Page 105 - MN

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I loved the Zen idea of doing something to the point where it becomes absolutely simple and pure. Zen and the Art of Archery became my blueprint for sports, music and comedy. I can honestly say I seldom found that pure simplicity but it was worth the effort. I've also meditated sporadically over the years and never achieved inner peace. I do think I'm a little more calm than I would've been, but I'm not a real Buddhist.
In college, my real religion was folk music and beer, not necessarily in that order, and I pursued them both with great dedication. I also joined a fraternity and in one of the worst decisions of my life helped start the Thursday Night Drinking Society. It was a loose group and a stupid idea because most of the tests were on Fridays. We lowered a lot of grade points.
I loved drinking. All my life I'd tried to say and do the right thing and beer gave me the freedom to blurt out stuff I'd never dream of saying in public. I went from an uptight striver to a drunken rebel and loved every minute of it with the possible exception of hangovers. All my life I've suffered monumental hangovers because I figured if one or two beers were good, twenty would be awesome. Also, when drinking I became a mad scientist of alcohol. What if you mixed beer and vodka? How about tequila with a gin chaser? I'm tired of Guinness, let's try Sambuca. That last one was from a wild night in Dublin, Ireland, with some musicians from the cruise ship and resulted in the worst hangover of my life.
As you can see, my religious studies took a long, hard sidetrack.
Those party days grew tiring and I also saw a lot of friends fall by the wayside, done in by liquor and drugs. I don't think I was an alcoholic but I was pushing the envelope and one day I just quit drinking. I didn't drink for about twenty years, and that was a good decision.
When I retired I figured I'd do all the stuff I'd missed along the way and LSD was at the top of the list. It was a fun dream but somehow I grew wiser and realized that the people who make drugs in garages and trailer parks are probably not at the top of the scientific food chain. I don't trust the drugs to be what they're cracked up to be and I don't trust the people who sell them. In Jamaica, when the ships would dock, the drug sellers would team up with the police. They'd sell you a baggie of marijuana, then the police would swoop in, arrest you, give the baggie back to the dealer, and you'd be off to jail. Hard to trust people like that.
One time in Jamaica a friend of mine bought a baggie and brought it back to the ship. "Are you crazy?" I cried. "Haven't you heard about Jamaican jails? Haven't you heard about the police scams?"
He just laughed and set out to roll a joint. It turned out the grass he'd bought was just that. Grass. Clippings from a lawn mower. A sucker born every minute.
So I never achieved my dream of being a stoner geezer. I never had my mind expanded with LSD. And while I did drink a fair amount in Thailand, the