But It Doesn't Look Like Beer

With the good help of Dyn-o-mite and Micro-O I bottled the Rocco Stout today. It'll be ready for the long weekend... but that wasn't enough. I had to start the next batch right away. Thus, fjort raspberry was born.

I stuck to the recipe... -ish. Everything was by the book, except for I threw in a can of coconut milk and a kilo of honey. This was intended to jack up the alcohol a little, although our starting specific gravity suggests it might be just an average amount in the end.

I didn't expect the honey to affect the appearance (the coconut, maybe), but I can't help but wonder if this is really how it's supposed to look right now. It kind of looks like a purpler tomato juice. Nonetheless, I have very high hopes for this beer. It should be pretty light in the end, though it might not look it.

"I was working in the laaaab, late one night..."

This is lego for grownups.

You Restored My Faith In The Sitcom

People Still Do Blogs, Right?

I've been really busy lately. BB is working on a lot (by our standards) of new material. I'm going to play drums for Lotion Lotion Lotion next weekend. I've decided that the Rocco Stout is done fermenting, and will be bottled tomorrow. I'll start a new batch very soon, and I think I've settled on a raspberry wheat. Got a little advice on that from the brew store today. Summer is getting close, and the back deck/yard is going to be in full effect very soon. It would be tonight if I didn't already have plans. Barbecues and summery homebrew! Actually, Briantology and I were just discussing plans for the Easter weekend. We should have at least one day-long epic barbecue/drinking event. More on that later.

We're getting a new roommate, but it's not clear who yet. Dyn-o-mite is brokering a deal as we speak.

Denied!

I "denied" a whole buch of shitty bands just now. If you're a complete stranger and solicit an "add" from me, you had better be good.

Sometimes a band requests an add who is so awful, I feel insulted that they actually thought I would like them. That my taste in music could be so poor.

But hey, I guess I can't blame bands for "just wanting to get their name out". These bands have to realize though, that the more people who hear them, the more people will know how dreadful they are. By randomly asking for adds from people obviously not into their kind of music, they are inadvertently shooting themselves in the foot.

The bands that go on blitzes like these tend to sound very middle of the road. I'd be more welcoming to something fucked up and weird.

Bad karma?

Bring it.

Das Heimgebräu

I'm rather enjoying making this stuff. Round two is fermenting, and I'm already planning round three. Round two will be quite dark, and was a little more hands-on than the "home brewing for dummies" approach I took last time. Hopefully it'll come out alright. The concept I'm going with right now is:



Here's hoping my brewing skills surpass my graphic art skills, and soon. I'm thinking for round three I'll go back to a lighter style. Both strawberry and maple varieties have been discussed. I'm also open to suggestions.

Remember all the barbecues last summer? Well, they'll be taking a very interesting turn in Oh-Sev. Or 2-James Bond, if you like.

English

If there's one thing I'm not, it's a stickler for grammar. Spelling, I'm anal about to some degree, but not grammar. In the classroom, I was taught that it's poor english to end a sentence in a preposition. Don't say:

"Who are you going to the dance with?"

Say:

"With whom are you going to the dance?"

I think that's complete bullshit, obviously.

I was brought up to believe that the use of improper grammar was a huge faux pas, a sure sign of intellectual deficiency. Correct english all the time, or you'll never get that awesome job. Everyone will think you're stupid.

As an adult, I feel I've adequately learned the rules and I have to say, I find them overly rigid, and unacceptable. I use non-standard phrasings and made-up words on an almost daily basis. I'm confident that I can easily prove to most people around me that I'm not their intellectual inferior; having done so, I believe I've bought myself a certain freedom to communicate in ways that are appropriate to me, if not the grammar police. Given a choice between:

"Where are you?"

and

"Where are you at?"

I'll probably take the latter if I know the listener well, because I feel the word "at" softens an otherwise abrupt-sounding sentence. I have no qualms about ending sentences with prepositions in most conversations, because doing so almost invariably improves the fluidity of the sentence. In essence, I feel that standard english is severely flawed, with my own alternatives being preferable in many, if not most situations.

I enjoy making up my own words. "But what if others don't understand the meaning?" They will, because they are intelligent enough to place the word in context (with the help of my tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures), and deduce the meaning accordingly. I trust them. When we move to a level of language that incorporates context, tone and gesture, we take communication to a higher level, not a lower one.

Today, I playfully used the word "endrunkened" in a conversation with N. To my knowledge, this word does not exist in the english language. Surely I did not originate the term, but I've never heard anyone else use it. N proposed a theory that I was subconsciously germanizing an english word by stacking on three suffixes/prefixes (this happens a lot in german, which is why there are many very long words in that language). At first this seemed far-fetched to me. My 91-year old grandmother recalls her grandparents speaking the language when she was 5, maybe 6 years old. On the other hand, three out of four of my grandparents have at least some german ancestry, all dating back to 18th century immigration to this area. Is it possible that this tendency to make up long words has been handed down to me without my knowledge? I don't know, I've never thought about it until now. If so, I think this is kind of neat. It made me feel a little less of an "assimilated Canadian", which was kind of cool in an odd way.

All this notwithstanding, I'm against judging people based on the use of non-standard english. I like regional accents and homemade slang. I'll do my part to contribute to the evolution of the english language when applicable.

Dogs

I'll be honest with you, and please don't hate me for it - I'm terrified of most dogs. I grew up believing that dogs served only two purposes: shitting on the grass where I played and giving rabies to children. I've been afraid of every kind of dog, every size, at one time or another.

But now, as an adult, I have an intellect to keep my emotional responses in check. I can rationalize my friends' dogs to be extentions of my friends themselves, deserving of the same respect. So in these cases, I assume the animal to be innocent until proven guilty, and act accordingly.

When I hear bad stories though, I really have to rein my emotions, because they are very strong, and not rational.

Don't think of me as an "asshole". Think of me as a "cat person".

Wow!

That was one of our best parties, ever. I can't believe the entire batch of homebrew was consumed. Almost 22L! It was fairly non-shitty. If I come across some pics I may post them.

...in full effect.

Believe it, suckaz.

So yeah, be at this event.