April 21, 2017

I want to call this New Yorker article a puff piece... but it's about marijuana edibles.

But I really do think there's a sad lack of critical edge in this thing, "The Martha Stewart of Marijuana Edibles," by By Lizzie Widdicombe. Excerpt:
Ricardo Baca, the founding editor of the Cannabist, told me, “Laurie [Wolf] represents a voice in the food-and-cannabis space that can be trusted.” Her columns are full of global ingredients and lush food photography meant to attract what she calls “the CB2 and West Elm crowd.” Her books would not seem out of place on the shelf next to the latest tome from the Barefoot Contessa or Yotam Ottolenghi. Evan Senn, the editor of the California-based cannabis magazine Culture, told me that, increasingly, foodies are the target audience for pot. “I love to drink wine, and I’m kind of a snob about it,” she said. “I’m not going to drink Franzia out of a cardboard box. I’m going to buy a nice bottle of Pinot Noir and aerate it and enjoy it. I have the same approach to edibles.”
But there's one big difference: Cannabis doesn't taste good. All the recipes are about disguising the flavor and smell. (Many are also impaired by the need to avoid deactivating the ingredient by getting it too hot.)

I read The New Yorker a lot, and this is one of the articles that make me think the magazine isn't for people like me — people who want more raw intelligence and edge — but for people who really want to be shown how to happily enjoy a bourgeois lifestyle. These are the people for whom Laurie Wolf manufactures "gourmet" marijuana foods. I wish I could feel that Widdicombe wrote "marijuana-free chicken Marbella and couscous, paired with infused sides and appetizers" with some comic intent, but I don't think she did.

But she does let it show that the food-prep problem here is that you're trying to force in an ingredient that you actually don't want there for any food-related purpose:
Wolf pulled a Mason jar of infused olive oil from a shelf and encouraged me to smell it. It had a powerfully green scent. “Olive oil infuses beautifully,” she said. “It’s very earthy.” A jar of infused canola oil, on the other hand, smelled like bong water. Wolf had used the infused olive oil to make the stuffed mushrooms as well as a spinach tart. Those who wanted even more weed could slather their food with an infused feta sauce made with olive oil, garlic, parsley, and red onion. “Strong flavors help conceal the taste,” Wolf said. “It is a challenge to keep the foods from tasting like cannabis. That’s probably the hardest thing about making edibles.” Dessert was a “mildly infused” strawberry trifle in a big glass bowl. For palate cleansers, there were frozen grapes—an old standby for Wolf. “They’re wonderful when people get stoned,” she explained.
A guest shows up who claims to be "not really an eater," which I found funny, even though I can't tell if that person just meant she doesn't use eating as her method of getting cannabis into her body or whether it's a more general way of life, a kind of euphemism for anorexia. I thought it was funny because I assumed the latter, but now I think it's the former. The woman goes on to say "Joints, vape pens. I like the patch a lot."

People want cannabis for the feeling it gives them, and they can get it various ways that don't require eating it, so if it tastes bad, why put it in food?! I think the answer is right there in that "Martha Stewart" idea, that vision of The New Yorker that puts me off. There are people — probably mostly women — who want to think they of themselves as appreciating the finer pleasures of life, and maybe that desire is heightened when they approach a psychoactive substance. They don't want the stark confrontation with getting high — they're not that kind of girl — but need to see themselves as involved in something more complex and tasteful.

61 comments:

Sprezzatura said...

I wish I could feel that Althouse (the one of the Althosue blog) wrote "want more raw intelligence and edge" with some comic intent, but I don't think she did.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, if you keep noticing that these things that you loved reading for fifty years don't seem to fit you any more, is it possible that the answer to this riddle is explicitly stated in the riddle?

dreams said...

Maybe stuff like this is just more evidence of a sick society? Go along to get along and be cool.

David Begley said...

Ann Althouse wrote, "I read The New Yorker a lot, and this is one of the articles that make me think the magazine isn't for people like me — people who want more raw intelligence and edge — ...."

We read the Althouse blog for more raw intelligence and edge. The New Yorker is old hat. And way too wordy in addition to being off-the-wall liberal.

