Cultural and civilisational decline is, I'm afraid, a very real phenomenon. :(
You know I am joking in above posts...
You're 70% joking, 20% philosophising, and 10% quietly baring your soul to us.
He was a magical author - truly.
... a true master. I know exactly what you mean - he could make you feel drunk with his descriptions. Once I even felt physical dizziness and stomach revolutions while reading it. Amazing.
There's been a backlash against drinking alcohol in general. I've read an article that said even 1 gram of alcohol can have adverse health effects and the only safe amount is no alcohol. However, in my observations, some men, grandpas.. have drunk heavily and still live into their 70s or 80s. Not all of them, but enough to challenge the idea that "alcohol is bad" for everyone. It's hard to know what to believe.
But different bodies have different capabilities of reconstructing themselves.
Genetics matter.
-//-
My grandpa was an absolute raging alcoholic, since perhaps age 9 all the way to 86. Died of pneumonia.
I think it is because he subscribed to the Soviet model of alcoholism - which insists on eating foods after every drink, and doing stuff like swimming and banya.
If you are some American alcoholic from Michigan, killing a bottle every day, and then topping it with some weed and then sitting and decomposing in front of the TV for 8 hours - yes, that will lead to diabetes, cancer, and cardiac arrest.
The worst years, say 80 to 90, when you're not able to walk upstairs without feeling short of breath and your dick doesn't stand to attention anymore. Who cares?
And in exchange for those horrible years he received mystical experience of feeling hope, despair, happiness, established firmer contact with God and perhaps, who knows, maybe even a somewhat diminished version of beatific vision. Life is not all black and white, Alien, and there are more important things than health or longevity.
But different bodies have different capabilities of reconstructing themselves.
Do you think that your grandpa might have lived even longer, say to 100 - if he hadn't been drinking so much? And was his pneumonia indirectly related to his drinking, or did it have no influence on his longevity? Unless the cause of death is something obvious, like liver cancer, it's hard to know if it was related to alcohol or not.
And was his pneumonia indirectly related to his drinking
Who cares?
Torq is right. You measure your life like "nobodies".
So you lived to 100, but what did you produce - except farting up the atmosphere and being a burden on everyone?
My grandpa lived a Homeric life - that still seems unachievable to me. Like Achilles' and Hector's feat's seem unachievable.
Clinging onto 10-15 years of extra life, like you and Alien suggest - that's a loser mentality.
Even your children and grandchildren will not say thank you.
Why?
Because for children and grandchildren what is most Important is the idea of you - the role model.
You want to set a role model of a self-loving prick, that did everything to survive another year more?
... or do you want to set the model of a man that restricted himself in nothing, and was joyful, funny, and kind - so much so, that people spend time talking about how much they miss his presence?
-//-
I rather people remember how fun it was with me, than thinking "when is this ******* gonna die?"
My grandpa lived a Homeric life - that still seems unachievable to me.
My maternal granpa died relatively young. September 1939 leg wound that never healed properly tormented him for the rest of his life. He died at 66. He was a bookish man and a great chess player. It is a family legend that my Dad had to beat him at chess to win his daughter's hand in marriage. My Dad knew he stood no chance (even though he was a very decent player himself), so he got my granpa totally drunk and only then was able to somehow win. So, vodka indirectly brought me to this world. :)
My paternal granpa was a different story altogether - a Homeric figure indeed. In 1939 when his unit was routed the Germans caught him but he managed to run away. Unfortunately, while escaping east the Russians caught him (it was after September 17th). He managed to escape the Russians too but Germans caught him again, and he spent the rest of the war in a prisoner camp. He was a true highlander; drank heavily and started bar fights still one year before his death, but he was a pure joy to be with - a true man and a true Pole - I loved him like only a small boy can love his heroic granpa. One day when he was 88, he went for a walk around the mountains and his fields, then came back, lay down in bed and died the next day.
I simply couldn't imagine either of my granpas as some healthy-living freaks - trying to extend their lives by 8-10 years by drinking herbal teas, abstaining from alcohol and doing morning exercise routines. The horror.
Clinging to life, like a wh0re seems wrong.
You're on a roll today - a veritable fountain of wisdom.
That will slow down alcohol absorption and help protect your stomach lining but eating well is not going to protect your liver and other internal organs.
Even your children and grandchildren will not say thank you.
How do you know this?
for children and grandchildren what is most Important is the idea of you - the role model
I admire the honesty in your posts Bobko, but do you seriously believe that an alcoholic parent/grandparent is a good role model? I would beg to differ having had first-hand experience.
do you want to set the model of a man that restricted himself in nothing and was joyful, funny, and kind..
In his own head maybe. Alcoholics suffer from self-delusion.
I rather people remember how fun it was with me, than thinking "when is this******gonna die
Besides, women are, as a rule, more practical and considerably less spiritual creatures, so even when the amount of alcohol is lower and there are no adverse physiological effects, the likelihood of it triggering a mystical experience is much much lower. Smaller quantities of alcohol may, however, make a woman rather more libidinous - which, gentlemen, you already know, do you not?
Spirits don't give a mystical experience; they just get you drunk.
Please, try not to be such a simpleton, Jonno.
An overweight person?
Not necessarily. I wouldn't call a person with 8-10% body fat "overweight". Or a 1.95m, 100kg person. :)
What about a 100 kilo woman?
Also worse. It's the body water distribution factor that comes into play.
Really?
Really.
Also, while we are mythbusting - women are considerably less romantic than man as well. But that's obvious for anyone intelligent and above 20 or so years old.
pick a few special mushrooms whilst you're foraging ;)
Aaah, but a walk in early morning forests of Slavia is a mystical experience in itself - the freshness of the air, the smell of the trees, the spirits of ancestors!
That being said a wodka drinking session with close people can have a very cleansing..
The popularity of vodka tread is a sure sign that Poland, made tremendous progress but it is firmly in the grips of alcoholic. disaster. I can't help but blush reading about some of the accesses. Hell, some are even proud of it, trying to put positive spin on it. There is no positive, just ask the abused wife's, children and close family members, *hit ask your liver.
Not necessarily, I was recently at a "Polish" wedding in Germany and there was no..
I never argue in generalities, there are always exceptions, exceptions are evidence of truth. Let's assume that Bobko and Torq (Siamese Twins) attended the weeding, no alcohol was served or available, can you imagine the power of double exploding heads? Not a pretty picture, probably the end of imaginary Slavia. Yeah, unity and cooperation with Russian participation, a huge oxymoron.
Look, we both understand the dangers of alcohol. It is not for everyone, and moderation is indeed the key. In one's youth, however, if one is exceptionally resilient and possessed of a strong soul and spirit, one may tentatively explore the intricacies of the noblest form of the substance - vodka - and, in the process, perhaps draw mystically closer to God, deepen one's Slavic essence, and harden the physique. What does not kill you makes you stronger, and all that.
But make no mistake: caution is essential.
Alcohol has a way of revealing the substance of a person. If you are weak and approach it without respect, it will destroy you. If, on the other hand, you are strong and recognize the ominous power of the drink, it will toughen you, improve your character, and add a certain measure of manliness.
These days, I am practically a teetotaler, but when I was younger I drank more alcohol than about six Westerners will consume over the course of their entire lives combined. If I tried to repeat it today, I would most likely end up at Cmentarz Łostowicki. You have to know when to stop.
imaginary Slavia.
Imaginary?
Svetovid is very unhappy with you, nedobry brate Ptak. :-/
