The very last stop on my back-to-school shopping list was Saint Arnold's brewery, here in Houston. It's named after Saint Arnold of Metz, the oldest known ancestor of Charlemagne (that crazy mofo). Saint Arnold of Metz is the Roman Catholic patron saint of beer. For serious.

The brewery was on my list of places to go because one of my pint glasses broke last year. I was down to only one glass to drink out of, which is possibly worse than having no glasses to drink out of. They do this thing where you can bring in the cardboard six pack containers and trade them in for merchandise, provided the containers are in good shape. So now I have a set of four pint glasses, all with weird designs on them. Technically, there is one Saint Arnold's pint glass design, but I chose brew specific glasses with appropriate brew specific design alterations.



The Lawnmower might be an acquired taste. The first couple of times I had it, it actually tasted a little bit like grass to me. I wasn't really sure what to do with that, but when I tried it again this year I found I rather liked it.



The Summer Pils is one of my favourites - partially because of the stylized tie dye on the glass, which is difficult to see here, and partially because of the sunglasses on Saint Arnold. Also, the beer is just really good.



Bluebonnets! Okay, the bluebonnets look stupendously better in colour, but for some reason I couldn't get the colour photos to come out well enough to be suitable for public consumption.



Please note the skull. Because I'm odd, I think it's cute.



I also have a hand stamp with 'Beer hug!' on it, the tasting glass that comes with the tour, and two left over wooden tasting tokens. The tasting glass is distinctly unphotogenic, but cool in real life. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I believe 'beer hug' is one of the phrases they print on the undersides of their bottle caps. I actually collect their bottle caps, because I think they're cute and I'm in my early twenties so it's okay. I enjoy sticking magnets on my walls and then sticking the bottle caps onto magnets. Actually, for someone who doesn't really drink all that much, I really like this particular brewery.



Re the tokens: if I heard correctly, it's slightly illegal to sell beer at their brewery, so they give it away. Beer tokens are totally more awesome than toll road tokens and those kids-arcade-pizza-place tokens combined.



All of the vats are named after different saints, which is adorable. Really the only downside to this was that there is no air conditioning in the brewery/tasting room and said brewery/tasting room had stinky hipsters in it. Actually, there was a surprisingly good mix of people, many of whom brought picnic lunches to eat inside the brewery. Some even brought tables and chairs. This is totally acceptable, which kind of makes me love Saint Arnold's beer even more. The air conditioning issue will soon be moot, as the brewery is moving to a new, larger head quarters (with air conditioning!) next summer.

I haven't slept in too many days. I don't think it's a lack of physical activity - my current favourite activities for when I can't sleep are push-ups and sit-ups.

I'm homesick for Washington. I miss the weather, the people, the architecture, the brick sidewalks, and even the stupid tourists. I would rather be annoyed at tourists than be annoyed because I'm stuck in Houston. Not even the cool part of Houston. I miss the coffee, and I have dreams of waking up every day at eight am to get coffee before my eight fifty class. I have dreams of meeting friends in coffee shops early in the morning when the light is perfect; friends who no longer live in Washington, and who may never return.

I'm seriously considering not coming home for winter break. I think I would probably be better off if I didn't; it is possible that I might know some people I could apartment sit for, or stay with. It's not like I can even get a non stop flight anymore between Houston and DC.

I used to have several Belle & Sebastian albums on the hard drive of my previous computer. However, the hard drive of my previous computer was quite small, and I had to purge them to make room for homework. I miss those too. All of the B&S I have is what's on the Juno soundtrack.

I'm not just homesick for the Washington that is, but also the Washington that was. I always long for Washington-that-was, but I long for it more when I'm away from Washington-that-is.

In two weeks, I might have enough hair to cut. I look forward to this, and in the meantime I avoid mirrors and shiny surfaces. I keep worrying that I won't be able to find a suitable jacket next fall, or that one of my professors won't allow laptops. I don't transcribe - I take notes. And I add analysis, and analysis of the analysis. I've been told my notes are better than the lectures. As much as I like the physical act of writing with pen and paper, I'm not nearly as productive with them as I am with a computer. Also I have this tendency to draw; I end up with twenty percent notes and eighty percent streetscape.

Okay, more push ups now.

I can't believe I've been here for a semester. Since January. A little bit more than four months. That is almost as long as I've had this blog. Exactly as long as I've had this expensive view (marginally decent photo attached). Now that all of my papers are written and turned in, all that's left for me to do is purge my belongings, store most of what is left, pack some things to take home, make sure I catch my plane, and then wait on tenterhooks for grades.

That last part is the worst.

I haven't really processed all of this yet - the going back to Texas for a year (!) and the coming back here for a year, and the part where I'll probably be back here next August, but actually I don't know for sure yet. I expect I won't be able to process it for a while, especially since the class I came in with graduates in one week.

Speaking of odd things: today, because I am in the astronomy club, I rode on the back of a golf cart from Village A to Leo's to Prospect & 37th st NW to 37th st NW & O st NW to the Alumni house on O st NW. Jack the bulldog got shotgun, because he's the mascot. It was really strange, partly because the driving was questionable (but in a good way) and partly because I haven't been in a moving vehicle in a very long time and partly because it was just really strange and unplanned.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, so I'm going to go back to watching questionably legal episodes of 30 Rock. [Suck it, USA TODAY!]

PS- Mister Bones has mysteriously acquired a volleyball for his Found Ball Collection! No one knows how, when, or where he got it!

So, that's exciting. I got confirmation today that I do, in fact, have somewhere to live next semester. And, not only do I have somewhere to live, but it's a single. From what I can tell, I will also have a kickass view of the Potomac, which was not something I was trying for. Anyway, good stuff. And the dorm I'm living in is exactly like the one I lived in for my first two years in terms of layout and furniture, so I know what to expect. This is good, as I will have only half a day to move in and unpack everything before class starts the next day.

By the time I leave for Harlingen, I expect that I will have been able to work my schedule out. Now the only thing that I have to deal with is whether I am eligible for any financial aid at all. The average sticker price for a year at GU is 40k, and a semester is about 20k. I'm used to paying for maybe a third of that, although even if I get none that doesn't affect my decision.

Other academic news: I got my grades early from UST. I made the Dean's List again, although they are slightly lower than last semester. I'm fairly sure I wasn't supposed to get an A in Synoptic Gospels, as I think I had one or two too many absences. But Dr. Hahn kept track meticulously, so either I'm wrong or it's like that time where I wasn't really supposed to get an A on that paper in Christ and the Moral Life or those two papers in Ethics, but I did anyway because apparently they were too awesome for points to be docked. The B and the B- I got, in Latin and Church History I, indicate that I actually did rather well on those finals. So, that's nice. I still don't know what I'm going to do with the two certificates, though. I like the paper, so I won't throw them away. And I'm just a little bit too old to give them to my parents, not that I would anyway.

Also, this morning I performed fish-euthanasia. It was weird, but necessary. Not on my fish though.

Here is a picture of Micky Finn (my fish):



It occurred to me right after I took this that perhaps I should have taken a photo after I cleaned his bowl, not before. Anyway, his water is much cleaner than this, and he has more of it.