As my inaugural post after upgrading to WordPress 2.5 I thought I would mention I have made a personal discovery regarding spirits, by which I mean cocktails, booze, hooch, etc. And that discovery is bitters. It started with The Presbyterian, continued with a chance find of Peychaud’s at the local liquor store and a Bourbon Collins, and broadened into curiosity concerning Manahattans, Sazeracs, Campari (Salma Hayek, oolala), and all spirits bitter.
Yes, Virginia, there is something beyond the Martini.
Let’s see… the last two weeks have included a number of ups and downs:
- Arrive in Portland for a fun weekend getaway (up!)
- Oldest daughter immediately gets sick with a stomach virus (down!)
- Daughter recovers so we visit old friends, eat out, and see the sights (up!)
- Return to Seattle and get stuck in mammoth traffic jams (down!)
- A new work week begins (up?)
- Youngest daughter gets sick with a stomach virus at school, vomits twice at home (down!)
- Daughter still sick the next day but wife volunteers to stay home with her. Daughter recovers (up!)
- I get sick with a stomach virus (down!) but I don’t throw up (up!)
- It snows in Seattle over the weekend (way up!)
- But then it melts and a record-breaking rain storm overwhelms our downspout drain and floods Western Washington (way down!)
- Roto-Rooter clears our downspout drain (up!) but can’t do anything about the regional flooding (down!)
- Wife has birthday and we all go out for dinner and cupcakes (up!)
- Later that night oldest daughter vomits entire stomach contents in bed (down!)
- I’m cleaning up vomit in the middle of the night (way down!)
- The next morning she is fine and goes to school (up!)
- Today, youngest daughter gets knocked down in the school yard, hits head on asphalt, school calls to come pick her up (down!)
- The sky does not fall (up!)
So what next?
Now because I’m a boring 30-something father of two with a day job and a mortgage and a low tolerance for alcohol and loud music I will not, of course, be at The Showbox tonight seeing a really great live band, that band being Metric. I’m just a little too cool for that scene. I’ve got more life-fulfilling things to do. Like laundry. And putting my kids to bed. And getting some “me” time before lights out at ten.
Try not to be envious. You kids go ahead and have fun.
I fear I may be spending the next several days reading every single entry on the fascinating “photography and books” blog 5B4. It looks to be the perfect storm of subject (photography and books), format (frequently updated and informed personal blog) and style (eloquent, somewhat casual, without fear of running long). And the author, Jeff Ladd, a.k.a. Mr. Whiskets, is also an accomplished photographer.