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msvorderofoperations · 21 days

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Time for another dream journal! This is a fairly short one, but still interesting enough to warrant writing down.

I dreamed that I was participating in a community event for a local comedy troupe that does a lot of fundraising. This is a real thing I have done with this community many times. The notable thing thing was that they were also, for whatever reason, doing a World of Warcraft raid in a private instance/server. Except, that it was real? Or at least real enough that we had physically act out our players actions in real time, in something that appeared very much more like real life rather than the exaggerated art style of the game.

I have played a fair bit of WoW in my time (mostly from vanilla to early Wrath of the Lich King, and a single month of Cataclysm after I got gifted it because someone thought I still played) and I mostly played straight DPS classes. My main was always my mage, but I also dabbled a little with a rogue and death knight when I felt like a change. Since there was nearly 14 years of content that came out after (jesus) I stopped playing, I figured that I might as well do something different anyways. So when roles were being decided, I chimed in to say I wanted to be a healer.

This tangent has nothing to do with this dream, but is relevant context. For the longest time, I had always assumed I would be terrible at playing support classes (both in and out of WoW) because I had found so much success in playing pure damage builds. But one time many years ago, while playing Team Fortress 2, our team was completely bereft of any support players. And so I bit the bullet and switched to playing Medic. And shockingly, I was amazing at it! Seeing how poorly things go if Medic's don't prioritize their targets, and knowing when to push and when to fall back from all of my hours spent playing other classes meant that I was damn near godlike. The next round, I decided to try my hand at playing Engineer. I ended up with 32:1 kill:death ratio, so yeah I did all right. All this to say, given that there was not really any stakes with this event, playing a support class even though I had no experience made sense.

Sorting out roles in an MMO raid is always a hassle, so me volunteering for what is often the most important but least desired role took a lot of pressure off everyone else. I opted to stick with playing a Priest, since the way they heal is still centred around simple spell rotation (much like a mage), not things like totems, shifting forms or other gimmicks. The weird thing was though that we couldn't sort out skill trees or builds before we headed in. In the dream I thought it was a touch unorthodox, but given how impromptu this whole thing was, I didn't think it was too big a deal.

As I said, I have not played this game for a very long time, so when I see that the raid boss is wild west themed, I am unfamiliar but not exactly surprised. You kinda have to get weird with it when making 20 years of content for a game. The whole thing is that the boss we are fighting runs a demonic rail system, and is nominally responsible for maintaining supply chains for a greater scope villain. I am not terribly invested, given that I am jumping into this story mid-way through, and I absolutely will not be seeing it through to the end. But still, it's reasonably compelling and the boss we're fighting is still fairly charismatic.

After the brief introduction we're given, though the fight starts. I'm taken completely off-guard by this, as I'm still trying to figure out my character's build. This is true for everyone as well. This is basically akin to having to lace up a parachute after you've already been thrown from a plane. I'm having to read tooltips on the skill tree, and try and work out the most efficient spell rotation as I'm fighting for my life. For all that, we manage to make it to the thresholds for phase transitions when he pulls in his cronies. We eventually make it to where there is a pause in the fight, and we are offered an alternative: stop this fight and just take a victory by destroying the infrastructure, or go after the boss and try and stop him for good. For whatever reason, no one else responds. I take the brief lull in activity to fully finalize my build, and then I rip out the button that would have demolished the facility, and smash it into the boss' face.

And before I can see the fight through to the end, I wake up.

#subconscious conversation #personal #not too much to be read into here #though there is definitely something to be said about missing community #even though WoW has been off my radar for a ton of reasons for a long time #I still miss doing raids with my guildies #and I also miss being a more active member of the community for the comedy troupe that put this whole thing on in the first place #but practicalities are what they are and currently they preclude my participation in a LOT of stuff

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aclosetfan · 3 years

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For the Salty asks: 1, 3, 5 and 6?

Thanks so much for playing along! Ima be real with you 2 out of the 4 questions you asked really opened up a can of worms for me, and I’m so sorry. I put the less stressful ones first, and the other two are under the cut! Anyway, these were super fun to answer, but plz don’t hate me for it!! 😂😂

for anyone wondering, here’s the ask list: Salty Asks List

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

lmao yeah. It’s petty, but honestly, people’s personal morals really bleed through into their fandom opinions, and I’m not willing to put up with any unnecessary hate, especially in environments that are supposed to be fun. I’ve even blocked a few people. In the ppg fandom specifically, I’ve blocked a person who, I guess, thought it was necessary to try to gate-keep with racist/sexist/etc. terminology and ideologies, and I truly don’t have time for that 🤷‍♀️ (a lot of people probs know who I’m vaguing, but if you don’t, you’re lucky)

I can’t say I’ve ever unfollowed anyone for any innocent/not-in-conflict-with-my-morals fandom opinions. Usually, if I don’t agree with something, I just keep scrolling because lol whatever. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.

but ngl I have unfollowed people who just get annoying 😬😬 lol

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

I went into this fandom without having too many preferences, so I didn’t have a pairing that I’ve previously hated!

