Finding the Drink

I got up at 9am to-day, and I've been getting up at least as early as 9am for almost three weeks now. I feel like a kid again, almost--actually I was remembering when 9am meant I'd slept in late.

I'm guessing the general change in my schedule is partly due to Amee being here. I'm wondering how I'll do after I've driven her up to Orange County to-day. She and I last night almost finished off the bottle of absinthe I've had for two, maybe three years. Damn, maybe four--I got it just after absinthe was legalised again. Last night was the first time I tried mixing sugar in it, as Amee had reminded me of the existence of sugar by pouring roughly half a cup of it into her coffee every morning. Turns out I like absinthe with sugar, despite generally not having much of a sweet tooth. Considering I also like mead and sake, which are both very sweet, alcohol seems to be the exception for me.

Though I still don't like mixed drinks. Everyone was drinking Sangria at my mother's birthday gathering. I tried some, and it just sort of lacked that essential fun quality I associate with alcohol. Meanwhile, I was having a vodka martini with Grey Goose because I wanted something refreshing. It didn't quite work for that, but it almost did.

After last night's Wild Turkey and absinthe, I'm feeling a little burnt out on alcohol actually. We watched The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp while drinking last night--I think it was maybe the fifth time I've watched it. I rather forgot about the political and even some of the character content, and was just digging the atmosphere of it. I've been trying to give Amee a whirlwind tour of cinema over the past few weeks, so after The Seventh Seal and Seven Samurai on the previous two nights, I found myself thinking about the tone of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp as an English film distinguishing it from the tones of the Swedish and Japanese films. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the individual filmmakers. But after the broad acting techniques of old Japanese film, and the shadowed intensity of the performers in Bergman's, I appreciated the sort of gentle chaser of scene after scene of Technicolor English aristocracy being mildly flustered.