#110 - bro.

i have two bros & one sis. the younger bro (tim) came along my final year of high school, but i grew up with the sis (aimee) & one of the bros (chris). in fact, i shared a bedroom with chris until i moved out for college. through the years, we had our share of sibling squabbles, but it was two times that we were playing together that led to two scar-inducing injuries for him.

the first came when he was about four. our basement had been leaking, so my parents decided to weather treat it & had folks dig up around the foundation, leaving huge piles of dirt & rocks in the yard. since kids love playing in dirt & i was a budding MLB star, the two of us were running around on the mounds as i heaved a random rocks about...until one connected with his forehead. the second time came a few years later, on a rainy afternoon when we really wanted to play wiffle ball. despite our mother's pleas to stay inside, we went out anyhow. during the game, he hit a booming shot to the outfield & i gave chase. by the time i got to the ball, he had already rounded 2nd base & was headed for 3rd, which was a large boulder. as i reached him & went to apply the tag, he slipped on the wet grass, smashing his head on the boulder & reopening the scar from years earlier. playtime fun!

luckily, a forehead scar isn't that serious of an injury, so he grew up to be a relatively well-adjusted individual, despite all the death metal he listened to during high school/college and the fact that he initially went to college & earned a degree in funeral services. it worried some of our relatives, but for the most part, i saw it as him getting into a unique & respected profession. eventually, he went back to school for a degree in industrial design, allowing him to both better utilize his amazing creative talents & get away from dead people.

he's always lived in cool neighborhoods--jamaica plan, somerville, greenpoint--and lived in austin for a few years, which is totally hip. these days, he's just moved into a sweet apartment in greenpoint & has a ton of tattoos & builds bikes & rides them all over the place & designs custom cabinets for hot shot NYC folks. on the side, he works with kaiju big battel, which means he's been on friggin' MTV.

my bro's a good guy. i'd like to say i taught him well, but he's obviously cooler than me. if not for him, who would've introduced me to dirt, gish or dirty? who would've gave me the set of drums i tried to use on my first home recorded album?  who would've brought me back a bag of gourmet popcorn from austin? nobody...that's who.

#110 - bro.
snack: cornucopia dill pickle popcorn
drink: lakefront brewery wheat monkey ale



...so the bro took a trip back to austin a few weeks ago & returned with a gift bag of cornucopia dill pickle popcorn for me. cornucopia's a popcorn store with two locations in austin & this particular bag came from the locale that's housed in an airstream trailer in the trendy soco (south congress) neighborhood.  it was started by two friends who are obviously big fans of the pun.  at cornucopia, there's no such thing as hours of operation.  nope. instead, they have hours of poperation. how punny!

the dill pickle flavor's not as weird as it sounds.  in fact, it's the "house favorite" at cornucopia. it's basically like regular butter popcorn with a buttery/salty taste that's complemented by the dill flavor. when compared with cornucopia's range of flavors, which includes everyday flavors such as smores, texas chili & cinnamon toast and seasonal flavors such as pumpkin pie & pomegranate, dill pickle's rather tame. regardless...really tasty.

to try keeping up the texas theme, i went to my local fancy beer shop (where the coolers are arranged by state) looking for a texas beer. i didn't see any, so i went up to the counter & asked the guy if they had any. with a smirk, he responded, "nope." i had a feeling that was going to be the case. after all, texas is known for beers like lonestar & shiner bock. instead, i went for a bottle of lakefront brewery wheat monkey ale, out of milwaukee. the label has a crazy, clearly drunk cartoon monkey with a piece of wheat for a tail! i love monkeys! they're even spelled cool plurally! :(|)

as for the contents of the bottle, it's your average wheat ale with a hazy look, but it's apparently infused with a lil bit of monkey love, which never hurts.  it's a great beer for the summer--not too heavy but not too bitter, with a slighty fruity taste.  plus, when you're drinking it, you'll have nothing to hide...& your monkey won't either.