Nonapod said...

The New Yorker teaches us that when people have too much free time and money sometimes things get weird. I mean, the idle rich have always been a little weird I suppose. It does make me wonder what will life be like when robots do everything for us?

Humperdink said...

The lefties and the FakeStream Media sure do have a love affair with weed. No matter the delivery system.

The world teeters on the edge ..... Norks, Russia, Assad, Maduro, Libya, Iran and all we get is weed and more weed. I must be back at PSU in 1969.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Is it free range, cruelty-free pot, though? So important; so vital.

I don't know about the smoke but it sounds like the smug content of these particular marijuana products is just about off the charts.

Darrell said...

Is it free range, cruelty-free pot, though?

What about Fair Trade? Sustainable? Locally Sourced?

rehajm said...

I walked by the 4/20 event yesterday. It was 1,000 dirtbags sitting on the lawn and two or three kids in some kind of leadership position in their interview suits. A normalizing New Yorker article isn't really gonna change that.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Who was it that wrote, about a year or so ago, about sitting in a hotel room after eating a pot brownie totally freaking out? Some lady writer.

Fernandinande said...

Stay away from the brownies:
"Excess sugar -- especially the fructose in sugary drinks -- might damage your brain, new research suggests. Researchers found that people who drink sugary beverages frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller hippocampus."

Even worse than sugar is no sugar:
"A follow-up study found that people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not."

tim in vermont said...

I read The New Yorker a lot, and this is one of the articles that make me think the magazine isn't for people like me — people who want more raw intelligence and edge — but for people who really want to be shown how to happily enjoy a bourgeois lifestyle.

The primary purpose of the New Yorker is as a source for ersatz news news stories that support your correct opinions.

Nonapod said...

Annie C said...

Who was it that wrote, about a year or so ago, about sitting in a hotel room after eating a pot brownie totally freaking out? Some lady writer.


Maureen Dowd, I believe. She had no idea how incredibly potent edibles can be and ate wayyy too much.

Bob Boyd said...

"...for people who really want to be shown how to happily enjoy a bourgeois lifestyle."

That made me laugh.

tim in vermont said...

[Peanut Butter wish he] could feel that Althouse (the one of the Althosue blog) wrote "want more raw intelligence and edge" with some comic intent, but I don't think she did.

Given the general level of wit and insight displayed in your comments, I think the reason you don't see intelligence in her blog may not be because it isn't there.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Well: what do you think?"

"It certainly LOOKS like a delicious pastry, but it smells... funky."

"Oh, that: that's the cat shit."

"What? Why the hell are you putting cat shit in your pastries?"

"It's the New Thing. People love their cats."

"I understand liking cats, but putting their shit into food items…?"

"It's gonna be BIG, I tell you. People in Manhattan are already talking about it."

"But it smells like cat shit."

"Yeah: I'm working on that. I have infused it with olive oil and feta cheese, but the smell still comes right through."

"I'm afraid to ask what it tastes like…"

"Well, between the oils and the cheeses and the dark chocolate you can barely taste the cat shit."

"I'm not sure "barely taste it" is enough…"

"Yeah. It's easier to work with the product of cats that don't eat fish."

"Good to know."

"Actually, it's kind of a plus: I can advertise that the cat shit all comes from vegan cats."

"Does that make the cat shit vegan?"

"I'm not sure about that one. I'll probably need a lawyer to look that over. Vegans are a touchy lot."

"But doesn't cat shit have diseases?"

"Oh, you mean like Toxoplasma? Well, I have the cats dewormed before collecting their feces, but there's always going to be a risk involved in eating cat shit. People can make their own decisions on acceptable risk."

"I just don't see how this takes off…"

"Oh, you'd be surprised. Gwyneth Paltrow's people have already contacted me about her doing a tasting. Once she gives it her approval all the models and stars will jump on…"

"Well, good luck on improving the smell…"

"Yeah. I'm thinking some cinnamon might help: I put it in my Cat Urine drinks and it has been pretty successful…"

I am Laslo.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

That's who it was, thank you Nano! Now I need to go find that article. I remember getting a good laugh the first time I read it.

Danno said...

The New Yorker isn't the only publication catering to snobbery. The Wall Street Journal and Barron's have been doing this for some time now with their Lifestyle articles and emails for having wine and other luxury stuff delivered to your door and the Barron's Penta articles for people with a high net worth and distinguished taste. Also, the Mansions/Real Estate on WSJ.

Roughcoat said...

Prolixity, thy name is New Yorker. Opening that magazine is like entering an Edwardian drawing room filled with ornate, overstuffed furniture. Reading a New Yorker article causes me to lapse into one of those twilight states of consciousness you experience from the numbering brew they give you when you undergo a colonoscopy.

Mary Beth said...

People want cannabis for the feeling it gives them, and they can get it various ways that don't require eating it, so if it tastes bad, why put it in food?!

Smoking gets you high faster. When you eat it, the high takes longer but lasts much longer.

Michael Gazonymous said...

While in the process of squandering the earlier years of my life, I lost more weed in my couch cushions than any of these hipsters could ever hope to eat in their bullshit infused feta sauce drenched spinach tarts. Not the commercial shit, either, but the exotic high powered stuff that was harder to find and way more expensive but still available in the 1970s. Time wasted is still time wasted (seriously, no pun intended) no matter the method of ingestion. Stoned, stupid and paranoid is no way to go through life.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

The New Yorker teaches us that when people have too much free time and money sometimes things get weird.

This was my response. I would guess that .00001% of Americans can relate to this nonsense. Most of us have shit to do.

Mary Beth said...

Even worse than sugar is no sugar:
"A follow-up study found that people who drank diet soda daily were almost three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia when compared to those who did not."


Maybe there are pre-existing brain abnormalities that lead to stroke or dementia that also causes them to not reject diet sodas as ill-tasting ass-water.

Chris N said...

Brownstone activism and the wry sophistication of the avant-rear-garde ain't so cool after a while

Gotta get in on that Coachella, Upper East Side, racially and socially conscious target audience.

Anonymous said...

Uh oh, Jeff Sessions is harshing the mellow of marijuana users.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administrations-stance-marijuana-clouded-mystery/story?id=46910889

"While Trump appears to be open to hearing arguments from various sides of the discussion when it comes to legalization, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been a longstanding critic of the drug.

At a Senate hearing last April, Sessions said "good people don't smoke marijuana" and it is "not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized."

Such comments and other remarks Sessions has made on the issue prompted marijuana legalization advocates to protest his confirmation hearing, and later hand out free joints in parts of Washington, D.C., on the morning of the inauguration in protest.

Sessions talked more recently about his views at the National Association of Attorneys General winter meeting in February, when he said that he's "dubious" about marijuana.

"I’m not sure we’re going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana sold at every corner grocery store," he said, though noting that "states can pass whatever laws they choose.""

Bob Boyd said...

All this fancy cookin' just for some pot sounds like a pain in the ass.
And when you're done what are you gonna do? Fall asleep watching Ren and Stimpy most likely. Talk about your useless eaters.
Fuck that. I got shit to do. Ima nuke me what I call one of my crystal corndogs and I'm good to go.

donald said...

I laughed at that Maureen Dowd article. I mean really? It's pot. Pot is like beer to an old redneck reprobate like me. I get a pleasant buzz.

So I ate a candy bar before getting on a plane from SoCal back to Atlanta last year. I literally thought I was gonna die.

The liquor vape pens are where it's at.

Kevin said...

The Weedification of America continues apace. It's not enough that some people use it. It's not enough that it will soon be legal. No, we must destigmatize it by making it socially acceptable and what all the cool kids do.

Martha and Snoop doing a cooking show together was just a start. It didn't stop when the new version of Family Feud routinely had questions regarding marijuana-related topics. If it hasn't hit you yet, it will. It's coming to an upscale (something) near you.

How is the government going to make billions taxing marijuana if it's not as widely accepted and used as cigarettes used to be?

donald said...

Sessions has also said that it's not a priority at this time just like the previous administration.

Kevin said...

And how are people going to have their eyes taken off the freedoms we no longer enjoy if we can't point to legalized marijuana as evidence we're "more free" and "progressive"?

TestTube said...

I consciously work to make sure I am tagged as part of the social tribe that is fanatically anti-pot.

It has saved me a world of trouble in the last forty years.

Not all pot users are self-absorbed narcissistic jerks, but there is a significant overlap between the two groups.

The Godfather said...

I used to read the New Yorker for the cartoons -- the same reason I read Playboy -- but I quit 20 years ago when their Easter cover showed a crucified Easter Bunny. I haven't missed it, and this post hasn't changed that.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"They don't want the stark confrontation with getting high — they're not that kind of girl — but need to see themselves as involved in something more complex and tasteful. "

I think that's partially right. I don't think there really is any stigma these days when it comes to getting high, but these older women want something classier than what they did in their college days - passing a bong and then hitting the Doritos. I guess it's comparable to wanting to get a buzz from drinking, but preferring a martini made with Grey Goose to Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill (do they still make that awful "soda pop" wine?) or Miller Lite. Of course, getting all gourmet about it goes over the line into pretentiousness.

I only had pot brownies once. Awful. Broiled hockey pucks probably would have tasted better.

Paul McKaskle said...

The New Yorker still has some articles that are interesting and informative but the overtly political articles, including those on law, are quite distorted to express the far left view of the magazine. Further, the jokes are often pitifully unfunny (or fairly often inscrutable). It makes it faster to read, however.

Kirk Parker said...

Nonapod,

"It does make me wonder what will life be like when robots do everything for us?"

Like Serenity, except for not requiring Paxilon Hydrochlorate to set things off.

n.n said...

Magical culinary is tres chic. All the cool kids are doing it.

Sebastian said...

"make me think the magazine isn't for people like me — people who want more raw intelligence and edge." Ah, so something now "makes you think" that the New Yorker quite possibly might not be the place to go for "raw intelligence and edge," and you think of yourself as a person who wants "more raw intelligence and edge."

Titus said...

I love The New Yorker and have it delivered to my inbox everyday.

I also get the magazine, the only magazine I receive, delivered to my penthouse loft in Cambridge.

tits.

Ann Althouse said...

"Who was it that wrote, about a year or so ago, about sitting in a hotel room after eating a pot brownie totally freaking out? Some lady writer."

Several paragraphs about that in the linked article.

Ann Althouse said...

"The edible portion of the evening commenced. In the dining room, the conversation turned, inevitably, to the subject of the Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who, in 2014, shortly after the first licensed cannabis retailers opened for business, travelled to Denver and bought a cannabis chocolate bar. Back in her hotel room, she ate part of the bar, and then, when she felt nothing, ate some more. She described what happened next in that week’s column:

"'I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn’t move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn’t answer, he’d call the police. . . .

"Dowd later learned that she should have cut the bar into sixteen portions. The column sent shock waves through the industry. Wolf was still furious about it. “That was a disgrace!” she said. “It’s like if somebody offered you some vodka and said, ‘Just take one shot,’ and instead you drank the whole bottle.”"

Ann Althouse said...

"'[Peanut Butter wish he] could feel that Althouse (the one of the Althosue blog) wrote "want more raw intelligence and edge" with some comic intent, but I don't think she did.' Given the general level of wit and insight displayed in your comments, I think the reason you don't see intelligence in her blog may not be because it isn't there."

I wanted raw intelligence. He likes it cooked.

Ann Althouse said...

"Smoking gets you high faster. When you eat it, the high takes longer but lasts much longer."

Maybe the patch achieves the longer lasting effect without having to eat something laced with the drug.

I think the preference for eating it isn't so much about a preference for how it lasts as it is about feeling that smoking is unhealthy, difficult, or smelly. You can't smoke in a hotel room. And you don't want your house or your car smelling like weed. Not to mention your hair and your clothes! It's not discreet and it's off-putting to other people. What middle-class lady wants to walk around smelling like weed?

Ann Althouse said...

"I also get the magazine, the only magazine I receive, delivered to my penthouse loft in Cambridge."

It's the only magazine I subscribe to.

I do get one other magazine (because I was put on the complimentary list long ago).

NOTE: Before I went to law school I had a job in market research that required me to read about 100 or so magazines a month. For 2 years, mid-1973 to mid-1975, I read every issue of: Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Esquire, Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, Grit, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Ladies Home Journal, True Confessions, True Story, House Beautiful. House & Garden, Town & Country, Business Week, Fortune, Better Homes & Gardens, Parade...

320Busdriver said...

The Today show HIGHlighted the 4/20 opening of this CO drive thru pot store.

http://nypost.com/2017/04/20/drive-thru-pot-stores-are-now-a-reality/

It was interesting to see what kinds of people were pulling up and placing their orders.

Unknown said...

i think people prefer eating it because it lasts longer and hits you harder. the effects are different. eating it is not just a different way of ingesting it, but also experiencing it.

rehajm said...

"I also get the magazine, the only magazine I receive, delivered to my penthouse loft in Cambridge." "It's the only magazine I subscribe to."

Garden & Gun is booming while everyone else is tanking. The dog stories are reason enough to subscribe.

Guildofcannonballs said...

It doesn't all add up to me.

Think of the cherry, and the cherry pie.

If you are taking your time enjoying some sweet, sweet fresh cherry pie, then were to eat a raw cherry like from a tree, you wouldn't think they were related in any way.

Same with dope cooking.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Stoned, stupid and paranoid is no way to go through life."

You can do better than this lazy bullshit. Really. I encourage you to put in some effort, try it next time. I should like to think you will be rewarded for your efforts, like Kid Rock being invited to the White House.

Think of this and use your smarts to expand or expound as you wish: although not my ideal, stoned, stupid, and paranoid seems to be some folks choice of lifestyle, namely when our government isn't murdering them or throwing them in prison.

Guildofcannonballs said...

With 24/7 surveillance from multiple sources ubiquitous, paranoia is an outdated concept. There is ignorance of what has and is happening, or a lack of paranoia as if 'twere a phobia.

Paranoiabia.

readering said...

Never tried pot because of the smoking but used to joke I'd be willing to try a brownie because of my sweet tooth. But never came in contact. Now too old to try new thing.

Titus said...

No pot for me.

I used to smoke pot most weekends in my 20's but I started to get paranoid. Also, it would take me forever to cum.

StephenFearby said...

Fernandinande said...

"...Researchers found that people who drink sugary beverages frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and a significantly smaller hippocampus."

"The hippocampus (named after its resemblance to the seahorse, from the Greek ἱππόκαμπος, "seahorse" from ἵππος hippos, "horse" and κάμπος kampos, "sea monster")..."

"...In Alzheimer's disease (and other forms of dementia), the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage; short-term memory loss and disorientation are included among the early symptoms. Damage to the hippocampus can also result from oxygen starvation (hypoxia), encephalitis, or medial temporal lobe epilepsy."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus

Also, pot:

Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2017 Apr 19.
Cannabis-related hippocampal volumetric abnormalities specific to subregions in dependent users.

"RATIONALE: Cannabis use is associated with neuroanatomical alterations in the hippocampus. While the hippocampus is composed of multiple subregions, their differential vulnerability to cannabis dependence remains unknown."

"CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a regionally and dependence-specific influence of cannabis use on the hippocampus. Hippocampal alteration in cannabis users was specific to the CA and DG regions and confined to dependent users."

Neuropharmacology. 2017 Apr 14.[Epub ahead of print]
Mechanisms contributing to cognitive deficits in cannabis users

"4. Disruption of cognition function and cortical network activity

....Overall, chronic cannabis users tend to exhibit

(i) changes in task-related activity that in non-users would be associated with poor performance,

(ii) a weakening or loss of associations between task-related brain activity and task performances,

(iii) alterations in brain activity in network nodes that are associated with increasing
load or learning-related reductions of activity,

(iv) and recruitment of additional brain regions that may or may not be typically
considered part of the same functional network.

To what extent these changes are mechanistically linked to the global decrease in resting-state connectivity remain unclear."

