Saturday, June 11, 2005
So those of you that keep track of this sort of thing might notice that I didn't post anything last week. That's because nothing really *happened* last week. It was pretty standard stuff. Not boring, really, hanging around my house is never booring, I've enough video games, writing projects, and drum practicing, along with all the other stuff I do on a regular basis, to keep me quite entertained. It's just that nothing notable happened, that's all. Booring stuff.
So this weekend, to make sure that didn't happen again, I went out to Karaoke!
This was the game plan:
1) Find nearby bar that does Karaoke on friday nights
2) Go there
And I did! There was a bit of a false start, where the first bar I went to had evidently not updated their profile on Citysearch and so they had live music, but no Karaoke. Not bad, but not what I was looking for. So I went to the next bar down on the list, The Scarlet Lady. It was pretty good times. I got there at 9:00 and didn't leave till about 1 AM. Sang some rockin' songs (I prefer rock Karaoke to the more traditional 'classic' or 'sing-song' stuff, just my thing) struck up a *few* conversations with strangers, and then came home. I had a pretty fun night, drank a couple beers...ooh...remind me to write about that later...um...yeah, and gave myself something to write about.
Now I'll admit, I didn't go out with the express *purpose* of going out and picking up chicks, but being a fan of the female persuasion that I am, it's usually always an option on some level. Did I pick up any hot ladeez? No, not really. Talked with some, but not a whole lot of 'pickin' up' happened. I honestly wasn't really worried about it until somtime this morning, when I just felt, I dunno, lonely, I guess. Couldn't *really* tell you why, I think fast, but I *feel* slowly. Just a minor funk for a few hours this morning. And about halfway through watching my lecture, I realized I didn't feel lonely anymore. Just that same sort of playfull happiness that seems to be my default these days. Guess I am a pretty happy person by default after all.
Oh, and the girl I ended up talking to most of the evening, she recommended another Karaoke bar that evedently has an *obscenely large* catalog for you to select and sing from. It's on wednesday nights, and it's really nearby, so I know what I'm doing on wednesday! The very, very, very first thing I'm checking for when I go there is to see if they have Aenima, by Tool. It's one of my favorite songs of all time, but heavy metal doesn't make it onto a whole lot of Karaoke playlists. Still, though, I look, just cause I've *always* wanted to sing that song.
Oh, and the girl that gave me the place was *really* cute.
So lessee...oh, right, beer! So evidently I've gotten enough of a taste for the stuff that I can drink a generic 'beer' without choking on my own bile. (Early in the night, mom, I was solid as a rock by the time I was driving again.) Good news, I suppose. I had a couple Bud Lights at the bar, just lacking any other brand to try out, and drank them both back without even thinking that...hey, I used to *hate* this stuff. Course, I don't want to get any flames from Beer Afficianados telling me that Bud Light isn't 'real beer', cause I've heard that stuff before. Just accept the fact that I'm trying out new flavors, albeit slowly, and be glad for me, eh?
Oh, and somthing else notable. On the way out, I realized I was *hungry*, and was planning to get some sort of munchie-kinda-deal when I got there. But I ordered my 'couple beers and just started singing, and completely forgot about food until about 2 in the morning when I was already home. I know they call this stuff 'liquid bread' but come on, that's a freakin' meal, right there.
Other interesting news, I got promoted! Paperwork finally came through, and I evidently started earning my higher salary at the beginning of last week. This is kinda cute, because between going back up to a 40 hour work week, getting my yearly raise, and getting my promotion, my paycheck has been steadily increasing in volume every single week. So...yeah, I'm rich.
Derek's roomate Chris is going to be coming down in a couple weeks. He's interning at Raytheon for the summer and will be staying with us and splitting rent. Yeah. I'm freaking *rich*. Plus he likes to play video games and will be buying a Gamecube when he gets down here. *Everyone wins*.
Sleep experiments: I am a *tired* guy. I've been getting 8 hours of sleep a night...well...maybe more like 7.5...for a while, but I still end up tired and drained during the day. Maybe that's normal...y'know...cause I'm working and all, but I've been trying to be better at it of late. I'm getting there, but I still end up lying in bed, resting, but not asleep, for an hour or two before I finally pass out. I'm hoping the repeated, consistent attempts at locking in 8 hours will lure my body into getting the sleep it needs. And if that prooves not to be enough, I may just have to sleep more. There are worse things.
This week, Karaoke at Joxer Daly's in Marina Del Rey on Wednesday. Everybody better be there!
-N
So this weekend, to make sure that didn't happen again, I went out to Karaoke!