I guess I could say that while I never really hated them, the color-mixing and color-clashing ships weren’t ever on my radar until I came across the fandom content. Now, I really like them! Particularly, Brick and Bubbles!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

Before anyone gets pissed off at me, before you get into my answer for this question, I’d like to really stress that you’ve got to go into it with absolutely zero fanon context. Like, erase all your headcanons from your mind. I’m dead serious. Because I literally DO NOT get why ANY rrbxppg ship would realistically work ever.

Okay, canonically, these six little funky science experiments were dead set on ending each other. The boys were absolutely horrible to the girls. And the girls literally KILL the boys. I know in fairytale romances, nothing stops love, but bruh, it’s hard to come back from murder 😂 And yeah, I know Clipsville showed the girls and the boys together as older teenagers, and they weren’t trying to kill each other, but that was an obvious gag. In the documentary, it was revealed that that particular “clip” was made because a bunch of people wanted the boys and girls to interact again, and CN gave into the demand. (also, lol I know it super embarrassing, but I did watch the documentary. I just really like Craig McCracken) I just don’t think that realistically a canon pairing between the two sets of triplets would ever be considered a healthy relationship.

Also, ethically, I just—okay listen, I go back and forth with this allllll the time, but the ppgxrrb ships make me confront the “Would I sleep with my clone?” question way too often. Depending on my self-esteem, the answer changes each time. Like sometimes I’m like fuck yeah I would! Other times I’m like, ew, no, I’d have to consider my clone as a twin! I know counterparts aren’t technically clones, BUT the boys really do come across as identical to the girls in the show. The only difference really is their moral alignment (I’m nixing any gender argument). So, I’m like, omg, can I honestly pair these six together in any way??? Are they too close to each other genetically in some sense for this to be morally right??? Like if you ship Brick and Buttercup together, would that just essentially be shipping Brick and Butch/Blossom and Buttercup together in some messed up way??? Is Brick just Blossom, and Blossom just Brick?? Is it better just to ship color-matching instead of mixing???

On top of all of that, wouldn’t the boys and girls be pseudo cousins since Mojo was the Professor’s lab monkey? Technically, in canon, Mojo ends up being both sets of triplets “creator,” so could the rrb and the ppg be considered siblings of some sort? Some of you are probably like, wow, calm down. Stop thinking about it. They’re science experiments. It’s not so deep. Which I get, but I can’t stop, so let me hit you with something ten times worse: should the girls (or the boys) actually be considered biological siblings? Does sugar, spice, and everything nice make you genetically related? Nothing put in the stirring pot was organic—just a bunch of chemicals. If you ship the boys and girls together this could be a good thing! BUT, but, could some sick fuck use this information to somehow justify shipping siblings (ppgxppg or rrbxrrb) together??? This is a literal nightmare to think about!!

All in all, I can’t think about these pairings too much without getting caught up in the logistics of their existence even if they’re fictional lmaoooo! If it wasn’t for the fandom, I wouldn’t ship them together at all. I just think it’s amazing that the ships took off like they did lol, because their literal (fictional) existence is just one giant mind fuck for me. Anyway, I ship them at the end of the day, but tbh I do it with a bit of a guilty conscience. Is it morally correct to ship clone-like counterparts? Or should counterparts be treated like twins? Does it even fucking matter at the end of the day, it’s just fiction? I don’t know the right answer. But I do know the pairings don’t make sense.

Aside from the ppgxrrb, I don’t think there are many other BIG fandom wide pairings. Still, I just want to say that I don’t get why people ship Ace and Buttercup together. The pairing sounds off a few major alarms in my head for obvious reasons. There’s also a bunch of crack ships that involve crossovers with other cartoons. Generally, I don’t mind them, but it seems popular to ship Aku (from Samurai Jack) and Blossom together. And I’m real sorry to those devoted shippers, but again I do NOT get it. I see a lot of romantic fan art depicting romantic situations with Blossom still drawn as a child, and like I get Aku is an immortal demon, so “age is just a number,” but again, BIG ALARMS go off in my head.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

🙃 🙃 Kind of don’t want to answer this, but I will anyway because only a few people actually read my blog lolol, so lol, yep! And it’s the reds. Don’t shoot me lol. When I was in middle school, I got into this fandom, forgot about it, and then came back when I was hit by a round of nostalgia. I’m finishing up college now, and I can confidentially say that the fanon content for the reds hasn’t changed one bit. Or the demand for it.

