Really? My last post was December 31?

Today is one of those rare days where I have enough time to sit down and write. A lot has been going on: between the new job and school there's hardly enough time to think.
So what are some of those things that have been going on? Well, skipping right past the new job - which is totally, totally awesome by the way - I've been drinking a lot. Not a lot specifically, but frequently. So much that I'm now at my softest. I won't say heaviest because I could gain a few, but it's all pudge. I've now gone back to drinking in the flat because it's cheaper, and there's a lot less chance of death by misadventure. Let's see... my beer catalogue now includes Radeberger, a rather un-pilsenery pilsener from Germany, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and St. Peter's Honey Porter, both out of England, and something called Steam Beer from San Francisco.

So the Radeberger was the cheapest stuff on offer, and we had surprise guests. Bobby came over to drop off some paperwork and tell us about his new sort-of-girlfriend, which was nice. I'd buy the Radeberger again, but it loses points for not having that unique Pilsener flavour and gains them back again for being a generally good tasting beer. I knew what I was getting myself into when I bought the Young's - but the question to the brewer still remains - WHY? The St. Peter's is now officially the most expensive beer I've bought off the shelf, at $4.70 for 500mL. I should have done my research, this beer gets a C+ at www.beeradvocate.com. I admit I was intrigued by the use of the word "honey" in the name, and the swish bottle which frankly, the company concedes is a huge selling point. I also got this beer mixed up with the Young's which I thought was a chocolate porter. Small mistake, but one must persevere. I just don't get the big deal with porters. Give me Asahi Supaa Dorai any day. I also picked up some Sapporo Premium beer, which comes in a really nice heavy aluminum can, for something I'll get to in a bit. This would be, but for the St. Peter's, the most expensive beer I've ever bought at the store. But you do get 150 mL. more than my regular size beer. Strangely, it's not the most expensive in a restaurant.

As part of my non-schoolwork related activities, Randy invited me out to a new whiskey bar in Washington Heights. He tries to patronize his local retailers, and gets so gutted when they shut. It's okay Randy, it's not your fault. You can't do it all by yourself. Before we went to the whiskey bar, we went to a place that's advertising itself as an upscale English pub. Yeah... no. They weren't quite upscale and they weren't quite English. One or the other, people. I might go again. Off we went to the main event, managed by the most delightfully gay pair of fellows. I don't know if they were that delightfully gay, or if it was the absinthe. They seemed pretty annoyed by me by the time we left. Randy started with a hot toddy because he was fighting a cold. Then he had the charcuterie plate, and a selection of three whiskeys. He ended the night with a Sidecar and apparently an espresso because I got charged for one. I had a house cocktail called My New Boyfriend, then a French 75, and here's where it got stupid - a Death in the Afternoon which is equal parts champagne and absinthe. I followed it with a Red Stripe, and a port and an Anchor Steam Beer - just because I'd never heard of it. We shared it with the bar tender who gave it to us for free. As you can imagine, I spent the next day with a nice little hangover. Water and a banana. I took them separately which might have been my mistake because the banana nearly knocked me out. I almost passed out, but thought nothing of it because I've heard of potassium spikes before. I just laid on the floor and waited for the cold sweats to subside.

It was a nice place, and I might even take Mr. K there on his next visit. Yup, that's my big news - my father-in-law has decided that he will arrive in New York with his usual retinue on my anniversary. That's why I picked up the Sapporo. It's good and it's bad at the same time. I like him, and it will be good to see him again. We will also see Genya and his new wife. Genya has been strangely, though thankfully absent from our lives since he got married. He spent a lot of time in Japan, but now he's back, and he's just waiting to slap me around if Mr. K says so.
But the bad is that he's coming on our anniversary and will probably have some very directed questions for me to answer. The good is that he'll be leaving less than a week later, and he'll be taking my wife with him. The bad is that he's also taking Foxy - for seven weeks. The good is that I'll be able to get some quiet time in for exam prep. The bad is that Foxy is not going to recognize me when she comes back.

This used to be a blog about movies. Since my last post about movies, I've watched Sixteen Candles a few times, some of Pretty in Pink but I hate watching John Cryer ever since he got that sitcom. Also watched Fight Club. It's a shame I have that rule about any movie with Bradd Pitt in it, because this movie was really, really awesome. I might even read the book one day. I also saw some really good Cantonese movies, but I can't remember what they were called. I watched La Lingerie, or at least I tried because it seemed to be one of those nexus films where like, five really good actors from five different films come together to make one really good film, except it wasn't that good. I turned it off after fifteen minutes. The premise was just too stupid in my opinion - even for an HK romance drama. I think I may have converted somebody at work over to Park Chan-uk, and I'm quite proud of that.