Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

A Chain Sipper Unchained

6/12/2014

3 Comments

 
   I haven't had a sip of diet soda since the night of May 7, when I made my promise to quit drinking the stuff.
    So how does it feel going cold turkey on a 30-year habit?
    Well...Back in 1958 there was a made-for TV movie called "The Days of Wine and Roses"*, the story of a young alcoholic couple whose lives are being ruined by their drinking.
     As I recall, there's a scene from this movie in which the husband, who is struggling to stay sober, begs his wife to stop drinking.  But for his wife it's more than that she can't stop drinking; it's that she doesn't want to because when she's not drinking the world seems like a  dreary place, not the world she wants to live in.
    Now, I'm not at all saying that's how I feel without my caffeine-free diet coke; I'm just saying that I understand what the wife character was saying.
     I mean, I used to sip diet soda from one can to the next all day long, and for me those sips were like little treats,  something to look forward to a few dozen times a day.  Part of my routine.  I was a chain-sipper.  But now that I've quit I feel a little at loose ends. 
    For the first week or so I'd go to the refrigerator and open the door looking for something to sip.  On the shelf where  my diet sodas used to sat now sat cans of club soda.  But club soda isn't really a sippin' drink like my diet soda was.  It has fizz, but not that flavorful little cola kick. 
Next I tried sipping grapefruit Sparkling Ice, a sugar-free carbonated mineral water/fruit juice drink infused with vitamins and anti-oxidants.   But  with that stuff, too, I was just going through the sipping motions without getting any real satisfaction.  So I emptied the soda shelf, closed the refrigerator door, and stopped sipping altogether. Which is probably a good thing, since I think I needed to break the sipping habit as much as the soda habit. 

    Unless I can get used to sipping water. 
    Which leads me to another issue which may be the root of my whole drinking problem:  I don't like water.  I don't like the taste of it.  Or rather, the lack of taste of it.
    People have offered me special brands of bottled water which they swear is so good that I'm sure to like it.  I have yet to try a bottled water that tastes good to me.  If I have to drink water, I'd much prefer sink water.  And even that I don't especially like. 
    But I'm drinking it.  Or trying to.  Drinking it with meals,  Drinking it on the road.  Drinking it with Combos.  It still doesn't taste good.  But maybe it will eventually.

    In the meantime I can't say that at this point I'm specifically craving diet soda.   I can now look an ice-cold diet soda right in the eye and resist. Which I guess is a victory of sorts.
     And yet  I always feel like I'm craving something
, always hungry or thirsty for something, I just can't put my finger on what it is.  Well, whatever it is, maybe if I drink enough water I'll drown it. 8)

     

   
    *This was an episode of  Playhouse 90, a TV series of made-for-TV movies that aired once a week.  "Days of Wine and Roses" was one of its most famous episodes, and in 1962 it  was re-made into a dumbish movie with the same name and a schmaltzy theme song. 
    The Playhouse 90 show starred Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie and was awesome. 
    The movie starred Jack Lemon and Lee Remick and was lame.
    The problem is, the Playhouse 90  Cliff Robertson-Piper Laurie version is about impossible to come by.
    You can easily find a copy of the Jack Lemon-Lee Remick movie, bu it's not worth watching.  So if you're interested in "Days of Wine and Roses" don't bother unless you can find a copy of the original 1958 TV version.

3 Comments
Tommy
6/12/2014 01:34:09 am

Stay strong!

Reply
Patti
6/12/2014 09:12:54 am

Thanks, Tommy! 8)

Reply
Cindy Kuhn link
6/22/2014 01:59:56 am

http://s3.amazonaws.com/pp_production/4549/35834/stranger-in-town-35834.mov?AWSAccessKeyId=1WTWF503W13XS9AR0J82&Expires=1403455538&Signature=GPMox27eopWqDy7taojh0xMdsZ0%3D

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact