The trouble with bubbles

Like many Asian households, soft drinks, cookies, and candy were expressly forbidden when I was a child. Well, forbidden, except for Halloween, when we could have up to ten pieces of the candy that we collected that night, while the remainder went into a very poor hiding spot in my mother's closet.

I don't know about you, but I have been punished for whining about drinking Coke in public. That promptly ended my public Coke "requests". I suspect that has something to do with my current general aversion to soft drinks, but I can't be certain.

Even to this day, I'm not a huge sweets person. And I certainly cannot drink soda every day, or even once a week. I mean, the flavors are good and all, but I just cannot stand the carbonation. The carbonation does something weird in my throat, and I end up feeling like I swallowed a bunch of air (surprise, surprise), I get the hiccups, or both. I HATE the hiccups. I HATE feeling bloated.

I don't quite understand why people prefer drinks that are carbonated - besides the novelty of bubbles in your drink, what's the point? It doesn't add flavor, although it does tickle your tongue. I find tongue tickling to be tiresome and annoying.

I say, "Down with carbonation!" Anyone else want to join my new 501(c)(3), People Against The Sipping, Ingesting or Eating of Sodas (PATSIES)?