josie

And in French!! Which makes it funnier.

I used to work with a guy who had worked at Victory- had it tattooed on his arm. He always brought it to the office, so I got to try whatever he could find. Yeah.. I never really had one I loved. I agree with the upthread love for Bells. Dammmmn that place is good- never had a bad Bells. The saving grace of my friend's wedding was her kegs of Two Hearted... And I'm with sabelvillheim on Great Lakes. I'm definitely a bit biased, but one of my favorite go-to's will always be Edmund Fitz. I dig Breckenridge, and if I'm not feeling too fancy, I reach for Shiner. And I love Rohrbach's scotch ale over all other scotch ales. I hate to admit it but might as well, when it comes to wine or beer, if I don't know the brewery, I definitely tend to buy based off label design. I know it means absolutely nothing, but it's the artist in me. There's some kickass beer label art out there. One of my former best friends from college does all the art for Saranac now. Neat gig. Utica native- they chose well.

Carter is just chugging through the bottle of Basil Hayden Dark Rye I gave him for Christmas. It's smooth. Too smooth haha

Noooo nooo nooooo don't do that oh god no that's like being the person who leaves all their unwanted clothes in the fitting room. People working those jobs are generally paid rather crappily and have a million other duties to perform on their shift- chasing down carts that can hit people's cars or dealing with huge piles of wadded up clothing only makes it that much more horrible... takes like... 5 seconds to make someone's job/life easier.

I saw where Nassar was saying it was cruel to make him sit through victim testimonies. Yeah. Sure. Cry me a river, you cretin. One of the reasons I quit gymnastics young was a creepy coach. He always made me feel unsettled, but I guess it wasn't until I started teaching children gymnastics oriented stuff myself that I realized there was no reason to grab us the way he would or do some of the things he did. He definitely got yelled at by parents a couple times for inappropriate methods- nothing ever came of it. Gymnastics as a whole is a suuuuper fu*ked up culture for so many reasons. It's improved a lot (read Little Girls in Pretty Boxes) but still.... Glad they're locking this guy up.

Ehhhhhhhhhh sure it's a bit personal, what isn't, but this isn't a quibble of the bars or the stores themselves- you're absolutely right, they're just catering to the people. It's the attitude of people, the demand, and attitude/demand are contingent with prevailing trends/beliefs, and in this case, IPAs had the lion's share, and I'm not entirely convinced it's because most people actually prefer them. I don't believe I'm alone in feeling there was an almost arms race for IPAs to be as hoppy as possible, nigh undrinkable. I know many beer loving friends whose eyes were watering trying piney/cleaning solvent-esque brews in order to explore the genre. I'm not saying there aren't plenty of folks who love that taste, but I think the trend/craze has mellowed out a bit. I'm just saying, let's have some more love/options for the other types. And to some of the beer snobs I know- IPAs aren't necessarily the pinnacle be all end all of brewing- no need for absolutes. People get verrrry defensive of their favorite brew. Each type can shine in its own way. Honestly, it's a net positive for beer when a style takes off like IPAs have, even if I hate them. Well, most of them. I've had one or two that didn't make my tongue curl up like an angry fern frond. Wonder what the next huge trend will be?

I have no idea what it is, but this is what my search revealed.

Guh. At least he can sell his soul rending art on overpriced shirts. Wonder how he did with that. Sincerely. I wonder.

..... enjoy camping alone.

I'm just wary of what I hear older friends/family say- 4-5 years matters so much/takes so long right now. But then life's gonna up the treadmill speed, we'll blink and 20 years will have passed. I'm already noticing things speeding up, and I'm not a fan. Youth is wasted on the young! Dude they upped it to like 80 bucks per car for visiting... I don't think we can afford it... now some back holler down south on a toxic mining runoff dump? Yeah, probably. How much do you like mosquitoes?

haha I suppose. We're both past that age now though .More like "oh god we're almost/over 30, we should have a house and be starting kids by now, right? sh!t, we're broke and none of that is feasible or a good decision aaaghghghhhhh"

Yeah well I wish I had a better job so that you didn't feel so pressured. That I could be another safety net for you. It's not easy but we're ok for now. I'm not sure this age is ever easy for anyone, despite what all our friends' highlight reel facebook/instagram lives seem to say.

Mm. Had me some Turkish coffee once- not sure if it was proper but it was pretty darn special tasting to me. I miss coffee. I'd drink that stuff black or make it even more bitter with espresso shots. Maybe someday I can coax my body into accepting very small cups once in a while.

