Mass produced junk

The last track on that Decembrists CD won't play. Straight out of the case, into the computer, it skips like a drug dealer's ten-year-old Metallica album. What the shit is that?

Throwback, Part 2; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Sweetness

OK. One thing I notice right off the bat it that it is less harsh. The carbonation doesn't seem to stick in throat as much. Sometimes I liked that.

There something in the taste of it, the tang as it hits the back of the throat and vibrates along the teeth, that brings me back instantly to the cobbled together memories of working with my dad on some outdoors project, then sitting down on the front stoop to share a Pepsi while taking a break. It reminds me of the sweetness of those Pepsi's. How recently did they replace sugar with corn syrup? I mean, I'm thinking back to ages, maybe 7 to 13, so 12 to 18 years ago? I haven't really had Pepsi since then. I remember Pepsi, in general, being very harsh, but in this collective memory*, it isn't.

Past the tang, it tastes about the same, but that difference in sweetener really alters the mixture, so in a sense it's all different. There is no harshness to the drink at all, although it does make my teeth buzz a little bit. It kind of makes me want to brush my teeth. Yet, somehow, the yet of my mouth doesn't feel all puckered up, all stained with chemicals, the way it does usually.

All in all it was more like I was drinking a carbonated beverage, and less like drinking a mixture of flavorful chemicals.

It was much easier to drink the whole can. It was done in minutes. Much smoother. Much more a continuous whole.

*This was kind of a ritual for us.

Throwback, Part 1; or, I can haz sugar?

So, Pepsi has released some new products called Pepsi Throwback, where they use sugar instead of corn syrup as the sweetener, just like back in ye olden tymes. It just came out today, and I bought some of the Mountain Dew version. It's chilling in the fridge as I type, and it will be tried shortly. I am kind of curious to see if the taste is noticeably different.

Also bought the Decembrists The Hazards of Love after listening to "The Rake's Song" over and over again after listening to it at Cogitamus. I just had to possess it. About halfway through it now, most of it is very...relaxing. Not like "The Rake's Song" at all, but still quite good. I think it made my headache go away.

Kristof is awesome sometimes.

Regardless of what I said here, this sounds really good.

Red Stripe

I have become quite the beer connoisseur of late, and having tried it before, and not really remembering it, I bought a six-pack of red stripe, a quite expensive import from Jamaica.

Ech. What a horrible excuse for an import. I might as well have been drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon. If that's the finest beer Jamaica has to offer no wonder everyone there is a stoner.

Stuck Here Again

After all this time not writing the writing is hard again. Which means I must get back to writing to make it easy again. Three days off and I write next to nothing. It's hard and annoying and now I have a slope to climb up all over again. It's very Sisyphean.

But I cleaned! I moved around all the junk, and swept, and then washed the floors. The place smelled like Ammonia all day. Before everything was covered in dust. Now everything is not covered in dust, which is much better. Tomorrow I need to get down to organizing things. The books are all out of order.

Oh. I need to finish my state taxes and send those in. They need the be postmarked by Thusday, and they are about half-done, I think, so no real worries, but I must spend some time working on them after work tomorrow, or I might start panicking about them.

I took all the tape off my drums. I didn't know drums are supposed to sound that good. I didn't know that that was what my ride cymbal really sounded like! It's beautiful.