I like beer a lot, but usually I’ll just have one with dinner. Maybe I already don’t recover faster than I used to, but it just feels kind of gross to drink that large quantity of liquid. Then again, it’s usually much cheaper than mixed drinks so that’s usually the thing that wins out in the end. On top of that, it’s cheaper to just stay in with friends which is more and more my choice for social interaction.
Turns out that’s a lot of glass when you drink one beer a day with dinner and don’t take your recycling down to the basement for a very long time. I get very self conscious when I finally do take the recycling down because usually I end up filling at least half of the glass barrel with bottles. I’m sure if the building workers worked for the FBI they’d have a complete psychological profile of me that would describe me down to a T.
I hope the doctors out there reading this think that I’m serious about this. I do still have beer when I have a cold, but I only joke that the alcohol will kill the virus 
Actually not entirely true, I was quite productive last night and was working on stuff until 2:00 AM. Though I think the trick is that I had my beer close to the end of the night instead of the beginning so this way it took longer to kick in. Also I had it with dinner so I had food in my stomach. Playing games after a beer not very hard. Getting motivated to do something that could be but isn’t necessarily fun, not very hard but not easy either
Christmas party was pretty good, though it starting so soon was kind of a mixed blessing. On one hand it meant the work day was significantly shorter. On the other hand, the eating was over so quickly that for the last four hours of the day kind of dragged. It was helped along a bit with desserts and some Beatles Rock Band on the Xbox 360 at the office but still, would’ve been nice to go home early. I had Japanese class though so I needed to stay in the city anyway.
My girlfriend and I went to see a couple apartments with this one guy who looked like a very old New York sort of guy. He kind of slurred his words and smelled like alcohol. He drove us around just fine, but he was definitely a weird sort of guy. It took him five or so tries before he got that my name was Derek. I kept on saying “Like Derek Jeter!” He kind of reminded me of my 5th grade math teacher, or at least his breath did. My 5th grade math teacher drank and smoked, but I didn’t know at the time that’s why his breath was so smelly/cold.
I didn’t like him because he kind of rushed us through this new building and its apartments, and was kind of irritated at me asking normal questions like “is there a building super, what utilities are included?” He was like “These questions can wait until later if you like the place.” All I could think was “But these are important things that help determine whether I like the place…”
We saw 11 or so apartments over the weekend. Looking at apartments is kind of fun, but I can’t wait until we have a place. I can leave behind my college-dorm transition apartment.
Well, if you have leftover champagne.
I resolve to get an apartment better than my current apartment. Not too hard considering it’s an apartment where it looks like there’re six layers of paint on the walls (to the point my bathroom door and medicine cabinet don’t close), I have a tiny college dorm looking fridge, kitchen with shelves with no cupboard doors, shoddy counter and floors that creak when a cat walks over them. Washer and dryer in the basement though.
Since I’m writing this about six hours before I’ll actually be at the voting area I have no idea if they’ll still be using the same old voting machines. I hope they are, I’m rather fond of that large handle you have to pull to close and open the curtains, it has a very satisfying feel to it.
A friend of mine was saying yesterday: “I don’t just want Obama to win I want it to be a LANDSLIDE.” Here’s hoping.
I went to Shabu-Tatsu in the East Village when I got this particular beer. The three options on the menu were regular, large and a pitcher. The prices were $5, $10 and $18 for 16oz, 32oz and the pitcher. I don’t remember how many ounces were in the pitcher but it couldn’t have been far off. Later when I got home I realized a regular sized beer is only 12 ounces so what I had was nearly three beers. Yes, knowing measurements is a good thing. No one else at the restaurant had a large.
Incidentally the shabu shabu was DELICIOUS. I’ve had hotpot several times before as a kid where my mom would prepare beef, pork, salmon, shrimp and an assortment of vegetables. This though the slices are sooo thin that they cook really fast. I liked the nutty dipping sauce the best. I couldn’t believe I ate so much when I was finished, but it was just so delicious. Had green tea ice cream and shared some red bean ice cream, was great even if I couldn’t move afterwards from fullness.
