hop scotch

many people who know me personally know that i enjoy a good whiskey every now and then. since my return to grad school, those sips have become fewer and farther between. working full time for a technology company provided just a little better than the stipend offered by the american university where i did my studies, add on top of that some travel necessitated by an absence, and the scotch takes a hit. that said there was quite a selection that had accumulated during the (near) year long bet that i had with jonesy that culminated in my buying dinner for jonesy (for his victory) and jonesy buying my first drink.

since the days, i haven't really made much of an attempt to replace the occasional whiskey with anything else. of course there is a beer here or there, but that was also company to the scotch during those previous days. so, it was left to the wayside, though i cannot complain. there is a day every once and a while when i would like to walk over to the counter and grab a bottle of lagavulin or dalwhinnie and poor a small amount in the one whiskey glass my brother and his wife gave me for my birthday, but the truth is there are simply better things to be had.

on a recent trip to visit adrienne and accompany her to the (exterior) of the american consulate in amsterdam, i had to slowly walk away, reluctantly, towards a little restaurant away from the building that houses (in some sense) the fate of our future. after a small walk of reconnaissance, we found that it was one of the only places open at the hour we had to arrive at the consulate. to be simply stated, the day is not one of those experiences to remember, but on the walk towards the restaurant , the second time passing the piece of sidewalk, I noticed something on the ground: permanently placed into the blocks of the sidewalk, there was a hop-scotch that brought back the memories of the game i never played. but it was still a game of youth, where the enjoyment was the end and the means. it now seems as if the getalenteerde miss herzog has rediscovered that enjoyment in her running.


when this photo was taken, the moment was still unknown to me, and the ten seemed to be far towards the horizon, thankfully there are people in this world for whom it is worth fighting, and though the duration of the jump sometimes has caused a hard landing, it seems as if i might just be reaching the square with ten. depending, i might just leave a glass there for the next person to celebrate their arrival to ten.