I think that, too often, I manage to see only the good in people. Then, when they reveal their true nature, I take it as a personal attack.

I think that, too often, I see only the bad in people. Then, when they reveal their true nature, I ignore it and soon forget that it ever happened.

This might not be the best way to live my life. Seems kinda lopsided, if that makes any sense.

---

I was thinking about sweetness tonight, as I enjoyed a Fastenbier (376), which had magically reappeared on tap even after FutureDude had told me it was gone. I think FutureDude is pissed at me for some real or imagined reason.

Anyway, I know two girls who I would absolutely characterize as sweet. Not particularly nice, perhaps, but definitely sweet.

Shut up. There is too a difference. A huge difference.

There is just something special about a sweet girl. I wish that I knew more of them. But alas, they are very rare, at least in the world that I inhabit.

I think that's why I'm so drawn to sweetness.

I'm not saying that no other qualities matter to me, because they certainly do. But sweetness trumps everything else.

---

I'm not even sure that I could describe what the fuck I'm talking about.

---

I am tired now.

I couldn't think of anything to write about, so I just figured I'd cheat and post this picture I took yesterday when I was waiting for AlliGirl to drag her ass out of bed and call me.

If I was a kid again, I would totally climb that shit.

This is not an entry with humor about assholes. If you came here excitedly expecting to read poop and fart jokes, I'm sorry.

One of the big conversation topics at Rich O's lately, for most of the area bars in fact, has been that the local New Albany High School basketball team was (a) undefeated, (b) ranked number one in the state, and (c) quite possibly the greatest basketball team in the history of the entire universe.

I pretty much stayed out of those conversations because (a) I went to a rival high school, and (b) I didn't care, and (c) basketball sucks.

Anyway, Saturday night PearlGirl came in and joined us in the red room for a bit. She very quickly informed us that New Albany had lost it's playoff game, and that they were therefore eliminated.

I said, "They lost? Well maybe people can shut up about them now."

Undeterred, PearlGirl then started talking about the game itself. "It was a really good game!" she offered.

"Or maybe not," I remarked.

Now, a couple of people chuckled at my remark. And I began to wonder why. I mean, did they understand and agree with my sense of humor, or did they completely misinterpret my words, and still find them chuckle-worthy?

There are two ways to interpret what I'd said:

1. I was suggesting that it must not have been that good of a game, because New Albany lost.

2. I was postulating that perhaps people wouldn't be able to shut up after all.

For the people who know me well enough, it's trivial to know that the second interpretation is the correct one.

This is asshole humor. It is my forte.

I wonder how many people understood that, and how many people thought I was actually being sympathetic to the losing team and its fans.

I had this brilliant idea today. I was going to do something and make someone smile. Not just anyone, mind you, but one certain person.

I drove around and looked around and asked around for what seemed like years, and I couldn't find what I was looking for.

I don't know if, as the saying goes, it's really the thought that counts. I certainly don't know if, in this particular case, learning the tale of my valiant yet ultimately unsuccessful quest was enough to bring a smile to a certain face. But, I like to think that it might have done just that. Just maybe.

That would be cool, if I brought a smile to that face.

Last night my afternoon nap ran a little longer than I'd planned, so I was late getting to Rich O's. I was so late, in fact, that NotHideousGirl commandeered somebody's phone to call me and make sure I was on my way.

It's nice to be missed.

When I finally arrived, a little before 9:00, I was quite dismayed to see several hundred weirdoes in the living room area, with NotHideousGirl reigning supreme in the throne. I also saw MusicalYuppieDude, HairDude, and UPSDude sitting over in the red room.

I ended up sitting in the red room. There was no seat available in the living room area. Plus there were weirdoes there.

I already mentioned that, Friday night, I'd had several sips of LaptopGirl's Moinette Brune. Those sips, evenly distributed between offered and pilfered, were all pretty good. So that was the first beer I had when I sat down:

Moinette Brune (15)

(draft) Cloudy dark brown, with a large tan head. Aroma of dark fruits and something else - maybe caramel? The flavor was much more subdued than my earlier sips had led me to expect. The beer tasted a little flat and/or one dimensional. Not really anything wrong with it, but not worth having again.

So that was a little disappointing. I got over it very quickly, though, with my second beer:

New Holland Night Tripper (12)

(draft) More than black, this beer absorbed all light from within a radius of several feet. The tan head was fairly impressive as it lasted until the glass was empty. A light aroma of roasted malts, with a touch of coffee and chocolate in there as well. Flavor was almost all roasted malts, though the beer somehow managed to stay very well-balanced. Extremely yummy.

I was very tempted to just drink the Night Tripper for the rest of my life the night, but there were a couple of old friends that had gone on-tap, and I needed to visit with them for a bit. So, my next beer was an Avery Old Jubilation (62), and my final beer was a New Holland Dragon's Milk (82).

