July 8, 2009:
I don't do coffee, cigarettes or alcohol.
Why is that? Health reasons? A religious thing?
No! A childhood thing. The adults around me were such a repulsive influence that I determined young never to become like them. Their chemical stimulants were only symptoms of course of deeper failings, but I latched onto them as symbols of what I mistrusted about them. To this day if I meet someone for the first time while they're smoking or drinking alcohol or coffee I instantly mistrust them. And here's the thing: that instinct far more often than not turns out to be right.