grape vine.
Wine should be enjoyed, with food or as an after-dinner drink if it's on the sweet side and never should be drunk in excess, it will give you a headache.

Anyone who declares that they don't drink "hard stuff" but then indulges in a mixed drink or cocktail apparently does not know that the alcoholic beverage they are consuming is indeed the "hard stuff", it just goes down easier. A "wine cooler" is wine mixed with a soft drink but it's still alcoholic. So is what we used to call "7 and 7" which is 7Up mixed with Seagrams Seven, a whisky, and is certainly a cocktail and you can get very tipsy on that very fast. The various things with names like "apple wine" and the like are still wine although there are wines (and beer) without alcohol, I don't know how they make that. Some people will make non-alcoholic cocktails such as a "Shirley Temple" or a "Virgin Margarita" or "Virgin Bloody Mary" . I suppose that a reformed alcoholic might like those.
Some people don't like wine but will consume whiskey or beer. Then there are "cordials" which are highly alcoholic, usually sweet and are an infusion of fruit and sugar pickled in a neutral alcohol like vodka or tequila. Liqueurs are similar to that, also sweet but made in a different way. Brandy is another way.
I have no problem with people not drinking anything in particular, personally I don't like beer and there is a lot I have not tasted so I have no opinion on those beverages.
Around this time of year people drag out the eggnog and spike it with brandy and claim it's really not an alcoholic beverage. They are only fooling themselves.
If somebody does not indulge in any kind of alcoholic beverage that is fine too. Some are teetotalers because they used to have a drinking problem, others for religious reasons etc. Who am I to concern myself with their reasons? It's none of my business.
For someone to insist to "just try it" after having been told no thank you is just rude and becomes obnoxious if he/she becomes persistent. There are things I can't or won't eat, it's the same with that but I hardly ever see an adult trying to convince another adult to "just try it" (children are another story). That SIL should be banned from get-togethers until she learns better manners and somebody needs to sit her down and explain it to her.

Yes, you can use champagne for cooking, after all it's just fizzy wine, but I would give it to somebody who would appreciate it.

A company that hands out alcoholic beverages at Christmas perhaps means well but is behind the times. I would say thank you and use it as a present to someone else who appreciates it.

Yes, Moscato is sweet and fizzy like a soft drink but with a slight kick but it's still wine. It is also pretty cheap and most people who do drink that are after the buzz it gives them which is never a good thing. It is not something you would have with a meal, too sweet.
Off my

When I refer to 'hard stuff', I mean distilled, as in rum, whiskey, vodka or tequila. It doesn't agree with me, so I don't drink it-period. I drink wine in moderation, as in a 750ml bottle lasts 5 days, and a 6-pack of beer lasts about a year.

 

[LTS3]

At Christmas time, the company I worked for would give out a bottle of whiskey with our bonus check. I don't drink hard stuff, so for years I had a ready supply to give to those who did.

At my last job I just gave my two bottles of wine to a co-worker. I don't feel comfortable with doing that at this job (yet).

 

[DreamerRose]

About all this drinking or not. Wine does not taste like rotten fruit because it isn't. It's fermented which means that the sugar and yeast in it are turning into alcohol with the things that make the certain flavor of the grape still in the resulting wine although somewhat changed. The wine I made is from Concord grapes which have that certain flavor of Welch's grape juice. I am not fond of that although it makes nice jelly. My wine however does not taste like Welch's grape juice although quite fruity but I can't say what it does taste of. Probably has something to do with whatever the bees were visiting before they came to my grape vine.
Wine should be enjoyed, with food or as an after-dinner drink if it's on the sweet side and never should be drunk in excess, it will give you a headache.

