My head is full of ideas, that I think would be great if I didn't have to create them.

The one that I am having the most fun with is my creating fake breweries and beers. But, I am creating all the artwork, too. And, with my limited skills and Microsoft Office's "photoshop", they seem to be repeating after 30 or so. Let alone, I want to create labels for the 1000 beers, and have them be believable products for the fake breweries I am creating now.

And why am I doing this? I would like to create a game like Facebook's Fish Wrangler (which is silly fun, if not very exciting). My game would be a journey of finding beer. And with each beer you drink, your horizons would expand, and you would be able to find more drinks. You'd earn points and only certain locations would have certain beers. If the game existed, I would have fun. But I am not an artist or a programmer.

Another idea stems from my want of recognition from all the different beer I drink. I'm probably around 400 for the last two years, though that's not including festivals. And I love Untappd, and it is pretty easy to use, but I want a quick visualization of my progress. Like, you know how military brass have all those flags pinned to their chest? Well, that's the type of thing that I would like. You'd need to code symbols and colors for different beers, which I have ideas, but they are way too time consuming to do.

I'm thinking that maybe pinterest, or something like it, would work. Perhaps if I had a smart phone that could take pictures and post them immediately on the internet, then I could be all hipster with instagram.

I'm worried that I am a hoarder for ideas and digital information.

I want a new music player so that I can store more of my music collection on the go. But, like, I have 8 hours of music or so, and on shuffle, I don't hear the same thing twice. I should just load up my new computer with all the music and transfer what I want back and for when I want them.

Anyway...

I've always known that I have had an obsession with collection, but it just dawned on me recently about how happy they made me as a child, like my baseball cards, sports illustrated, and GI Joes, and now there is a part of me that need to have that same visual gratification of some sort.

Friends, at least virtually, I always want to see in a sort of contest of whatever, like Memory, but I am the one playing all the games. (I actually did this in Junior High, maybe 10th grade.)

Or, more obviously, beer. I have all this knowledge of everything that I drink, and I now us Untappd.com, which is great for tracking beers, but I am still hungry to make that visual connection. Like beer cards.

There is a beer card, magic-like game out there. It is very visually appealing, but so limited. There is also the Golden Chalice at Novare Res, in Maine. It's like the 100 beer club at Old Chicago, but a lot more... choosy.

So, really, I guess what I am thinking is that I need to consistently find the need to create some visual record of my collection. You think that this would be easy, virtually.

Why am I such a sucker for fantasy worlds. Like, with Pottermore, I am really being a geek, and just being absorbed by the magic. I feel silly, because I know that there are a lot of people younger than me doing the same, but also, there are people like me, too.

Today I was told that it was impressive that I made beer a hobby. That really made me feel good about myself.

Before I get really blue for my family going to Yosemite and me not being there, I want to post pictures of our fun weekend in NH. Well, minus the whole I-couldn't-eat-a-damned-thing part.

It's like the Rockies, but only half the height!
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Bonus photos from the Chihuly exhibit at the MFA.

My cousin was in Boston and I had no idea. Granted, I haven't seen her in 10-15 years, but we are Fecebook friends.

I pretend to be okay being so seperated from family, but that one kinda hurts.

I'll call before it gets too late.

Thank you, Beth, for four wonderful years of marriage.

So, I start a new job tomorrow. It's weird, going from a career that I thought I wanted and enjoyed, so much so that it takes up all my free time..., to a job that I really know nothing about. A desk, admin, starting (though decent pay for starting) position. Lighting? But, then again, I knew nothing about food before Pachamama's, and I knew nothing about coffee before Starbucks. Beer? Well, I knew some, but then things didn't work out the way I expected. I don't think that I am a good manager of people. I am a good manager, but I am not one to ever to really tell people what to do. Maybe, as I get older, more grumpy, I can start barking.

Now, I am exciting to be working for an established business, I am looking forward to 3 day weekends, and I think it will be an exciting challenge. I'm scared a little bit, but, just so much has happened this past year, I really want to have some stability. I want to grow, and be respected. I am a much better a big fish in a small pond than any other combination of that metaphor.

Unrelated, what do you do with emails that are about 13 years old? I was reading some of them, in particular, the ones I wrote to Nicole, and I realize that there are things that I would never ask or talk about any more, especially with such unabashed, unfiltered thoughts. Perhaps that is the Beth in me, and every now and then, when I am most comfortable, I want to talk about similar experiences with my friends, the ones here in Boston. There is that excitement in that raw, new information about people you are care about. But it is also now so unimportant or "nunyabidness".

Like, from 98 to 02, I really was adamant about collecting stories from friends. I got close to a lot of people. Some of which I am still friends with, some of which, I have no idea where they are now.