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Things That Spoiled it For Me
Writing about food, wine and travel taught me that getting paid to enjoy yourself can take some of the pleasure out of it
Don’t get me wrong — working in journalism was great. For someone with a low threshold for boredom, daily journalism was a pretty good fit.
But having to write about things sometimes took the shine off otherwise enjoyable experiences. Restaurant reviewing, for instance.
Reviewing food and wine sounds like a great job, right? It certainly was a fantastic gig for my friends. Everyone wanted to come along, and I did have some great meals. But knowing I had to write them up afterward took the edge off.
Before I quit alcohol, there were some memorable occasions involving extremely good wine — and, on one occasion, rather too much of it.
I actually understated the number of glasses in the review because I was so ashamed of how much my friend and I had drunk. My notes looked like a bug had crawled across the page. They made no sense, but luckily the internet had just got going, and I was able to look up the menu the following day and remember some of what we’d eaten.
Dining in an alcoholic blackout is not very professional.
