In an exercise of futility, I’m going to write about something inconsequential to most people. Something fickle yet something enjoyable. Where this all started was with another entry where I wanted to bad mouth my employer because of recent and repeating let downs. At the beginning of that entry, I was pissed and had good motive to rip the company and the idiots that work there. However, my mood improved. And while the concept was still fresh in my head, the emotion was lost and unfortunately, I felt like I wouldn’t do the entry justice.

So I moved on to the next topic; Son #1. I’ve been working on the next entry about this fool. However, it was unfinished and once again, I lost steam and felt like I’d be doing a disservice if I kept writing and wasn’t feeling it. So on to the next topic, and that’s still not even what I am writing about here.

My wife has chosen a life of direct sales to fulfill her need for female socialization and monetary sustenance. While preparing for her next party, I opted, or was coerced into helping her prepare her wares and pitch. No, I won’t by writing about any of that either. What’s the common theme in all of these? I’m sure you are all wondering where the hell this entry is going. Hold that question; I’m going to the bar to get another drink. Why? Because this entry is going straight like an arrow toward my topic; gin and tonic.

My apologies to let those of you down who are looking for the next esoteric and inspiring entry.

Let’s start with a common denominator here, I love gin and tonic. Why? It goes back many years to Pullman, Washington. Any earlier timeframe would incriminate my very pure and pristine image with my family. You can trace back the origins of gin and tonic to Wednesday nights at Shermer’s in Pullman. You see, Wednesday nights were dollar well drinks. And for those of you who have never spent time in Pullman, there isn’t much to do on a social scale. When you realize that the most opportune activity is drinking and that you are a struggling college student on a budget, you focus extracting the most economic and social value out of your activities. And thus, we drank on a budget. Gin and tonics are cheap.

The next step is where gin and tonics became closer to my heart. Damn Snoop Dogg. Every fucking white kid from the suburbs like me wanted to be a gangsta. As soon as Snoop dropped “Gin and Juice” we all realized that we didn’t need to be gangstas, just throwing house parties, inviting girls, and playing Snoop’s jams were enough. So gin was increasingly embedded in to my intoxicating beverages because Snoop said I would get chicks. We tried for years. Strangely, it never really worked out the way the song did. Must have been the wrong type of gin or something.

So let’s fast forward to my semi-adult type life. My wife would argue that I’m not an adult but my Washington State driver’s license suggests that statistically, my age ranks among those of which are adults. At some point, there’s a defacto rule in place in society that you become an adult even if you don’t pass the test. So here we are.

Generally speaking, I hate hangovers. Some would say that maybe I shouldn’t drink or I should drink less in an effort to remove my antipathy against hangovers. Whatever. Because of the depth and quality of my collegiate education, I realized that there’s an unbalanced chemical reaction in my circulatory system leading to my next-morning inabilities to accommodate living. To overcome that imbalance, I decided to counteract these affects by ingesting complex and inebriating molecules which can be efficiently broke down by the body and reduce the unwanted affects of a hangover. Simply said, I wanted a drink that would get me drunk in a limited amount of time, on a budget, and mitigate the affects of a hangover. There’s nothing to it; alcohol and tonic water. I won’t go as far as saying I drink it for the health benefits, but I do drink it for the limited residual effect that it has.

So here I am tonight, I have this WSU Cougar mug that you can freeze and use for liquid refreshments. Being resourceful and opportunistic (and out of beer), I decided to use this chilling apparatus to chill a large concoction of gin and tonic. I’m watching my wife prepare for her next direct sales activity while enjoying several (read: six or so) finely crafted well drinks. And instead of forcing an angry mood to work on an entry about my disgust with my employer and its blindly directed strategy, I chose to write about liquor. What really inspired this entry was the feeling that I had. I felt gravity, a vacuum effect of being sucked into a chair securely. I felt supported and comfortable. The direct effect may have been that of piece of mind from the great day I had with family or that of which I received from the chemical alteration from the gin. In any event, the feeling was that of comfort, solace, and introspection.

And now for the soulful introspection that I try to incorporate in each entry, it feels nice to uncouple the stress of relocating, a dead-end profession, and a loss of personal direction with a temperately altered and collegiate branded mug with chemically inebriating contents. It just happens to be gin. I could sit in this chair all night and think about this stuff. I would never come to any answers or any cohesive conclusions. But that isn’t what tonight is about. Tonight is about unloading, getting perspective, and recharging.

I am thankful for my boys. They keep me focused and creating a better tomorrow. I am thankful for my wife. She makes me feel needed. I am thankful for a job. I need the money to make changes. I am thankful for my parents. They accept my issues and foster my growth. I am thankful for gin. It creates a creative gravity which binds me to this chair and enables me to write about ridiculous topics while my wife works on here next event.