Wine around the world

They hide like hermits, in the hills, in their hearts, from the things they might dream or love. This is what people do, most people. They wear masks, garish and obvious, will stare at your wooden visage with their own plastic faces, actors never admitting the play. Even their conversations have become day-to-day scripted and mirror-light rehearsed, their witty insights dog-eared and dingy. He realized, when it was too late, that they had fallen into that same trap. Although it wasn’t ever too late, more that he was unwilling to change.

He drove her to the airport before his shift, they hugged but did not kiss. He headed back downtown and got high in the parking garage. She would be in Washington by the time the last reservations were sat, would be smoking a cigarette on her mother’s porch, looking up at Mount Rainier by the time he made it back to their, his apartment.

He checked in with the hostess, the boozy blond oracle, in hopes of fair tidings or at least blunt blows.  A deuce in the private room, twelve course tasting menu, wine and bubbles and Norwegian water; it all sounded great until she gave him the velvet box, told him to make sure the ring was in the lady’s Sauternes. That hurt, quite a bit more than he thought it might.

He adjusted the lighting before they were seated, angling it perfectly towards the woman’s face, poured them each sparkling water.  They, as most people do, let the subtlety of the amuse slip by unnoticed, a first kiss, foreshadowing, things we will want to remember later but never allow ourselves to experience. He wanted to cry. He wanted not to cry.

Returning to the bar, he polished eight tasting glasses, carefully choosing each wine, composing a verse, an ode to the places he never took her,  dreams their pocketbooks and hearts could not afford to have. First a Claret to sip by the Thames, then a Carménère for the late night cafe conversations.  He chose a Tempranillo for the fall, and a Nero d’Avola for their golden years. The barback dropped a snifter, the shattering pop the sound of reality breaching his fantasy. He arranged the glasses by palette into the copper flight racks, tried to find the mask of a smile but could only come up with indifference.

At 7:17 pm, she boarded her flight to Seattle and he took his to table 312.

wow… 29 years old! i always imagined i’d be onto bigger things by now. like living in new york, with a degree & a career. but as i reflect on my life, i have much to be thankful for. i am endowed with a wonderful family, awesome friends, and two dogs who love the camera as much as they love the food i feed them. 28 was difficult at times. there were many personal obstacles that my family & i have had to go through. however, it has brought great change… a positive & unexpected change. i have never been this enlightened & happy in all my life, and i only wish it continues on. with that said, i am reminded with this quote:

“like fanning through a deck of cards, my mind flashes on the thousand chances, trivial to profound, that converged to re-create this place. any arbitrary turning along the way and i would be elsewhere; i would be different.”

-frances mayes

very special thanks to my wonderful friends & my mom

Alcohol has to go…..

Booze has been such a big part of my life for over 15 years that the thought of giving it up wholesale is very scary. It is very hard for me to consider life without ever having a beer again and I hope that there will be a time again when I can enjoy sociable drinking however for now I need to wave goodbye to my old friend until I reach a point where I can once again enjoy a drink without getting smashed.

I rarely go more than a couple of days where I don’t have a session consisting of at least a bottle of wine or 4-5 beers. However recent events have made me realise that my drinking is damaging my life and effecting those I care about. My mood, my outlook on life, my productivity, my health, my waistline, my aspirations, all suffer because of this stupid, pointless habit. I am losing far to many days to hangovers and I won’t do it anymore.

So here goes nothing, no more alcohol.

Eeeeeeeeekkk!!!!!!

I have started this blog to act as public record of my forthcoming 12 week challenge. As a 33-year-old male I am what I would describe as semi-fit however after suffering a bad back injury (self-inflicted) around 6 months ago I have fallen in to bad habits, lethargic behaviour and started down a path which I don’t wish to continue.

For many years I have drunk more than the Surgeon General would be happy with and the evil fags which I have managed to give up on many occasion seem to be slowly creeping back in to my life. I want this to stop, I want to focus on doing the things I want, having fun, rather than nursing countless hangovers and feeling bloated from all the crap food I consume on a far too regular basis.

As it happens I have a mini holiday planned in around 12 weeks and so I have decided to spend the next 3 months on a self-imposed and self-designed programme. The aim will be to establish healthy, productive habits and to achieve the a solid platform for the physical aspirations I have in making progress as a rower with my local rowing club. I’m not going to plan this down to the ‘nth degree, I feel it important to have a degree of flexibility, but I will have end targets and will take full body measurements before and after to track progress. If I can get the courage I may even post some before and after photos at the end of all this.

I have always been very curious of the various adds that flash up on various websites showing amazing 12 week transformations if you take their new wonder drug or berries. Now I am not stupid enough to think that those results are achieved by taking a wonder pill, they probably werent even achieved in 12 weeks, in fact the before and after people are probably different people. However for some time it has had me wondering what could be achieved. This blog will act as a “real world” example of what can be achieved, drug free and without pumping my body full of various weight gaining products. The only supplement I will be using will be whey protein shakes directly after weights sessions, and this is purely because I don’t have time to cook a steak or other such high protein meal.

So further details to follow in the next few days, I look forward to offering advice and perhaps inspiration to anyone who has ever considered doing something similar. This is going to be torture, annoying, but hopefully fun and ultimately rewarding. This will be a warts and all blog, and will detail the highs and lows, the struggles and achievements, and hopefully may provide you with some entertainment and provide myself with some additional motivation.

Man on a Mission

Walking through a Dean and Deluca Store is like being in Disneyland for me. I have dreams about it the night before my trip to Napa, then when I am there,  I make time to visit the store no matter what walking through every aisle as if I had never been there before, annoying my other half each time, and finally after having either a pastry or a gelato, I leave the place feeling sad just like any kid would do.

On Saturday I made a stop at Dean and Deluca as usual and experimented with my camera in oder to show you what I am talking about.  Enjoy the photos and remember while you are in Napa be sure to stop by the store.

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