Zero alcohol beers in the future?

Talking about alcohol in general can be a sensitive subject. Personally, I have never been the type of person who comes home and downs a 6-pack of beers after a long day at work. On the flip side, when I was doing factory work I was VERY WELL aware of people who would drink 3-4 beers on their break in their cars and continue to do so throughout their shifts and drive home. I consider myself fortunate in the sense that I never really had that impulse in my brain to consume excessive amounts of alcohol at a single time (Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been drunk before but I’ve always been responsible about it). There is definitely a major societal pressure to consume alcohol as we grow into legal drinking age of whatever country we reside in, and yeah anything in moderation is certainly okay! I would never want to make alcohol illegal because….well read up on the history of prohibition lol. That certainly didn’t work at all.

Yesterday I was attending my first Dungeons and Dragons game in a few months. A friend of mine bought some Heineken 0.0 with him, and in a moment of curiosity I asked him about it. He’s around my age and says he still wants to drink something with the familiar taste of beers but since he’s had a kid he has been adamant about being present and making sure everything he does is for his child’s best interest, including cutting out alcohol for 99% of the time. Honestly, hearing that perspective as someone who doesn’t consume alcohol frequently really resonated with me. We have 2 bottles of wine that have been sitting in our fridge for like…I don’t even know now. 4 months? Neither myself nor my wife really ever crack them open. In fact, I have to force myself to sometimes because I’d feel bad wasting it.

I do enjoy the taste of beer, but not how beer makes me feel physically. There will definitely be times in the future where I do have some catch up beers with friends, celebration beers or even a birthday beer, but I think for the most part I may be switching over to zero alcohol beers if I still want to recreate that taste.

Bryan

Shoes made for walking

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

I go through many phases of YouTube rabbit holes that I’m interested in. Recently its been videos of cobblers repairing shoes and going over design aspects of what makes modern shoes the way we know them or classical methods of hand-making shoes like in the old days. It’s quite interesting!

My favorite pair of shoes/boots that I own is a split right now between my Redback Chelsea Work boots and a pair from a now closed company called Davinci Footwear. (There is still a Davinci Shoes brand based out of Edmonton, AB Canada).

Ever since I tried my first pair of Blundstone work boots back in 2017, I fell in love with Chelsea style boots. The simplicity of sliding your boots off after a long day of work sold me immediately, and the wider toe box made it feel like my toes had some room to breathe and move and it wasn’t punishingly uncomfortable. After watching Weston Kay review a different Australian brand of boots that were similar to Blundstone but still made in Australia I knew I had to go try them on. He was absolutely right in his assessment too, these boots to this day had ZERO break in period for me, I just wore them and they were instantly comfortable. For a work boot they are EXTREMELY light as well. I can easily wear these boots as a regular, every day Chelsea boot and unless you were looking super closely, I doubt you’d be able to tell that they are work boots at all. I cannot recommend these enough.

My Davinci Footwear Lapworth boots in an Oxblood red colour have to be some of the most comfortable boots I’ve put on my feet. The natural, foot shaped toe box allows for tons of full movement without cramping my toes. I find I get arch support in every place I need it and the leatherwork is fantastic. I need to invest in a good set of leather cleaning products to keep them looking fresh though. Just give ’em a polish once in a while and keep them good as new for as long as possible.

One of the biggest reasons I chose the Davinci Footwear boots was because it combines a traditionally made leatherworked boot style with the option to re-sole the boots at a later date when the sole eventually wears out. I love wearing minimalist shoes for the comfort they give me and the space for my toes, however a good amount of barefoot style shoes don’t come with the option of re-soling after they’ve become worn out. Vivo Barefoot have introduced a program to help curb the amount of waste from producing shoes and extending life out of existing pairs of shoes but it is quite pricey, as are the shoes themselves.

What sort of shoes do you guys like? I’d love to hear more feedback from you all!

Bryan.

Do you need a break? From what?

A little bit of an ironic post, but currently and actively trying to reduce the usage of my phone.