This was the game plan:
1) Find nearby bar that does Karaoke on friday nights
2) Go there
And I did! There was a bit of a false start, where the first bar I went to had evidently not updated their profile on Citysearch and so they had live music, but no Karaoke. Not bad, but not what I was looking for. So I went to the next bar down on the list, The Scarlet Lady. It was pretty good times. I got there at 9:00 and didn't leave till about 1 AM. Sang some rockin' songs (I prefer rock Karaoke to the more traditional 'classic' or 'sing-song' stuff, just my thing) struck up a *few* conversations with strangers, and then came home. I had a pretty fun night, drank a couple beers...ooh...remind me to write about that later...um...yeah, and gave myself something to write about.
Now I'll admit, I didn't go out with the express *purpose* of going out and picking up chicks, but being a fan of the female persuasion that I am, it's usually always an option on some level. Did I pick up any hot ladeez? No, not really. Talked with some, but not a whole lot of 'pickin' up' happened. I honestly wasn't really worried about it until somtime this morning, when I just felt, I dunno, lonely, I guess. Couldn't *really* tell you why, I think fast, but I *feel* slowly. Just a minor funk for a few hours this morning. And about halfway through watching my lecture, I realized I didn't feel lonely anymore. Just that same sort of playfull happiness that seems to be my default these days. Guess I am a pretty happy person by default after all.
Oh, and the girl I ended up talking to most of the evening, she recommended another Karaoke bar that evedently has an *obscenely large* catalog for you to select and sing from. It's on wednesday nights, and it's really nearby, so I know what I'm doing on wednesday! The very, very, very first thing I'm checking for when I go there is to see if they have Aenima, by Tool. It's one of my favorite songs of all time, but heavy metal doesn't make it onto a whole lot of Karaoke playlists. Still, though, I look, just cause I've *always* wanted to sing that song.
Oh, and the girl that gave me the place was *really* cute.
So lessee...oh, right, beer! So evidently I've gotten enough of a taste for the stuff that I can drink a generic 'beer' without choking on my own bile. (Early in the night, mom, I was solid as a rock by the time I was driving again.) Good news, I suppose. I had a couple Bud Lights at the bar, just lacking any other brand to try out, and drank them both back without even thinking that...hey, I used to *hate* this stuff. Course, I don't want to get any flames from Beer Afficianados telling me that Bud Light isn't 'real beer', cause I've heard that stuff before. Just accept the fact that I'm trying out new flavors, albeit slowly, and be glad for me, eh?
Oh, and somthing else notable. On the way out, I realized I was *hungry*, and was planning to get some sort of munchie-kinda-deal when I got there. But I ordered my 'couple beers and just started singing, and completely forgot about food until about 2 in the morning when I was already home. I know they call this stuff 'liquid bread' but come on, that's a freakin' meal, right there.
Other interesting news, I got promoted! Paperwork finally came through, and I evidently started earning my higher salary at the beginning of last week. This is kinda cute, because between going back up to a 40 hour work week, getting my yearly raise, and getting my promotion, my paycheck has been steadily increasing in volume every single week. So...yeah, I'm rich.
Derek's roomate Chris is going to be coming down in a couple weeks. He's interning at Raytheon for the summer and will be staying with us and splitting rent. Yeah. I'm freaking *rich*. Plus he likes to play video games and will be buying a Gamecube when he gets down here. *Everyone wins*.
Sleep experiments: I am a *tired* guy. I've been getting 8 hours of sleep a night...well...maybe more like 7.5...for a while, but I still end up tired and drained during the day. Maybe that's normal...y'know...cause I'm working and all, but I've been trying to be better at it of late. I'm getting there, but I still end up lying in bed, resting, but not asleep, for an hour or two before I finally pass out. I'm hoping the repeated, consistent attempts at locking in 8 hours will lure my body into getting the sleep it needs. And if that prooves not to be enough, I may just have to sleep more. There are worse things.
This week, Karaoke at Joxer Daly's in Marina Del Rey on Wednesday. Everybody better be there!
-N
Comments:
I know you explicitly banned Bud Light Flames, but it seems worth pointing out (in very cool, uninflamatory terms) that, really, bud light isn't technically a beer. In 1516, the Germans put into law that to qualify as a beer, the beverage could contain only 4 ingredients, malt, hops, yeast and water. This has been known henceforth as the purity law, which is easier to say than the German word for it, Reinheitsgebot. Since bud proudly brews with corn, that makes them not a beer, right? I am also seriously in doubt that they use hops- which I think is the hardest part of beer to come to terms with.
