Brewed Beverage of Choice: A Cup of Green Tea
I have been sitting here chatting online with my girlfriend (Don’t be so shocked! We all knew this day would come eventually!) when we both came to the same realization: we need to write a new post to our respective blogs. It has been a long time since I have been able to sit and write something substantial. Even on the train my mind has been more focused on reading rather than on writing. The musings have not been coming, and I was wondering why. And then it hit me. I read somewhere in Langston Hughes’ autobiography that he could not write when he was happy.
If I look back at the majority of my writing, it has been done in times of confusion, loneliness, and mere idleness. Much of the time I have been writing for this blog was done out of complete contemplation. I may or may not have been happy on that particular day, but my mind, however, was in a long drawn out search for study regardless of mood. Lately though that search has ceased to exist. Not because I did not want to learn, but because life happened.
After many years of constant learning and constant questioning, my mind said enough was enough. It needed a vacation. And what better time than now when I have been more focused on promoting myself as a brewer and spending time with someone special. It is not as if I do not want to write. I have started many entries that just never came to the fold. It is the mind that says no. It is content where it is right now sitting on a ledge of a high mountain looking out over the scene.
I guess I am writing to explain why I am not writing which is somewhat ironic. The thought that happiness would be one of the reasons the writing stopped never would have occurred to me if it was not for Langston. But after reading it, it made more sense to me why there have been times of long absence when it came to writing. So I will continue on my quest to be a better brewer, which right now means swallowing my humbleness and shyness and getting better at self promotion, and I will continue down the road to happiness. What that means for you is that you may see more beer related stuff instead of the musings from my commute. I am sure you will be as patient as I for postings. (If you really want to see stuff about me, you can always peruse the Oregonian’s Beer Writer’s blog…)
Prost!
the contented confucian brewer