At first I thought the warning near the end of this paragraph was serious, and then I thought it was a little goofy, and now I sense a hint of sarcasm. Must . . . categorize . . .

Thanks to a war between European brewing companies, it’s never been easier to catch a healthy beer buzz. Or get yourself totally sloshed. In November BrewDog, a Scottish microbrewery started three years ago, released a new brand, dubbed Tactical Nuclear Penguin. The beer set a new record by weighing in at a scary 32% alcohol-by-volume, over six times the strength of familiar domestic brands like Budweiser. As explained on a cheeky video on the company’s website (warning: the clip contains simulated penguin sex), the brewery was able to attain such a high alcohol content for its product by freezing the beer at a local ice cream factory, at temperatures as low as -6 degrees, for 21 days. Alcohol freezes at lower temperatures than water, and removing water from the solution increased the alcohol concentration.

You can read the entire article here.

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* Oh, and that’s SARcasMOMeter, like thermometer, hygrometer, sphygmomanometer.

You know how sometimes you put off a big task for a really long time, but when you’re finally forced to start it, you realize that it’s actually kind of fun, and you wish you’d started it earlier? This is not like that. At all.

ALSO.

Space Law is like listening to five TED talks at once, plus someone’s wacky old grandpa.

Some people run 26 miles; I quit Facebook for a week. Sure, the running thing takes a lot of training and dedication, but you have to keep in mind that these are people who ENJOY running in the first place. I bet that gets you through the first ten miles, at least.

Here’s the thing: I have little to no self-discipline. It’s appalling. Most of the decisions I make on a daily basis are driven by instant gratification. If life were fair, I would weigh 300 pounds.

(more…)

So yeah, my level of fail at NaBlo 2009 is reaching epic proportions. I’ve come to accept it. November’s been busy, and it’s flying by. Ten pages of my journal paper, complete with footnotes, due in two days? Criminy.

Today was my third day in a row of taiko performances—two at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands, and one in College Station. Next weekend we’re on the road again to Alexandria, and it’s a 90-minute show, so we’ve got two practices (maybe three) this week to prepare for that.

But right now, if I can deny the existence of my paper deadline for a little longer, life is good. I just took a hot shower, and now I’m sitting on John’s balcony with a beer and my laptop, enjoying the November weather. What’s that? It’s snowing where you live? You can’t go outside with wet hair and bare feet? Suck it. This is our reward for making it through the summer.

Also, I just got to watch a guy throw up over the side of his balcony at an apartment across the street. So that’s nice.

I’ve got a few dozen balls in the air at the moment. On the one hand, having so much to do stresses me out, but on the other hand, most of those balls are pretty damn awesome, which makes the day-to-day work a little more pleasant.

Grand Taiko. It’s this weekend! Can you believe it? I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Yesterday’s set-change practice was made tense by a couple of unnecessarily-last-minute decisions, but all in all, we are SO ready for this show. Loading, spiking, and tech rehearsal Wednesday, dress rehearsal Thursday, performance Friday and Saturday.

I’m especially excited about our brand new song, Hanadokei. I helped write it a tiny bit, and I get to play in it*. It’s the most exhausting song in the whole set, for me at least, but it’s so much fun to play. You’ll love it.

Because you’re gonna be there, right? Miller Outdoor Theatre, this Friday and Saturday, 7:30 PM? That’s what I thought.

Wedding Planning. We’re thinking early 2011, so it’s still a year and half away, but I’m already deep into the planning. I’m discovering that my mother has a strong vision of what my wedding will look like, and it’s not much like mine. Getting married by a friend or relative instead of a “real” minister? Disappointing. A dress in any color other than white? Even light gray? Disappointing. A wedding palette of yellow, gray, and black**? Disappointing.

(more…)

For two weeks now, Houston’s been hotter than … well, a mild fever. Which is hot, as air goes. And despite the lack of rain, it’s still a wet, heavy heat. At least the drought is keeping the mosquitoes at bay. Biking to work has become a somewhat icky endeavor; I’ve learned to bring an extra shirt to change into when I get there.

*****

I saw a car today with three bumper stickers: a Mac apple, a Houston Astros sticker, and a sticker that looked like those oval country/vacation spot stickers with initials in them but actually stood for “Jesus Freak.” I don’t know why the combination struck me as odd, but I kind of want to meet this person.

*****
(more…)

Before I talk about work I’d like to share a quick story from today’s evening walk. The story is that a bird pooped on Sam’s head. Better him than me, I thought, since he didn’t notice and probably would have enjoyed it if he did. But then at home when I tried to wipe off the mess with a wet paper towel, he ducked and I got poop on my hand. So I didn’t escape unscathed after all. It figures.

Okay, work. I’m still thrilled to be there, even though I emptied my candy jar in the first two days. I’ve had to bring in and eat *fruit*, can you imagine? I finished my first practice assignment in cite analysis today and will probably get to start on a real assignment tomorrow, assuming I didn’t completely miss the boat on the practice one.

(more…)

My sleep schedule, such as it was, got all shot to hell when I stayed up all Monday night before the Property exam condensing an Emanuel’s book and typing it into my notes. This may well be the absolute worst way to study for an exam, but when you’ve put it off all semester and the prof doesn’t allow commercial outlines, sometimes you find yourself in an unsavory position.

Around 3:30 in the morning I got to a section on mortgages, and I didn’t recall us talking in class about mortgages in any depth, so that bit of my outline looks like this (pretend it’s indented properly):

C. Financing Devices: Mortgages, Deeds of Trust, and Installment Contracts

1. christ i hope this doesn’t come up on the test

First question? “If Bart mortgages his house to Mort, and then Bart sells the property to Pam….” Argh.

(more…)

The Tennessee trip was FANTASTIC. The bus gave us its fair share of problems, and we lost a little sleep, but both shows went great and we had a blast. High point of the trip: getting to stay in the same hotel three nights in a row, or maybe the professional massages we got on our day off. Low point: no hot tub in the hotel. Who doesn’t have a hot tub?

I’ll be editing together a video or two about the trip. I hope I can get it all done in the next few days, before finals swallow me up and memories of the trip start to fade into the fog of the recent past.

I also got my brief turned in thanks to my partner from class, who printed out the pdf I emailed her from Memphis at 3:00 Monday morning and turned it in for me. (Thanks Elizabeth!) It’s hard to believe that LRW is practically over, maybe because this semester I spent the last few days before the due date rocking out with taiko instead of going OMGBRIEFBRIEFBRIEF non-stop.

And there’s more rocking out to be done: This weekend is the Houston Japan Fest at Hermann Park*, and then the next Saturday we’re playing at the Dragonboat Festival at Allen’s Landing. Come see us? You should.

Sigh, I’m on such a taiko high right now. I love practicing, I love performing, I love travelling, and I love my taiko family. I’m afraid I might explode from all the happy-making…maybe I should tone it down a bit so I don’t crash hard once all the big shows are over. Hmmm…nah, gonna keep living it up. Taiko on!

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* I’ll be there for all the Kaminari shows, 1:00 and 4:40 on Saturday and 11:15 and 4:15 on Sunday.

I interrupt this hiatus in my blog posting to let you know that I’ll likely be posting even LESS often for the next two weeks. My appellate brief, worth eighty percent of my Legal Research and Writing grade, is due next Thursday*, and all I have so far is a sketch of an outline and a list of cases to read more closely.

I have a conference with my professor tomorrow afternoon, so I figure today is a fantastic time to start putting some serious effort into this thing. With only one weekend between now and the due date and 20 pages to conjure up out of this thick stack of cases, I’ll barely have time to eat, sleep, read blogs, check Facebook, keep up with my YouTube subscriptions, and update my Twitter feed.

I’ve just removed Solitaire from my computer, so who knows, maybe I’ll post MORE here for lack of a more absorbing way to procrastinate. It’s a crazy world.

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* The actual due date is the Monday after next, but that weekend I’ll be on a taiko road trip (squee!) to perform at the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival. What better reward for finishing a brief, eh?