…..this question suddenly came in to my mind after a series of beer drinking sessions with friends in Innodata…
Drinking beer and other alcoholic beverages, I thought when I was young, is a foolish gesture to a person's rationality. My limited mind at that time, fortunately, was cornered by this question: “Why would I waste my money while, at the same time, jeopardizing my health?”
But a person’s curiosity and beliefs would lead him to indulge into this kind of, well I won’t say vice (unless, of course, you make it a habit), socialization venture shall I say. Socialization because this is when friendship and this “getting-to-know-each-other” thing are formed and get strengthened, plus you get to meet someone who is totally a stranger to you but an uncontrollable sweetness of conversations just get there—on a negative side, get there to make you forget every undesirable effect of beer drinking, or even forget (funny but true, sometimes) your controlled and limited budget for it: a planned one bottle could end up to a dozen, instead.
I started drinking beer after I graduated from college. But it took me first a few months after graduation to get into this. I promised at a young age I would never “swim into a pool” situated beyond the boundaries of social norms using my parents’ hard-earned money; and luckily I have kept this promise.
So then I got my first job as a street education coordinator for two years in an NGO. It’s a dream come true for me to manage a diverse group of individuals who serve the poorest of the poor in the depressed areas of Cebu City; but along with that were the high expectations from the bosses. Bombarded with so much pressure, finally I was tempted by a coworker for a beer-drinking session. “Why not give it a try,” I thought. So, this is when my “beer life story” started, and I don’t know when this story would end. But if the equation would be this forever: BEER = STRONG FRIENDSHIP or BEER + FRIENDS = NEW FRIENDS, then this “beer life story” never would end I SWEAR…….
