Song of Summer

A song of summer. It may not be your favorite song, but it sure is catchy. It could be the one you listened to on repeat ten times in a row after you very first heard it. It could be the song that played at least every hour on every radio station (if you still listen to the radio). It could be the song that reminds you of great memories from the summer.

For me, it is a mix of all of the above. It's Icona Pop's I LOVE IT.

Hit play and I'm thinking of all the times I spent dancing (well, arm dancing) in the passenger seat of Vipin's car. I'm thinking of that crazy Tuesday night in July when I accidentally went to a nightclub with my coworkers - and the entire club was bumpin'* to this song at 3:30am. I'm thinking of the dancefloor party at my friend Michelle's wedding, dancing like it was my job with all my closest college friends, even though I could barely move after one too many mini nutella milkshakes. I'm thinking of the happiest times of this summer.

What is your song of summer?

*Do people still use the word bumpin'? This is why I don't belong in nightclubs. I can't even properly describe what happens in those places. 

Heatnado

First off, it's pronounced heat-nah-do. In my mind, anyway.

Flashback to 8:43 this morning. I'm running to catch the last 8 o'clock train, and dripping sweat because the weather is swampier than Florida. I notice this guy staring at me as I approach the platform and then again once on the train and I'm instantly (more) enraged because I can't stand when people stare/judge for sweating. Sine I can't hit the off-switch, I slip into automatic defense mode.

For about five minutes straight, we've got dude staring / me sweating/raging inside, ready to snap at him if he approaches me. Well, he did... and the conversation went a little like this:

Dude: Hey, how's it going?
Me: Um, not well. I don't handle the heat well, as you can tell. (immediately wrapped up in something super interesting on my phone) [EVEN MORE ENRAGED]
Dude: What's your name?
Me: Krista, WHY?! (I realize I was being incredibly mean but could not turn off the anger. it was a heatnado people!)
Dude: Do you have a boyfriend? / Will you go out with me?

[pause] [try to process what is happening] [wtf. wtf? wtf!]

Bottom line: Dude approached a sweaty heatbeast-mid-episode and literally tried to get himself a HOT date*
Ha!

*this pun brought to you by jess nelson mobile.

Learning to Brew

As I wrote the title of this post, I had a certain song from Tom Petty rolling through my mind. NOTE: I do not have the rights to this song and that tidbit probably does not matter whatsoever, but I would like to entertain the idea that one of Tom Petty's people (band mates, staff, crazed fans, Lenny etc.) could get all fired up about this. On that note, let me tell you that this post has nothing to do with that song, or Tom Petty. Sorry for the hype.

If you like to brew or drink beer, hopefully you're still with me. 

This weekend was a very humbling one for me and my boyfriend as homebrewers. Despite first starting to brew two years ago (albeit on a smaller, Mr. Beer scale), we made a rookie mistake this weekend by underestimating a powerful Kolsch II yeast strain. We didn't use a blow-off tube. My coat closet paid for this mistake, suffering a pretty intense beer explosion at some point on day two of fermentation. After some heavy-duty cleaning, we headed back to the local homebrew store, where we had just shopped that week for the initial batch of ingredients. On the trip there, I commented to Vipin "I really hope that same guy isn't working. He's going to think we're idiots." Of course he was the first one to greet us and I immediately spilled the beans on our mistake like I had just stepped into a confessional (aka 'confession box', per my google search terms). Gah, why do I do things like that? Then I proceeded to relay the exact thoughts I had about hoping to avoid him. Again, why? "Ha. Ha. Let me help you find that Kolsch yeast."

We tried to salvage the first batch, and I believe we were successful. The fermentation is still pretty wild 4 days and 1 explosion later. The second (fully intact, so far) batch is also going strong, now with the proper equipment to encourage its raging. Our tiny kitchen is now overrun with 6 buckets and tubes going in every which way. See below for an artistic representation of this, and note that the original looks way more like a meth lab, so we'll keep it clean, guys. 

Cheers to surprise lessons, always learning, and happy brewing.

Oh, and special thanks to a very special blogger Trishceratops for inspiring me to pick this up again.