Anyone who declares that they don't drink "hard stuff" but then indulges in a mixed drink or cocktail apparently does not know that the alcoholic beverage they are consuming is indeed the "hard stuff", it just goes down easier. A "wine cooler" is wine mixed with a soft drink but it's still alcoholic. So is what we used to call "7 and 7" which is 7Up mixed with Seagrams Seven, a whisky, and is certainly a cocktail and you can get very tipsy on that very fast. The various things with names like "apple wine" and the like are still wine although there are wines (and beer) without alcohol, I don't know how they make that. Some people will make non-alcoholic cocktails such as a "Shirley Temple" or a "Virgin Margarita" or "Virgin Bloody Mary" . I suppose that a reformed alcoholic might like those.
Some people don't like wine but will consume whiskey or beer. Then there are "cordials" which are highly alcoholic, usually sweet and are an infusion of fruit and sugar pickled in a neutral alcohol like vodka or tequila. Liqueurs are similar to that, also sweet but made in a different way. Brandy is another way.
I have no problem with people not drinking anything in particular, personally I don't like beer and there is a lot I have not tasted so I have no opinion on those beverages.
Around this time of year people drag out the eggnog and spike it with brandy and claim it's really not an alcoholic beverage. They are only fooling themselves.
If somebody does not indulge in any kind of alcoholic beverage that is fine too. Some are teetotalers because they used to have a drinking problem, others for religious reasons etc. Who am I to concern myself with their reasons? It's none of my business.
For someone to insist to "just try it" after having been told no thank you is just rude and becomes obnoxious if he/she becomes persistent. There are things I can't or won't eat, it's the same with that but I hardly ever see an adult trying to convince another adult to "just try it" (children are another story). That SIL should be banned from get-togethers until she learns better manners and somebody needs to sit her down and explain it to her.

Yes, you can use champagne for cooking, after all it's just fizzy wine, but I would give it to somebody who would appreciate it.

A company that hands out alcoholic beverages at Christmas perhaps means well but is behind the times. I would say thank you and use it as a present to someone else who appreciates it.

Yes, Moscato is sweet and fizzy like a soft drink but with a slight kick but it's still wine. It is also pretty cheap and most people who do drink that are after the buzz it gives them which is never a good thing. It is not something you would have with a meal, too sweet.
Off my

Your story about your Concord grapes reminded me of one about my mother. She grew up 100 years ago, in the icebox age. Very little was kept in the icebox, and there weren't any refrigerators. Most things just sat on the the counter or table. So one time she bought a gallon of cherry juice from the store, which was a real treat. In fact, I've never seen it in a grocery store. So she was parsimonious about letting us drink it until finally one day she announced it had turned to cider. I tasted it, and indeed it had turned to cider, still tasting like cherries but with a whiff of alcohol. She must have drunk the rest of it herself because I'd didn't see it any more.

Something I just learned elsewhere - if you go to England, what they call cider is an alcoholic drink. What Americans call cider they call juice.

 

[DreamerRose]

I should add that cherry juice was pure fruit juice, not like the kind today, which is only a small percentage real fruit juice. Today's has probably been pasteurized, too. Our cherry juice was pure and raw. That explains how it fermented.

 

[segelkatt]

