Alcohol

…is many things, but it should not be a coping device. (Go ahead and read that again for added effect if you feel the need.)

This is the wisdom that I came away from law school holding tight to my bosom – I saw too many people depend on alcohol as the only way to relax, because it is a quick way to relax and there tends to be a need to relax and yet little time to do so. Also, it is part of the glamour of them there Lawyers – all relaxing with scotch at the end of the day with a pipe and a dog or something.

And I’ve seen a lot of folk in the NGO world – the policy wonks, the campaigners, the folk who work at convincing celebrities to care about their causes – depend on alcohol as a destressor in a stress-inducing and fast-paced lifestyle.

I’m not saying any of these folks are alcoholics. Okay, yeah, some of those lawyers definitely are. But otherwise, not necessarily alcoholics, just that alcohol plays a specific role in their lives, in part because their lives are very full and there isn’t much time for relaxation.

So for what it’s worth, I’m trying to avoid that, for a goodly number of good reasons, not least of which being that I’m on an MCC term and the work-until-you-are- wound-tight/drink-to-loosen-up/work-again cycle is definitely NOT what MCC is about. That said, I have definitely been falling into the trap of working until I’m all wound up tight. So, when one comes home late from work and one has yet again engaged perhaps a wee bit too emotionally in not only The Cause but also The Internal Politics of The Cause, one needs some way to relax. So what?

This is where I recommend the following recipe:

- 1 Sufjan Stevens Christmas Album – It doesn’t matter that it’s not close to Christmas, this is a good vibe (well, maybe skip the We Three Kings song – that one is just weird).

- 1 mug of hot chocolate – but not just any hot chocolate. It needs to be good. What works for me as a slight adaptation of an Extending the Table recipe for ‘hot creamy fruit punch’ (which is probably tasty, but that just sounds gross).

½ cup water
1 tsp. cornstarch
Heat in saucepan until mixture begins to thicken. Then add
1 cup milk
Less than ¼ cup sugar (more like an 1/8? Maybe)
Remove from heat and set aside. Then add
1 tsp cocoa powder (make sure it is good, please. No added flavourings or whatnot)
Dash of vanilla
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Pour into your mug and let out a long sigh.
- 1 hot bath. I know, I know, it’s a lot of hot water which takes energy and it’s more water than taking a shower or a bucket bath. Now shut up and get in the bathtub.
- 1 book by Dashiell Hammett – First, let’s admire that name. Dashiell Hammett. I don’t know if it was his real name, but even if it was a pen name, kudos to the guy for coming up with a damn fine pen name. I picked up a collection of three of his novels at the public library – The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest. The Thin Man is my favorite and best for a bath, Red Harvest was good for insomnia, and The Maltese Falcon is the first one I read and was used for both a bath and insomnia. After I finished The Maltese Falcon, I would have said that it read like a screenplay – dialogue and short straight-forward descriptive statements like ‘Miles Archer came into the office again….He was of medium height, solidly built, wide in the shoulders, thick in the neck, with a jovial heavy-jawed red face and some gray in his close-trimmed hair.’ It has horrifying depictions of women and attitudes toward them, and even worse of homosexual men. After I finished The Thin Man, I would have said he was really onto something with his style of writing, that I liked the dialogue between the main character and his wife, that part of me enjoys reading novels written during the 20s, the 30s – times of depression and decadence and a great deal of shady dealings – for nothing else than to enjoy the fact that America’s morals were never so squeaky clean. And now I’m done with Red Harvest, and I’m just a fan. I mean, yes, it’s more violent, and maybe sexist and racist and whatnot, then I would normally admit to liking. But, with the exception of The Maltese Falcon, the characters are really good, which means that the ‘wops’ and ‘foreigners’ act out of understandable motivations; the women may be warped alcoholics but they are each unique and acting from a set of mores and beliefs even if they are twisted; and while everyone goes around pretending to be blasé about the deaths all around them, most of them are deeply disturbed by the violence or by their reactions to the violence.

So say what you will about wasting hot water, eating dairy products, listening to Christmas music, or reading detective novels, I find it all to be a Highly Effective Combination, and I recommend it.