The Dragon's Milk had me particularly excited because, as soon as I heard that it was available, I texted HatGirl and told her the news that one of her all-time favorites was finally available. I was excited myself, but the thought of an actual possible HatGirl appearance nearly made NotHideousGirl wet herself with excitement. Actually, she may have wet herself; I neither asked nor checked.

But alas, the visit was not to be. HatGirl wasn't feeling well, and so she probably won't make it to Rich O's until next weekend. I have serious doubts that Dragon's Milk will still be available then. My excitement will, however, be undiminished.

Besides talking with the guys in the red room, and enjoying the occasional visit with NotHideousGirl, and trading text messages and picture mail with HatGirl, I did what I always do. I watched the door and waited to see if LaptopGirl would make an appearance.

By the time she finally showed up, I'd almost given up on her for the night. I'd moved to the throne (most of the weirdoes had left by then) and I was just starting to allow myself to relax for the first time all night.

Then the emails and the text messages started pouring in. A couple of the former from LaptopGirl, and about a million of the latter from WeirdGirl. It seemed that I would need to do some damage control with WeirdGirl, but it was going to have to wait, because LaptopGirl came in a little after 11:00. Yay!

The only seat available was at the far end of the sofa. After I glared at some weirdoes and intimidated them into vacating, I was able to go sit with LaptopGirl and talk to her for a bit. Fantastically surreal, as always.

At some point during the night, the plan had been established that NotHideousGirl and I would go to Sluttopia so she could sing at least one song to honor her deceased friend. Well, the situation with WeirdGirl looked like it was going to prevent me from going. In fact, everyone else left for Sluttopia, and it was only after a couple of phone calls to WeirdGirl that I felt right about going myself.

Sluttopia was pretty much like normal. Not to write about except that I got to introduce NotHideousGirl to my Uncle Wayne, who runs the karaoke shows in there.

At 2:00 or so, everyone else had gone off to do whatever it is that they do. I myself came home and talked to WeirdGirl on the phone for a while, then I went to sleep.

First, back a long time ago, my aunt and uncle, even at the time older than sin and dirt respectively, surprised everyone by having another child - my youngest cousin.

Yesterday I went to Long John Silver's to grab some lunch and get some to reheat later.

While I waited for my order to be filled, I saw a girl young woman sitting in a booth with a boy who was somewhere between six and ten years old.

That young woman was the aforementioned cousin, the baby of my generation. I assumed that the child with her was her son.

I hate it when kids do that annoying thing where they keep growing all the time as part of their evil plan to make me feel old. I hate it even more when that plan works.

The moral of this story is that Long John Silver's has yummy food, but that trying to reheat it later becomes an adventure in soggy mediocrity.

I had a semi-interesting conversation last night.

The gist of it was, Blah blah blah feelings blah blah. Blah blah you want more blah blah blah.

I think I'm lucky that I was in a somewhat somber mood. Lucky that I didn't start laughing at the absurdity of the implication that this latest round of bullshit had been caused by yet another unwarranted assumption.

So, instead of laughing, I just repeated the same things that I'd already said, on at least three different occasions, spread out over at least a year and a half. I kept my face straight, so that the honesty written thereon might be more readily easily recognized.

The moral of this story is that sometimes some people only hear what they expect to hear, see what they expect to see, discover what they expect to discover, encounter what....

Well, you probably get my meaning.

Was it what you expected?

I figured that, while I wait for my houseguest to rise from the dead, that I'd catch up on some beer reviews.

There's this high-alcohol festival going on at Rich O's, called Gravity Head. It's their biggest festival every year. I usually manage to have a few of the strong offerings, but I don't bother trying to sample them all.

Anyway, here are the new high gravity beers that I've had over the last couple of weeks.

Alvinne Podge Belgian Imperial Stout

(draft) Black in color, with a thin tan lacy head that faded quickly. Aroma of malts and light chocolate and dark fruits. Medium mouthfeel - not quite syrupy. The flavor is fairly tame, mostly malts and chocolate. I like this. Dangerous though, because the high ABV is hidden very well.

Dark Horse Scotty Karate Scotch Ale

(draft) Clear dark amber. Good long-lasting head. No detectable aroma. The mouthfeel is a little watery, and the flavor is mostly roasted malts. A decent beer, but kind of a waste of time. The alcohol was hidden very well, a little too well, I think.

New Albanian V - Fifth Anniversary Ale

(draft) Hazy brown in color. Minimal head that lasted. Strong aroma of hops and alcohol. Flavor more of the same. I can see how most people would really like this beer, but it's not a style that I care for. Decent is all I can say.

Gale's Prize Old Ale (from 1998)

(draft) Hazy dark brown, with no head to speak of. According to JauntyGirl, this smells like hairspray. I myself would say that it smells of roasted malt and alcohol. Fairly thin mouthfeel, with the flavor of roasted malts and overriip cherries. No alcohol burn at all. Pretty darn good.

