Recently I was working on adapting a short story of mine to a short animated film (using AI graphics). “American Dream Girl” is about an encounter between a young man and someone he went to high school with; it’s three years later, his fortunes seem to be on the rise, but she’s working as a prostitute at a local hotel bar.
While this event never happened, I based the characters on myself and my friend Walt; we used to go to a Holiday Inn which weekly had bands performing. And my drink of choice at the time was the Whiskey Sour. I don’t know how I got turned on to that, but apparently I liked it, and thought it was a cool drink. I even bought pint bottles of Southern Comfort to make them at home with the right mix.
Now I wouldn’t think of ordering one, opting instead for the Gin and Tonic.
My beer tastes have changed as well. Again, back in the day (post high school) my favored beer was Miller Lite. I guess it was cheap and well-advertised, and so I drank it. Thinking about that now reminds me of the joke, “Why is American beer like making love in a canoe? Because it’s f****** close to water.” I prefer more full-bodied beers now (Anchor Steam being at the top of that list), and have even come to like IPAs.
And I give sidelong contemptuous glances at those who come out of the beer place I go to for my latest favorite IPA, as they walk swinging their 24-pack of Miller Lite or similar beer. Maybe it’s a cost thing; those beers are at the front of the store for convenience and price. But when a server gives me the draft list that includes, “Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Lite, Coors, Coors Light,” I just shrug my shoulders and order a Merlot, regardless of what entree I’m ordering.
🛶
MUSOFYR 