great lakes christmas ale

http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/beer/an-exceptional-family-of-beers/seasonal/christmas-ale

it's award winning and it should be. you should drink it ice cold but it reminds you of something warm. i don't know what it is about winter ales and lagers, but they help me long for this season. perhaps it's the heavy clothing they remind me of and allow me to be anonymous. perhaps it's the heavy, stout flavor. i don't even like the cold. you know the natives? the people who were here before us? they imagined their hell was cold. that tends to make a whole lot more sense to me than the christian hell... beings the christian hell is basically founded on traditions not backed up by biblical scripture or evidence... more or less founded upon paranoia and imagery quite akin to scenes from "dante's inferno." everyone i know in ohio wants to get out... "somewhere warmer" seems to be the consensus. i get it. not unlike hell. but i bet they'll still be saying "I-O" after someone in the distance yells "O-H."

nonetheless, great lakes in cleveland made something fantastic they call christmas ale. i don't know how they did it, but they bottled an adult sort of nostalgia... that makes you wanna be a kid again and see a lot of lights and gifts marked to you and less alcoholic things. anyway... it ushers in all the trappings of this season in a glass. i don't know how you do it, great lakes, but you did. kudos to you. i'm a couple glasses/bottles in, but i think i'll have another. i'll also hang a stocking and hope for that jolly old elf to stuff it. i might even pray that he will! neither of those things will happen, though... but look what you did, christmas ale! you made me wish i was younger and a bit more naive! good work, great lakes. :)

merry christmas. cheers.

-a

rumple minze

i am gonna do shots of rumple minze with my coffee tomorrow.

that feels like a blog to me.

it also feels right.

night!

-a

lights

bright, white, 75w, hopeful, intrusive.

I come home after work and nate has them on. All of them. Hall way ones. Living room ones. Random kitchen ones. My ears are typically still ringing and I see lights all night long and I don't wanna see them anymore. I don't want them to really shine on anything I already know exists in my apartment. The apartment is filled with things I haven't been successful at getting rid of and particle board. It consists of trinkets and knick-knacks that I haven't the heart to dispose of despite my adamant attempts at being non-sentimental. (I checked the thesaurus. There isn't an adequate antonym for sentimental.) I don't even wanna hear music for 15 minutes after I get home. Sometimes 20. silence is golden? no. silence, after turning out the lights, reminds you of who you are and what you have left and who hasn't deceived you and why you're still breathing. That's not golden, I don't think. However, these are important things to reflect upon if you hadn't done it yet that day. It also reminds you of the fact that you're eternally alone... even if you go to bed that night with someone else. The lights come through the windows whether you want them to or not though, you know? Unless you live in Montana. And they also emit from your electronic devices and you can't do a thing about that. This, too, reminds you of what you have and why you have those things and what kind of person that makes you. Or it should. It should.

I turned off all the lights except for the ones I can't quickly turn off. People should do this more often, I feel. This is the first blog I have had in quite some time. I feel alright about these thoughts. I have considered writing a blog every other day over the past few months. This one is gonna slip through the filter of what I feel is palatable for whoever might take the time to read it. I hope I was right. I will try to let some more get through... preferably not alcohol induced next time.

lights also happens to be a really beautiful and fascinating girl who is dating the drummer from a stupid christian band from dayton. this seems to be consistent with the theme of this blog. that's the only reason i bring it up.