Diet Coke

Drink Diet Coke.
I am drinking one right now.
I have been drinking Diet Coke all the time since my girlfriend introduced me to this marvelous drink two years ago.

I love the drink.... in fact, I am hopelessly hooked on it - call it an obsession or an addiction. There are weeks when I drink Diet Coke everyday. There are days when I drink more Diet Coke than water. There are days when my daily liquid intake is solely comprised of Diet Coke.

Before I go on any further, I must say that I am in no way affiliated with the Coca-Cola bottling company or any of its subsidiaries. My shameless repitition and promotion of the words "Diet Coke" should be taken as it is - an oral obsession.

I think that Diet Coke represents the epitome of human self indulgence. The perfection of a product after years of intense research and development. Come on, think about it. Here is something that you can have as much of as you want, doesn't cost you very much at all, and has ZERO calories. Zilch. No guilt. Nothing wrong if you drink 50 gallons a day.

Now, this is the first time in human history in which an obsession can be carried to its extreme without that itchy and bothersome feeling that you might be doing something wrong. I don't waste time; I can continue working on my project when drinking it ... in fact it IS supposed to help me stay awake. I don't get fat from drinking it. Truth is, I can drink at the same rate that my kidneys can work to keep pumping water out from my system. And I have pretty good kidneys - two of them too.

Isn't this really strange? This phenomenom seems to run contrary to all that I have been taught in life so far. Everything has a trade-off. You eat that one more Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and you are going to have to run more later to burn it off. You play one more hour of playstation, and you will have to sleep an hour later to finish up your homework.

Something doesn't make sense though. It bothers me that I can keep doing something without guilt. It bothers me that I gulp the liquid down in all its black glory, and it leaves me clear as water. (I am a living water filter!) It bothers me that you can find the word "DIE" in Diet Coke. There's something else that's making me feel edgy.

And then it struck me: It bothers me that I am free.

Free from guilt. Free from calories. Free from rules that dictate that I have to watch what I do to avoid the consequences. (It's a strange coincidence that the word "Diet" refers to a routine that one engages in, and is used today in Japan to refer to its legislature). A small victory for me, a mere and transitory existence, against the mandatory rules that governs us! Every drink I consume is an outright stake against people who say that there is a price for everything. Equivalent trade? Bah! Who says that an obsession is necessarily bad?

There is still the possibility that someone might discover that Diet Coke causes cancer.
Till then, I will drink my Diet Coke.
Cheers.