When you grow up in a society where nice/polite people don't get drunk ever it is a different ball game. We were introduced to wine at a very young age, like 10 or 11. At Christmas, New Year's, weddings or grown-up's birthdays we were allowed a small sip (and I mean a VERY small sip) of wine mixed with a lot of water. As we got older the sip was increased so that by the age of 16 we were allowed a glass of all wine. Those glasses were fancy crystal and quite small, not those balloons I see some people drink out of. In the meantime it was shown that getting drunk (not just feeling a little frisky) was unacceptable in polite society and none of us wanted to NOT belong to polite society. Getting drunk was considered to be among the lowest class and we were a very long way from being in the upper class but certainly a long way from the lowest.
Getting introduced to alcohol at a young age will teach you to drink in an acceptable, responsible fashion once you are old enough to buy alcohol on your own.
When I grew up in my country a person 16 or over could buy beer and wine in a restaurant or dance hall but not a bottle in a store, the bar tender could refuse to sell you any more if he decided you had had too many. By age 18 you could buy a hard drink (mixed drinks, whiskey, brandy, rum, vodka etc) in a bar or dance hall but you could not buy a bottle in a store. Same rules as before applied in bars and dance halls. Not until you were 21 could you buy as much as you wanted anywhere it was sold but a bar tender could ask you to leave if he thought you had had too many. Most people did not have cars so that person would either walk or call a taxi to get home, so none or only a few were behind the wheel of a car.
Quite a difference here where drinking is either done surreptitiously or one lets loose at age 21 and has no idea on how to drink responsibly. You be the judge on which way is better. From what I heard in France children are introduced to wine at the age of 5 or 6 (don't know if that is or was true) and I am not aware of France being a country full of drunks. Same goes for Italy.
When I first came here I was appalled at the whole idea of skid row where drunks were hanging out with no home of their own, drinking their life away. Even people who got drunk in my country did not become homeless because of their drinking, they still kept it together enough not to lose their home and livelihood, most were people who did manual work, some quite skilled like bricklayers who only got drunk on weekends. I'm sure there were those who spent too much of their money on booze, neglecting their families and beating their wives and children, but still managed to scrape up a living be it ever so poor.
One year I was sent to the country to spend a summer with a farm family, I was probably 10 or 11. That was common at that time to have a city kid spend a summer on a farm. These were small farmers with maybe 4 cows, a tractor, chickens and some land for crops. I think the government paid the farmers to fatten up the city kid and get it all healthy drinking fresh milk, eating lots of veggies, breathing fresh air and giving parents a break. The farmer took me with him to bring the cows out to the pasture from the stable in the village, then out to the field to do whatever and bringing the cows home at the end of the day. A lunch was packed by the farmer's wife and it included a jug of what was called "must". This was some kind of juice, probably apple, which had just started to "turn", starting to fizz. This was not enough to have any noticeable amount of alcohol in it and I was allowed only a small amount of it with lunch. There was no water available, we did not drink a lot of liquids anyway as there was no place to use a bathroom unless you wanted to squat in a ditch. Nobody thought anything about a 10 year old drinking "must". Other countries, other customs. And by the way: although I do like all kinds of alcoholic beverages I have only been drunk twice in my whole long life and the last time was probably 30 years ago.

 

[Willowy]

I agree that introducing kids to responsible drinking at an early age can help prevent an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, to some extent. Some people are genetically predisposed to addiction and they need to be careful even if they understand how to use mind-altering substances responsibly.

But many alcoholics (regardless of where they live) are functional. My grandfather was a CAPTAIN (not assigned to a single ship, but he would drive large ships through the Panama Canal, because their own captains were unfamiliar with the canal). After work he'd go right to the bar and get sloshed, then come home and drink himself into unconsciousness, every single night. And spent every weekend blackout drunk, though he could rouse himself enough to go to the weekend social events and schmooze with the higher-ups, and drink some more, and never did anything to raise suspicions about his abilities. And, somehow, he would get up in the morning and go to work and drive huge ships through the canal, and evidently did a fine job of it, because it's definitely not a job with a high margin for error. He was not an abusive husband/father, although obviously he wasn't very attentive either.

And my dad was in the Navy and never got in trouble because of his drinking. But, y'know. Sailors.

So the drunken homeless people, or those who are angry drunks who start fights and lose their jobs due to bad behavior may be more visible, but there are certainly more functional alcoholics than we know.

 

[Katie M]

At this moment, my building's fire alarm is blaring. There's no fire, and people are trying to get ahold of the building managers, because no one knows how to turn the thing off

 

[Alicia88]

I'm afraid for Aislyn and Aedan. Alcoholism does have a strong genetic component. John's father was also an alcoholic. It killed him. He drowned in his own vomit. I don't know how to combat that. I don't know what to say to them. If you forbid kids (especially teenagers) from doing something, they'll want to do it even more. I feel a bit lost. I have time before it becomes an issue. But I don't want to wait too long.