Ugh sorry. I don't wanna get into this again. I'll get by. I'm just really on edge. I'm alive, I'm healthy, I have a good relationship and an apartment, a car that works, and support nets. I'll be fine. I'm just scared it'll all fall apart, and I have a bad habit of seeing all my super successful friends and going "what's wrong with me" instead of just realizing it's not a race, and we'll all be dead someday. But that's life.

I had some luck desecrating a sour by combining it with Chambord. I'm not a fan of a hint of sour- my nose picks it up as "dirty dish mop water" and my brain can't get past it. Something in them usually messes with me anyways, so, eh. More for the rest of ya haha

Stalled out already. One is working out I think. I'll build off it eventually, hopefully. I have a valentine's thing that's gotten me some work but that's barely enough to pay part of the rent in the end. And I have no idea how I'll get through February. Just feels like I'm really circling the drain this time. Been applying to more jobs, they're starting to appear. Hooray for another upcoming season of crushing disappointment and self hatred!

Gotta love metaphors.

It's good, yes. I don't have a lot of money, I can't drink a lot of beer anymore. When I walk into a store or bar to buy some beer or have a couple pints, I get tired of being faced with aisle after aisle of IPA options and a shelf or two for everything else. I dont' know if that has something to do with how IPAs are made- easier to vary?- but I'd love to see some of that hoppy passion put into some other styles. Bars have really been on a sour kick the last year or two as well. IPAs and sours. Yeah... neither profile is for me. Kudos for creativity though I suppose. Maybe I'm the one who needs to change.

Eh, I mean, my life is like a chihuahua in a wolf pen, I'm always terrified about the next day, my future is uncertain, but I'm sure everyone's sick of hearing me freak out about being poor and sad. I have a friend who complains to me often about their financial woes, how hard it is to get some extra money, what it is to have imposter syndrome.... this person has a house and a full time job and beautiful new furniture and some freelance work and such and then furthers the complaints about their inaction about actually doing anything about it. I get it. It's tough. But while I commiserate with you, you're not going to win this pissing contest of who's in worse shape. What an awful contest.

For awhile there was definitely a d!ck swinging contest with IPAs. We'd go to a place that specializes in craft and it was 85% IPAs, one or two stouts, an ale, and the rest is bottles of stuff like Labatt. For someone like me who really doesn't like IPAs at all, it was the message of "If you don't drink IPAs you don't belong here appreciating the art" and I'd be left drinking the one kind of hefe available or a heavy stout or porter in July. It's lessened a bit, and I'm glad for that. I don't like them, but I don't give a crap if others love them/prefer them. Just stop the hierarchy b.s., offer a wide variety, grab a pint of what you like, and enjoy hanging out with your friends. There's a time and place for every beer.

Yep. Or check my oil. My car was guzzling oil and eventually needed a whole new engine due to recall (hoorayy) and until I could get it in for heart surgery I was checking/filling it up in the Autozone parking lot. If I had a nickel for every dipstick who wanted to give the little lady unsolicited advice about my car, how to properly check my oil, and oil type or comments about me doing it in a dress and heels I'd have had that oil paid for. My pride gets in the way. I get bristly at being the damsel in distress. Doubt you guys ever get that much attention. Chivalry ain't dead I guess. ..but if I did need help, I'm standing right next to that guy and watching/asking questions so I can have a better clue next time and do it myself if possible.

d4rk must feel personally attacked pray for me, this is my reality..

Voted other on bowie- I'm between Life on Mars and Heroes. I do a lot of crying when Heroes comes on. I've been listening to Black Star quite a lot lately. Other on The Who- I fu*kin' love Magic Bus. Listen to the version on the live at leeds album (probably my fav album too). So good. Just a good groovy party. I love Tattoo too, it's a silly little song.

I'm down for that haha

I think a lot of these choices are the artist(s)' best known hit or hits rather than their best songs. Gonna sound like a hipster snot here, but I usually have a deeper cut I love more than the big stadium banger that gets radio time. Not that those aren't great/sometimes superior songs, but they just get overplayed. Personal Jesus is Depeche Mode's big ol' Oh Yeah That Band song, great song, but I'd say I like Stripped more, got a good gothy gloomy feel to it. I like to try to pick out the songs that I feel like the band/artist really enjoys performing. For Led Zeppelin, When the Levee Breaks will always be one of my top 5, often number 1. No Quarter, Going to California, Battle of Evermore, Black Dog are up there. Stairway doesn't crack top 10 for me. I remember one winter night being absolutely wasted at a party and we all were scream-singing Dazed and Confused at the top of our lungs to help a friend get over a breakup. That was a good time. It's far from my fav depeche mode song. It's just the one everyone knows.