I started a new blog.

Here it is!

I've been using my Livejournal since... forever, it seems like. The archive tells me that I started writing in it on April 25, 2002. I'll continue to use it, probably, for more personal stuff, but we'll see. I started a Myspace blog back in the day too, and almost quit using LJ for a long, long time while I was writing in that. It's not important and I'm rambling.

I'm calling this a new beginning.

The last few months have been, in perspective, all about leaving the past behind and moving forward. Hell, the last few years have been. I've been leaving the past behind since 2002. The day I decided not to go back for my last year of school was the day I changed my future. I was on the track, you know? THE TRACK. I decided it wasn't what I wanted and it changed. Poof. And then... one thing leads to another, and suddenly I'm in Ann Arbor thinking about wine. Poof. Suddenly I'm thinking that writing about food is what I want to do. Poof. The growth pattern is much more like a bonsai (not stunted--deliberate, and crinkly, and multidirectional) than a straight, lovely oak. That's a good thing. Oaks have their place, but bonsai are so intricate and interesting. Oaks live without interference. I live reacting. Is that a good thing? Time will tell. Bonsai can live an exceptionally long time, with careful tending. Oaks can too. Bonsai need interaction; oaks live alone... Oaks are strong; bonsai are delicate.

My own bonsai led me from the initial straight-and-narrow, college-grad school-professional career path into food.

Right, straight (crookedly) into food.

It would be funny if it wasn't quite so ironic. I vowed early on to never be in this business. It's stressful. The hours are long and--we like to say "flexible" but what that really means is "erratic." Unplannable. No benefits, no paid time off unless you work for a corporation and are in management. Tax screw-overs. Family life, sleep, a "normal" social life involving, for me, things like theater and (sigh of longing) book clubs are out of the question. This is how I make my living. I work nights and weekends. And as much as I banned myself from it in 1999, and as happy as my parents were when I had a normal, 9-to-5 job with health insurance and a 401k, it's what I do and it's what I love.

And then I had a thought--I sort of love words, and sometimes have the ability to put them in order well. And I love food and beer and wine and liquor, so why not put words in order about it? Why not work for Ari and learn how to do it? So I did. And that brings me to now.

This isn't even where I wanted to go with this post. I wanted to talk about something completely different and now this is way, way too long.

The plan was to write about how I just finished reading my first complete graphic novel and I think I'm probably spoiled for life.

WATCHMEN.

I haven't seen the movie. After reading it, I'm not entirely sure I want to.

On that note, I'm going to wrap this up for tonight. I wrote entirely too much. Words occasionally just.... go staright form my subconscious to the keyboard and my brain has little, if anything, to do with it. I fear this is the case today.

Coming in future entries:

Beer, and why Founder's makes some delicious ones
Bread, and why changing your restaurant's bread to save $.50/loaf isn't a good idea
Fermentation, and how it is wildly interesting and relevant
Meat: how we get it and why we eat so damn much of it
Cake: Theories and non-technique
Food as love--I am not Emeril
Brushes with greatness, AKA self-aggrandizing 101.

Good night.