 

[Willowy]

Talk about it. A lot. Talk about addiction and how your brain can mess with you and how doing something too much can be bad even if it's something that's OK if you don't do it too much. My mom talked about it a lot, and, while it's clear we all have addictive tendencies, none of us kids have substance addictions. If you know how to recognize it, it's easier to avoid.

 

[LTS3]

This may sound silly but I'm totally upset that the janitor at work threw out a box I was saving for the cats I had the box tucked away in my cubicle. It got thrown out last night The janitor is only supposed to empty each cubicle's trash cans, not go through the cubicles and throw out what may be perceived as trash When it brightens up later, I'll go take a peek in the dumpster out back. Maybe the box is in there. I can get another box. It's a bulk popcorn box and we're running low on popcorn and other snacks. Still, there's no reason why the box should have been touched by the janitor.

 

[kashmir64]

I'm afraid for Aislyn and Aedan. Alcoholism does have a strong genetic component. John's father was also an alcoholic. It killed him. He drowned in his own vomit. I don't know how to combat that. I don't know what to say to them. If you forbid kids (especially teenagers) from doing something, they'll want to do it even more. I feel a bit lost. I have time before it becomes an issue. But I don't want to wait too long.

W Willowy is correct. Talk about it. I also showed my son what it is like when your drunk. Not by getting drunk, but the internet, and some locals, are a great tool. I showed him how alcohol affects the mind and emotions. Also, programs like 'Dare' are great. I would tell him stories about growing up with an abusive alcoholic step father and how drinking can affect relationships. Not only with a spouse, but with children as well. Being Indian, we are predisposed to addiction and I knew I had to nip it before it became a problem.
He is now 20 and won't even consider touching alcohol, tobacco or drugs. He's been exposed to the bad parts and he doesn't want to become like that.

 

[Alicia88]

Thanks for the advice. It's a worry that's been sitting at the back of my mind for a while.

 

[NY cat man]

I'm starting to get just a wee bit cranky. I make no secret of being an old geezer, but the way some people are acting, you would think I am on death's door. The latest was a visit from 2 guys from the county health department. The questions they asked were downright insulting, considering I probably could have kicked the snot out of either of them, were I so inclined. Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm feeble. I wish these well-meaning busybodies would go away and leave me alone.

 

[Alicia88]

Maybe they should skip the questions, but if my grandma didn't have all of us to check in on her, I'd want someone to do it every once in a while. It sounds like you've had a lot of visits, lately. That would definitely get annoying.

 

[NY cat man]

Maybe they should skip the questions, but if my grandma didn't have all of us to check in on her, I'd want someone to do it every once in a while. It sounds like you've had a lot of visits, lately. That would definitely get annoying.

It was just the nature of their questions that irked me, like: do I have trouble remembering my meds (I'm not on any) or do I need help with home repairs(I do my own) - and those were the LEAST intrusive. If I needed assistance, I would ask for it.

 

[kashmir64]

My answer would be 'yes' on both counts. And I'm only in my 50's.

 

[Alicia88]

My grandma is 87 and she's not on any meds. She moved into senior housing because my grandpa was in the nursing home (Alzheimer's and broken hip, then pneumonia) and stayed because she felt like it was easier. Now she doesn't have to worry about home repairs, but she cooks and cleans for herself and she's very independent. Some people need more help as they get older. Others are just fine.

 

[Willowy]

Mt grandma lived to be 96 and never was on any meds.

I don't think the health department just shows up randomly. Do you think someone called them? Has anything weird happened lately?

 

[kashmir64]

My grandma is 87 and she's not on any meds. She moved into senior housing because my grandpa was in the nursing home (Alzheimer's and broken hip, then pneumonia) and stayed because she felt like it was easier. Now she doesn't have to worry about home repairs, but she cooks and cleans for herself and she's very independent. Some people need more help as they get older. Others are just fine.

I only have one medication and that is for my thyroid. Been taking it for years, but do you think I can remember to actually take it? Been doing better though, I did remember it all week this time.

 

[Alicia88]

I'm nowhere near elderly. I'm 30! I still have to set an alarm on my cell phone to remember my birth control. Haha