I’ve been doing some reflecting on why it’s hard for me to put my phone down, or even getting that uneasy feeling when I’m not on it. And you could honestly call it an addiction to a certain extent. We’ve become so used to filling silent gaps in our life with endless scrolling and apps designed to keep our attention for endless amounts of time. And to be clear, I am not absolving myself of that either. I am just as guilty as the majority of people for doing the same thing. Surprisingly, writing on WordPress has been a fairly calming activity that I can partake in that keeps my attention focused on just one thing, which is nice! And I’ve grown to love writing these mini blurbs too!

But anyway, today I will try and move my ramblings away from a rant and hopefully invite you to a challenge with me. For this remaining month of February, lets see if we can bring our average on screen time down. I’m going to take a screenshot right now of my average time, and one more at the end of February! I’ll post them both at the end of February. I feel like we lose a lot of time on computers and screens, so maybe lets just try and take it back a bit, reconnect with people or engage in some meaningful movement or hobbies! 🙂

Bryan.

Hey

Hey, little fighter. Soon things will be brighter. Though the clouds form tonight, the sky tomorrow will open brighter.

Hey friend, sitting in your chair. The world sucks right now, and I can see your despair. The pain you feel is real, and I think I’ve seen it before. A wound only time can heal.

Hey stranger, reading this on the net. Welcome to my corner, a simple chance to reset. Please stay a while, check out my words. I hope they tickle your imagination, make it fly like the birds.

Hopefully this week will be good for you.

Bryan

Temptation

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Sitting here currently, as most people do around midnight or 1am, I tend to lose myself in a train of thoughts that are farfetched and usually (like 99%) never going to happen. One such example is winning the lottery.

Not that there’s inherently anything wrong with responsible gambling or playing the lottery in general, I just know there is a supremely LOW chance of me ever winning anything meaningful beyond $10 and a free play maybe. But that certainly doesn’t stop me from fantasizing how I would spend my money if I won it big! So join me in my spiel about my own thoughts on winning the lottery

In an ideal world, I wouldn’t tell anyone that I won the lottery. Quite often when you start flaunting money like crazy, people come to you for every little thing in life. Oh! Do you remember that time I bought you coffee like 9 years ago? Yeah how about you pay me back for that to the tune of $10,000! maybe not to that extreme but you know damn well there are people who would try. “But Bryan!” you insert forcefully into my thought process! “You won all this money! aren’t you going to spend it at all?”

Of course I’m going to! (try, because lets be real, in a situation where I won life changing amounts of money my decision making abilities would not be the same as they currently are). I would just do it a little…quieter is all. But the first thing I would take care of is mine and my wife’s retirement. Put that money away in a fund or something so that NO MATTER WHAT we’re set for life. I’d help SOME family. Not all, but some. Buy a nice plot of land and maybe start a mini farm. With a nice quaint house. One thing is for sure, I do NOT want some ugly ass McMansion that’s too big and empty. You ever notice how those big, boxy new build houses are always cold? Very uncomfortable.

One thing is for sure, I would go back to school and take a broad range of programs. Just do a bunch of stuff until I truly found what I love doing. I don’t want to NOT work, but I also want to work doing something that I either found a passion for or try a whole bunch of new things to have a good skill-set to fall back on.

Now the good stuff, the “luxury” items. Well…I’d probably expand my wardrobe a little bit. Get some nice clothes and shoes (not brand name stuff like Gucci or Balenciaga, but proper custom made pieces. ESPECIALLY FOOTWEAR. My goodness, that is my DREAM to have custom made leather footwear one day). Probably get a top of the line PC for gaming or just goofing around. As for vehicles? I’d like to live without one admittedly, but seeing as I’m located in North America that just isn’t a possibility. So maybe just trading my current car in for a 4-door model that’s still just as good on gas would be perfect for me. I have no reason (currently) to own a truck so that really wouldn’t be in the cards for me at all. My biggest goal if I all of a sudden came across that much money would be simply to not change too much. Yeah I’d have some nicer, newer things absolutely. But the biggest thing I’ve learned is that with all these new fancy toys and junk that people acquire, it inherently increases the base cost of living to just simply exist. Having 15 cars may sound cool, but keeping them all fueled and insured and stored? A big, empty and cold house that’s just used as a device to flaunt wealth? Clothes that cost thousands of dollars JUST for the name brand associated with it? Not personally my style. But hey, I’d certainly like to try and find out if anything WOULD change by winning that much money!

