I gave up drinking, smoking, playing and wild women … It was the worst five minutes of my life. Then, a little over a month ago, I stopped biting my nails, a habit that I couldn’t break for more than 70 years. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way to celebrate it. Playwright Alexander Woolcott, ten years before his death, lamented: “All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.” I believe there are many men, not just those of us from the Caribbean, who at one point in our lives have indulged in the four bad habits and a few others and are happy to be able to boast about our pasts. distant when asked.
George Burns, the comedian who lived to be a hundred years old, said: “It is difficult for me to get used to these changing times. I remember when the air was clean and the sex dirty. He also said, “Sex at 90 is like trying to pull the pool with a rope” and “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can manage. “I was thinking of my exhilaration of having stopped biting my nails and strewing fragments of nails around me, and yet the only thing I could think of to say to my wife when she warned me was to say, “At least I don’t bite my nails.” Fortunately, she’s not like the man whose wife left him because he was a problem gamer. Weeping in the bar after his third scotch, he confessed: “I would do anything to win her back.”
We West Indian men, especially those from the area where I grew up, remind me of the story of a woman who approached a little old man swinging on a chair on his porch. “I couldn’t help but notice how happy you were,” she said. “What is your secret for a long and happy life?” “I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day,” he said. “I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise.” “It’s amazing,” said the woman. “How old are you?” “Twenty-six,” he said. What I do know is that like so many young Caribbean men, I was there and I could have been that person.
Jamaicans have an expression of “bad habit” that I like. It is “a dat wid dem”. An example of its application is: “Dem pickney yah never likes a skool, a dat wid les.” (These kids never liked going to school, that’s the problem with them.) In Trinidad, what’s called “breaking the doe,” or leaving the house like going to school or Leaving school as if you were on your way home is not the only bad habit you can find in this country. A recent version, Bad habits by Jamaican dancehall artist Shenseea, makes it very clear that there are others who cannot be included without incurring severe penalties from the newspaper’s editor. In fact, the only quotable part of the song is the chorus, “Have a bad habit, have it / Have a bad habit, I know myself / Have a bad habit, have it / Have a bad habit (gyal bruk out).”
BAD HABITS DIE HARD
Shenseea is right. I know myself, and we know each other, but what about these bad habits that are difficult to give up? In fact, money, fame and even the risk of being censored or ostracized are not enough for some people. It’s like the man who was addicted to brake fluid but kept saying to his family, “I can stop whenever I want.” In fact, very often someone without a single bad habit gets caught. For example, Brad Pitt, superstar of many box office successes, does not like to bathe. He would go for weeks at a time and use wet wipes instead of a shower. It is also said that Megan Fox forgot to rinse, Christina Aguilera does not wash her hands even after going to the bathroom and Jessica Simpson rarely brushes her teeth. The movie star Olivia Wilde is the only one most Caribbean people can relate to, especially those of us whose mothers have cared enough to get rid of the feces if we haven’t showered or of cleaning. Thirteen and The Lazarus effect and author of Do’s and Don’ts at 30. She bites her nails. Her real name is Olivia Jack Cockburn, but I wouldn’t go there.
Mariah Carey eats exclusively purple food three days a week, and Simon Cowell has his own X-Factor: he climbs trees every day. Tom Cruise follows Victoria Beckham using facial Japanese beauty call Uguisu made from bird droppings, in this case, nightingales. Most people, when they found out, said they would prefer night prison. Stephen King fans would like his best-known “bad” habit to eat a slice of cheesecake every day before they start writing.
Internal of the business community does not include cheesecake as a bad habit that is good for you, but recommends skipping breakfast because fasting or occasional dropouts can actually help some people lose weight. He also says that coffee is not as bad as its reputation as it protects you from diabetes and heart problems. the Insider also says that using social media, having an energy drink, drinking a glass or two of wine a day, and eating gluten are not the bad habits some people think they are.
HABITS ON TWO SIDES
On some of the lists of bad habits that are surprisingly and absolutely good for you, “passing gas”, which, no matter how smelly, relieves bloating symptoms; chewing gum, which improves concentration and memory, as well as the relief of ear pain during flights; urinate in the shower because uric acid and ammonia can help prevent yeast infection on your toes; to be in disorder; burps; to spit; restlessness; gossiping (releases wellness hormones); to complain; loose the temper; and believe it or not, bite your nails. It’s supposed to be good for you because it puts germs directly into your holes, and it’s not a bad thing because small-scale exposure to germs helps you boost your immunities and makes you less likely to get sick in the long run. term. This is something you should chew on, but don’t go overboard. When it comes to bad habits like biting your nails, you have to stick to the line.
Tony Deyal was last seen saying that as you get older, you develop a habit of dropping things. Then it gets out of hand. Send your comments to [email protected].
