District 9 ...

... is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Period. Great Sci Fi uses the genre as a tool to highlight specific issues. It's been a long time since I've seen or read great sci fi, and this was it. Heart wrenching and exciting. And the action is some of the best I've seen in a while too. Go see it. Really.

Also, I had my final indulgence today. My parents and I drove down to Middlebury College to meet my sister who just finished up a super immersive 7 week language course in italian. So to celebrate that, and belatedly my birthday, we went to this place called the Storm Cafe which I was apparently the only one in my family not to have been to.

Though I was full of intent to indulge, as I scanned the menu the first thing I was aware of was that all the gooey, cheesy, greasy, "unhealthy" sandwiches and stuff just didn't look that appetizing. But, I went with "the Dude." It was basically a glorified BLT with cheddar cheese. I have to say, it was delicious. There honestly wasn't all that much that was bad. It was fresh bread, fresh veggies, low fat mayo. Pretty healthy except for the bacon. Oh and the ranch dressing. Still, I figure it counts for my indulgence.

I didn't notice anything unusual about the actual act of eating, or how I felt except that I had kind of a hard time eating it all. Even though it was probably a smaller quantity of food over all compared to my normal PCP lunch.

The real indulgence though, was my beverage. I had the first beer I've had in almost three months. For this I selected a Circus Boy from Magic Hat Brewery, complete with a slice of orange.

The aroma alone when it arrived was glorious. I've been around beer during PCP and not been at all enthralled by the smell, but knowing I was going to drink this one made it somehow different. I took a fool three deep breaths of the heady vapors before allowing it past my lips.

The first sip was rapture. The wash of the cold beer across my tongue was so crisp and yet kind of dirty at the same time. The earthy taste of the malt, the bitter hops. Everything was as good as I hoped it would be.

As wonderful as it was, I actually didn't even finish it over the course of the whole meal. It only took a few sips before I could feel the buzz, as little as it was. That right there was enough to have me consuming the drink very slowly. It was actually kind of nice to be able to enjoy the beer without feeling any sort of drive to have another.

Let me make one thing clear, before PCP I loved beer. Beer and coffee. As in, one of the worst dreams ever was one where I was told I could never again drink coffee or beer. Well, I've had coffee still on PCP, but not beer. So my first beer was something I'd been looking forward too. But I really like the fact that as delicious as that was, I don't feel like I have to have one. But I could still probably enjoy one here and there.