Bryan.

Meow to English

If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?

This is a question, or at least a variation of a question that I asked multiple people about 3 months ago (Oct 2022). If I could make my cats understand one thing, it would be that I just love them to the moon and back and would literally do anything for them. Also I would make Birch (our newest white cat) understand that he cannot for the life of him figure out how to cover his poop in his cat litter. And it SMELLS.

My variation of the question though, was would you rather pick any 10 languages and with a click of your fingers be fully fluent in them or have the ability to talk to animals? I would personally take the 10 languages. Not because I don’t love the animals, but I just don’t think animals would have many interesting things to say. I am no animal…studying…guy….but to me their motives seem to be fairly simplistic: Eat, Sex, Protect Young.

As for which 10 languages I would choose?

1. Japanese
2. Mandarin
3. French
4. German
5. Tagalog
6. Spanish
7. Farsi
8. Arabic
9. Russian
10. Hindi

Let me know what you would pick! Animals or which 10 languages!

Bryan

Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.

Bryan is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin. Most famously made popular (In Ireland especially) by Brian Boru who ended the High Kingship of Ireland.

I used to not be so fond of my name, but I’ve come to accept it now. It’s not inherently unique, but it’s not ridiculously popular like Jayden. (or any -den suffixed name for that matter….blegh).

The Cardinal

When I look up to the skies
To see every colour fade into blue
And disappear into the great distance of time
Wondering when shall you return?

Though I may drive by the same spot
For different reasons and times
Does the view still stay the same
When the colours change with the seasons.

In a way, your presence is comforting
More than I think I can tell you.
The reassurance that you still float into my life
And continue to have the effects you do.

Today feels like a dream that I’ve been waiting for.
Like healing happened in my soul
But how long until that healing goes sour
And begins its wretched curse of distance

I don’t know why I titled this with Cardinals in mind. Google tells me Cardinals are considered good luck. Today has been a pleasant day because of you, but how does one continue to fly with their cardinal when it’s not around.

Bryan

What is my dream job?

What’s your dream job?

My dream job?

Ultimately very hard to say if I’m being honest. It really depends on my mood. Does the prospect of a job entail my monetary needs will be met and I can live comfortably? Or does my dream job let me be fulfilled spiritually or emotionally but leave me stranded with money? That’s been the case in my work history at least.

I’m currently sitting at my computer on a fine Sunday evening, baking my potatoes and contemplating my answer as the snow gently falls outside. My dream job eh?

I think the thing about me is that I have many interests. What’s the saying, jack of all trades, master of none? I think that’s it. Cooking is a fantastic skill to have, and working as a pro chef would certainly be an eye opening experience, but the hours and pay are (from what I’ve heard) fairly underwhelming. Probably the exception being Michelin Starred restaurants. But the thought of cooking pro level meals for my friends and family is always something I enjoy.

Logistics and transportation is a good option too, at least from the driving perspective (if you’re comfortable driving in the snow that is). That’s really the only drawback of that lifestyle. I guess if you live in the West Coast of North America you’re laughing LOL.

Is NOT having a job a valid option? I understand that there are jobs that NEED to be covered in today’s society, but I’m curious as to how many of those jobs are being done because people HAVE to, and not because they WANT to. If you’ve had a job that you’ve actually loved, I would greatly appreciate your perspective and feedback on the matter!

Bryan.

11 Hour shifts

I am fully aware that by most means, I am still in fact young. Albeit on the older side of young, but still young.

Today my work was lacking coverage and I ended up being scheduled for an 11 hour shift. I dunno if it’s because it’s a different environment or because I’m getting older but man, these are taking it out of me more than usual. Don’t get it twisted though, I don’t pull these every day. Hell, this was the first one in about a month. Every once in a while I don’t mind helping out because the overtime is always welcome, and seeing as I work for a courier company now we’re going to be moving into Black Friday/Christmas time craziness soon enough.

Nobody should be working over 8 hours a day anyway though. It’s hard enough to get by as it is.

Bryan