I'm not my body, nor how I choose to destroy it

I grew up with the notion that the love of a good woman, a bottle of Scotch and a cadre of a few good fellas would get me through the coldest winter. But I've been loved by a few good women, and a few bad ones, I've drunk my way through an entire barrel of whiskey and lost and gained more friends than I have memories for and I still find myself shivering on even the hottest days. What works for the father won't always work for the son and that's a lesson I've been hard-pressed to learn. Even now, I sometimes spend my nights alone, consumed with the notion of what I "should" be doing, as opposed to simply doing something. So, I've decided just to "do".

I came to this conclusion as I sat across from a female friend of mine at breakfast and briefly I wondered what it'd be like to date her. I had ideas of salvation and I realized that the only person who can save me is myself and to drag another girl down with me with the hope that she can bring us both back, with me still one hand on the anchor, is incredibly unfair. I like drinking my whiskey, smoking my cigarettes. I'm not particularly adept at being single, but when I told Ashely I was destined to be a bad boyfriend for awhile, I think I was right. Why test it? I may be too smart and sensitive for the lifestyle I've been toeing but, until I dive in, I won't know. So, here's to commitment, of a sort.

Well I am screwed

I started this blog to acheive a goal: to try each of the coffee varietals Stumptown, a Portland coffee shop, has to offer with their Clover brewer. Now, the reason I decided to do this was two-fold. First, I work at Starbucks and we just recently bought out the Clover company and I figured it would give me a good idea of it's strengths and limitations. Secondly, I thought it'd be a good creative writing exercise. Thirdly, I suppose, I just really enjoy the hell out of a good Clover press.


Now imagine my shock and horror when I discovered that, due to the buyout and therefore limitations of service and repair, they had discontinued their clover and switched to a melitta brewing method. This appears to be nothing more than 4 filters lined up in a row, filled with coffee and dosed with hot water. Essentially, just a non-electric cone drip. It's fine but, frankly, I find myself underwhelmed. The gentleman who helped me said the body would be fuller, which is true, but all that really means is you get a bold and velvety mouthfeel without any of the subtlety of flavors that the Clover brought out. I went with a tried and true, the Tula Ethopian blend, which is usually always a burst of different flavors and incredibly good. It's still very good but it's just one dominant note now, an earthy vegetable note, rather than the swirl currants and citrus and, admittedly, vegetable. Like a drip brewer, this method seems to simply focus the coffee into it's purest extraction rather than letting the less dominant notes sing as well. I am going to go here a few more times and try some more staples of mine, simply to see if I am being resentful and therefore not fair to the coffee and the method.

Let's hope this blog has a point now and I don't stop going to the Annex.