New Holland Pilgrim's Dole

(draft) Clear amber in color. No head at all. Zero. Smells a little bit like laundry detergent, of all things. Mounthfeel is meduim syrupy. The flavor is a little weird to me - as with all barleywines. There is a noticeable alcohol burn at the finish. Decent.

Kasteel Kriek (Rouge)

(draft) Very dark red, with a light pink head that shrank but lasted. There was some discussion as to what the aroma was, and it was decided that this smells like Luden's cough drops. Flavor is cherries and cranberries. No alcohol burn at all. Quite good, but also quite strange.

Bluegrass The Queen's Knickers

(draft) Clear dark orange in color, this beer didn't seem to have much of an aroma. So I was surprised to find such a funky and citrusy flavor. To be fair, this beer may have clashed greatly with the chocolately porter I'd had earlier, but I don't think I'd have liked it all that much anyway. I only drank a few sips, then I gave the rest away.

Schlafly's Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

(bottle) Black with tan head. Aroma and flavor of coffee and light chocolate. Not much of a bourbon flavor, but a lingering alcohol burn that was bourbony.

Schlafly's Imperial Stout

(draft) A fairly standard imperial stout, though I was disappointed to find not even the slightest hint of chocolate. This thing was all coffee and roasted malts. Not my favorite by a long shot.

Brugge Brasserie Tripel de Ripple

(draft) Hazy golden in color, with a large head that shrank quickly. Fairly standard aroma and flavor for a Belgian of this style - so pretty good. There was a tiny bit of unexpected creaminess as it swirled in my mouth. The finish was a little drying, but not so much as to be obnoxious. A pretty good beer.

I guess I'm having the same problem this morning that I had a couple of Sundays ago. I think about the previous night, and writing an entry about it just seems too daunting a task.

So, that Saturday Beer Report from a couple of weeks ago never got written, and this Friday Beer report will probably end up being a brief one, though the night itself certainly wasn't brief.

First, while it's on my mind and while I'm sitting at my keyboard, two Saturdays ago, I went to Rich O's and was greeted with the question, "Did you see SassyGirl?"

I replied that I had not, and I was told that she was sitting out front.

I ran out front and, sure enough, there sat SassyGirl!

Yay!

She and JauntyGirl had come into town that day. She hadn't called to let me know, because she'd wanted to surprise me at Rich O's.

Well, that plan certainly worked. I was definitely surprised.

The timing of their visit was close to perfect, as Saturday through Tuesday were pretty stressful for me, and those girls provided a lovely distraction for several hours of those days.

Anyway, a bunch of other stuff has happened between then and last night, but it seems like it would be hard to write it all down. So, I won't. I'll just skip to last night.

I arrived at Rich O's at 6:00, that early hour determined by the fact the my sister Dina and her husband Kenny were there. We talked until 7:30 or so, when they had to get home for some basketball game or something.

I ate a pizza and sat at the island by myself. There was a couple sitting at the other end of the island, but I didn't talk to them much. Mostly, I just watched the door and waited for LaptopGirl.

She arrived at 9:00 or so. I got to help her fact-check an article she's writing. That was very cool. It's nice to feel useful.

We talked for a while until EuchreDude came and horned in on sat with us. I because invisible for an hour or so, until after they'd moved to the living room area. I followed mostly because to remain where I was would have felt slightly more awkward.

Eventually, I managed to get LaptopGirl's attention again. Mainly by plopping myself down on the coffee table two feet in front of her. We talked for another hour or so, but eventually she had to go home.

Oh yeah. Beer.

Let's see, my first beer was a yummy Schlenkerla Fastenbier (308), which has made it's brief Spring appearance. My next two beers were NABC Flat Tyre (749), though I did have a few sips of LaptopGirl's Moinette Brune. It was good, and the next time I have some I'll write a proper review.

That number for Flat Tyre above is an estimate, because LaptopGirl had several sips from my glass as she waited for news from her homefront.

Once LaptopGirl had gone, I went and sat at the kiddie table and talked to WomanRepellant for a while. Then NotHideousGirl came in. She was sad, because her cat had died. Poor kitty.

We somehow got to talking about karaoke, and she suggested going to Sluttopia. I called, and they said that they had a band instead.

Well, we ended up going to Sluttopia anyway. WomanRepellant followed us there, but most of the crowd just went to this Jack's bar closer to Rich O's.

NotHideousGirl became even more sad when, upon our arrival, she was told that one of her friends from there had died a couple of days ago.

The band sucked big hairy ones. I did my best to distract myself from the racket by drinking a Newcastle (9071) and talking to WomanRepellant and NotHideousGirl until they started kicking everyone out at 3:00 or so.

Then I came home.

Then, despite my staying up until after 4:00, my stupid circadian rhythm woke me up at 8:00. And here I sit, looking forward to the wonderful nap I'll get to take in a few hours.

Hmmm, I guess this wasn't as brief as I'd feared.