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028390817301685 (Abstract only)

Both Travor Martin and Michael Brown were pot heads who made bad choices that famously resulted in their untimely ends.

Untimely ends also came recently to 13 innocent parties:

Texas driver took prescription pills, was in possession of marijuana during bus crash that killed 13 people


'...A trooper also reported finding two intact marijuana cigarettes in the center console of Young’s truck in addition to five partially smoked joints, according to [a San Antonio] news outlet.

Texas Department of Public Safety officer Scott Hewitt in an affidavit said [Jack D.] Young’s driving ahead of the crash could indicate “intoxication by reason of alcohol, a controlled substance, a dangerous drug or a combination.”'

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pot-found-truck-hit-texas-church-bus-driver-pills-article-1.3047249

Sigivald said...

1) It's an acquired taste.
2) Put it in food because smoke's not super great for your lungs, and also eating it gives a different effect and duration.

Mr. Groovington said...

By coincidence, yesterday was 4/20 day in Vancouver. The biggest pot festival in North America. Lots of edibles. Here's a short blog description of the event.

https://mylucinda.com/2017/04/20/420/

JackWayne said...

Off/on topic: Magic mushrooms are really good in spaghetti.

Gahrie said...

Off/on topic: Magic mushrooms are really good in spaghetti.

I've heard they're really good on pizza also.

EMyrt said...

Just this old psychedelicist's take, but I look for a palatable drug delivery system, not a gourmet experience. Back in the '70s, I did go to a stoner Thanksgiving, with pot in the stuffing and dessert. As if one needed help over-eating on Thanksgiving!

High temperatures destroy psilocybin, so magic mushroom pizza is a bad idea. They also taste terrible, but will disappear in tomato sauce, however, the high is not fun on a full stomach. Freeze dry them, grind them, mix in warm water and chug.

Not only is smoking pot, like smoking anything, problematic (I gave up pot smoking the year I had three sinus infections and haven't had any since), but it is a completely different high. Eating not only lasts longer, but produces a more psychedelic experience.

All this fancy-pants cooking is pretentious and beside the point. Make pot butter, add equal parts chocolate, flavor to taste with nutmeg, cardamom, coriander seed, orange liqueur. For a more aphrodisiac high, add powdered damiana or sassafras. Ground up cocoa nibs or candied orange peel can be nice add-ins. Drop by small spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and freeze. You are set for months. Or if you are really lazy, just eat by the small teaspoonful.

Mary Beth said...

What middle-class lady wants to walk around smelling like weed?

Or that she hugged a skunk. A skunk with just a hint of mango. (Although, I don't think the smell clings to you the way the odor of cigarettes does, unless you're smoking in your car or hotboxing.)

If the goal is just the high, then a patch might be a good option. If people still want some social aspect to it, that leaves smoking or eating.

ALP said...

Hello Mary Beth! I've been holding down the functional stoner demographic** on this blog for some time; happy to have some help. Hope to see your comments on future cannabis posts at Althouse.



**Or maybe you have fooled me but you come off pretty grounded.

bagoh20 said...

You could say the same about alcohol as a food and drink ingredient. It does not taste good, but it is essential to those who add it, and once you acquire a taste for it, its absence is obvious and missed. Although sometimes forced to resort to them, nobody enjoys a non-alcoholic version of an alcoholic drink.

bagoh20 said...

I'd rather take a pill for the high, and eat food made only from ingredients that improve the taste and texture.

Since becoming an adult, I do not enjoy a pot high, and edibles are worse. I thought it was maybe due to age, or the higher potency today, but now I'm thinking it's simply being an adult with responsibilities that make the feeling so uncomfortable. The feeling of reduced control combined with the anxiety causes me to worry about my challenges, and that's one thing I do not need intensified. The best is a simple buzz from a couple drinks. Any more after that is all down hill. I've fallen in love with moderation and self-control, but I occasionally cheat on her out of stupidity and weakness. This always results in the deepest regret, but self-control is a loyal forgiving partner, always waiting to take me back and care for me as long as I stay with her. Overindulgence is a selfish cruel bitch that does not deserve my time.