The other major caveat with macro brews, is that in their beer is not naturally carbonated (and also probably that after all the nasty things they do to extract beer like things, the waste is not fit for animal consumption. ew.). To give it those big, soda-like bubbles they just add carbonated water. And to make it light, they just add more. This decreases the relative alcohol content, making it a perfect early evening thirst quencher before you drive yourself home- I commend you. But sometime you don't need to be sober, I recommend trying something like Sam Adams light or Henry Weinharts (he makes root beer too, which is SO awesome). These beers have two things going for them that you will appreciate: 1) they are relatively weak beers so you can work with that as a transition, and 2) they aren't pilsners.
Beer comes in a rainbow of shades that depends on on the malts used, you can go from light blonde pilsner to dark stout (or as you might know them, bud to Guinness). I really dislike the lightest of beers, even "the" pilsner, Pilsner Urquell (fine czech beer since 1219. Now that's a tradition), they are too bitter, because there isn't much balance for the hops (more on this later). I also am beginning to suspect that I don't really like lagers (vs. Ales, which is defined by the yeast and fermention style). Personally, I find Amber Ales moderately drinkable, like good old Alaskan, Widmer's Drop Top Amber, or the Bridgeport's Ropewalk Amber.
But back to hops. Obviously the malt determines the shade of the beer, and yeast adds and certain distinctive flavor (if you are up for a challenge, try Fat Tire, it's brewed with Belgian yeasts) but if that was all that you put into your beer, it actually would *be* bread, although runnier than biscuits. So brewers moderate the flavor with hops- a sort of ugly green gross smelling flower. There are 3 times you add hops into your brew, earliest is for bittering hops (this is like over-steeping tea), midway is for flavor, and in the last 5 minutes you add your "fragrance" hops. Even though every brewer in the Northwest uses Cascade hops, they can still pull great variations of flavor out of them, which go from seriously bitter (like and ESB, extra special bitter or IPAs, imperial pale Ales) to something you might actually want to drink.
So when searching for future beers to sample, try to pay attention to the relative values of those things in your beer, it will help you decided what it is you like. And take it slow on beers like Hopzilla, Hopocity or the like. Once you are starting to move avidly through the many shades of beer, we can cover special topics, like Barley wine and Lambics.
Love- your sister who doesn't like drinking beer, but thought you should know some things about it any way
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The other major caveat with macro brews, is that in their beer is not naturally carbonated (and also probably that after all the nasty things they do to extract beer like things, the waste is not fit for animal consumption. ew.). To give it those big, soda-like bubbles they just add carbonated water. And to make it light, they just add more. This decreases the relative alcohol content, making it a perfect early evening thirst quencher before you drive yourself home- I commend you. But sometime you don't need to be sober, I recommend trying something like Sam Adams light or Henry Weinharts (he makes root beer too, which is SO awesome). These beers have two things going for them that you will appreciate: 1) they are relatively weak beers so you can work with that as a transition, and 2) they aren't pilsners.
Beer comes in a rainbow of shades that depends on on the malts used, you can go from light blonde pilsner to dark stout (or as you might know them, bud to Guinness). I really dislike the lightest of beers, even "the" pilsner, Pilsner Urquell (fine czech beer since 1219. Now that's a tradition), they are too bitter, because there isn't much balance for the hops (more on this later). I also am beginning to suspect that I don't really like lagers (vs. Ales, which is defined by the yeast and fermention style). Personally, I find Amber Ales moderately drinkable, like good old Alaskan, Widmer's Drop Top Amber, or the Bridgeport's Ropewalk Amber.
But back to hops. Obviously the malt determines the shade of the beer, and yeast adds and certain distinctive flavor (if you are up for a challenge, try Fat Tire, it's brewed with Belgian yeasts) but if that was all that you put into your beer, it actually would *be* bread, although runnier than biscuits. So brewers moderate the flavor with hops- a sort of ugly green gross smelling flower. There are 3 times you add hops into your brew, earliest is for bittering hops (this is like over-steeping tea), midway is for flavor, and in the last 5 minutes you add your "fragrance" hops. Even though every brewer in the Northwest uses Cascade hops, they can still pull great variations of flavor out of them, which go from seriously bitter (like and ESB, extra special bitter or IPAs, imperial pale Ales) to something you might actually want to drink.
So when searching for future beers to sample, try to pay attention to the relative values of those things in your beer, it will help you decided what it is you like. And take it slow on beers like Hopzilla, Hopocity or the like. Once you are starting to move avidly through the many shades of beer, we can cover special topics, like Barley wine and Lambics.
Love- your sister who doesn't like drinking beer, but thought you should know some things about it any way
# posted by 
: June 13, 2005 at 1:11 PM
: June 13, 2005 at 1:11 PM
