Sat, Aug 18, 2001 05:12PM -0600

More Philosophical Melodrama

I wrote something about dreams earlier today. I've got to stop with these doubled up entries already. Too many words are coming out of my brain as of late.

I realize that I have forgotten how to relax, and how to focus, and I'm not sure I can blame it entirely on the caffeine (although the dose has escalated to three cans of Pepsi One and/or Diet Coke at this stage). So, there is the Way, and the art of not-wanting, and the realization that nothing has really changed, I'm still a river heading to the sea.

Cryptic. But hell, three years. Worlds can be created and destroyed in that time. For all I know, none of this may even make any sense by the time I get there. Ironic, though, that I remember telling myself that you're not supposed to hold on to things too tightly, for too long. Things are meant to evaporate, fall apart, change, and what matters is what you do here and now, in this circumscribed space and time.

Cross those bridges when you get there. And all that jazz.

Still, what matters is the little things, there still is a time and place for everything. You still have to plant that seed in the spring time if you intend to have a harvest in the fall, but these are precisely the things that can get you thinking about eternity and infinity. And now that the concept of Forever has once again entered my mind, I've started worrying about Doing the Wrong Thing again, when I know, rationally, that there is no such thing if you just listen to your soul and find the places where the water can flow unimpeded.

I am afraid of going forward, so I start thinking too far ahead. Ironic and ridiculous, I know. Well, these are the sort of things you don't realize until you've written it down.

The Case of the H2 Receptor Blocker

So I remember a few things about my meat-intoxicated haze yesterday. (I swear I must have been drunk on beef--I didn't have any beer or soju, and still I was acting like I wasn't entirely all there...) One of them was the idea floating around that taking Pepcid AC would increase your tolerance of alcohol. Now the idea of mixing two chemical agents is in of itself kind of scary, but it got my mind wondering about how this could possibly work. Purely academic. I don't foresee any situation where I would need to drink large amounts of alcohol and not want to get intoxicated. But I will ponder it nonetheless.

Addendum 2001-08-31: Yes it's true, there is some sort of interaction between alcohol and H2 receptor blockers. (Use Google to find links to some articles about famotidine and gastric alcohol dehydrogenase) Unfortunately, Pepcid AC will most likely increase blood alcohol concentrations. So if you want to get wasted on less drink (?!?), I suppose this is the way to go.

Addendum 2002-12-01: Or maybe not. I find it strange that searching "pepcid+ac+alcohol" can lead to this blog. But it seems that there is a lot of controversy as to whether or not H2 receptor blockers as a class really do affect gastric alcohol dehydrogenase. Read this abstract for more info. All I can say is: proceed at your own risk.