I tended to find that a lot of red content follows many archetypes that I’m just not into. Their stories can get a real cringey, real fast. Blossom is always written like this “perfect, except she’s not (but she really is)” character. Like she’s the girl you WISH you could be, but she’s also going through a shit ton of stuff that no person IRL would be able to handle without having a mental breakdown. And sometimes, in some stories, Blossom does have a mental breakdown, but in a sexy way, so she’s still perfect. Generally, there’s still something problematic about Blossom that makes it easy for a reader to relate to her on some level, unlike the way people write Bubbles. And then there’s Brick, who’s broody, hyper-possessive or jealous, and hot figuratively and literally (gotta love the fire/ice trope). He’s the only boy—no! Wait!—the only person who could ever possibly outwit Blossom, and he is just so undeniably attracted to Blossom. They’re the smart power couple that should honestly just hook-up in Chapter One to save everybody time, but they don’t. Nah, they’ve got to survive at least two love triangles before they even consider admitting they’re attracted to each other.

And don’t get me wrong, none of that’s bad, but there are a million fanfics that go through the same song and dance with these two. And it’s kind of easy to tell when someone’s hardcore projecting onto Blossom because the type of person they’re personally attracted to is the way they write Brick. And I’m not knocking anyone self-projecting onto characters, sometimes people got to do that to give themselves a fun mental break, but bro, I don’t want to read about it. For one, smart broody assholes aren’t my type. Maybe when I was in middle school, but not anymore. And two, it’s just not interesting to me, which is a real shame since the reds are a majority of the fanon content.

Maybe if I found more red stories where the plot isn’t character-driven but plot-driven, so I see the romance between these two characters in a context where it’s not the main focus of the story, it would solve my issue with the pairing. I haven’t found many fics like that, though.

I can’t really think of any reds fic where I’m like ey, this aint bad unless it has a “major character death” tag attached to it lmao (which are always plot driven stories). However, in all honesty, since I’ve stayed away from red content for a while now, I don’t know the current state of things. Maybe there’s been a load more development for these two, or people have broken away from the same plotlines, but I’m too busy to check. I do browse people’s fic rec lists from time to time, but it sort of feels like everyone just puts the same fics on their lists and moves on.

And before someone’s like, “well, you can say all this about the greens or the blues,” just know I’m fully aware. The greens make me cringe too because there’s a shit ton of possessive and abusive storylines filling their story tags. And what makes me super uncomfortable is how people make Buttercup hit Butch or call him derogatory names, oftentimes unprompted. I don’t know why people make Buttercup such an unlikeable and overly aggressive person. I also don’t get why they make Butch some perverted idiot, but to each their own, I guess? Still, I see these green-character patterns most often in red-focused stories, which is another reason why I avoid them. I’ve found a lot of green-focused content that strays from the abusive tropes I try to avoid. Considerably less than I’d like, but the greens are typically the b-plot pairing, so that’s to be expected. Personally, I’d really like to see more content with the greens finding some kind of inner peace, and recently, I’ve seen a few fics that have tried to tackle this concept.

And lol, if you’ve read some of my posts before, you already know that I think the blues are an underdeveloped fanon pairing. The fandom can’t ruin that pairing for me because it never does anything substantial with it.

Anyway, at the end of the day, I’m just personally not into the way the reds are popularly written, but I get why people are and that’s good with me.

#salty ask game #lisathefan #an ethical debate in MY ppg post??? It's more likely then you think!#long post #ppg pairings #and all my issues with them #also im a firm believer in the block button being your friend!

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levelstory-old · 5 years

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Top 5 E3 Announcements

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3, is a yearly event that showcases what is up and coming in the video gaming industry. Gamers across the world get hyped and this year packed a huge punch.

To be honest, I never pay close attention to E3 because most showcases tend to look very samey (i.e. watch the Bethesda showcase). I'm not all that interested in the "dark and gritty" genre of games and so I usually hang back and let twitter fill me in on the hype. I didn't expect much.

Sure I expected to get excited by some things, but I was caught off guard by the several moments that blew me away, surprised me, and even made me tear up a bit! Here is my top 5 list, 1 ranking as least exciting (even though least exciting is still really freaking exciting) to 5 ranking as the most exciting (the G.O.A.T. of E3).

Number 1: Ni No Kuni Coming to Switch, Remaster Coming to PC & PS4

Originally released on the Playstation 3, Ni No Kuni is a game that stands out due to it being animated by the renowned Studio Ghibli. Since I never owned a PS3, I never played the game. After the sequel came out, I had high hopes that the original would port to the PS4 but no such announcement ever came. I was starting to give up. In fact, only days ago I went so far as to look into emulating the game on my PC as I've been dying to play it.

This news has come at a perfect time! The game is releasing on the Switch, PC, and PS4. But there is a catch. The game has been remastered for all systems but the Switch which will be receiving the original port of the game. Now I will have to decide if I want the game on the Switch or PS4. I enjoy playing games more on the Switch but also want the remastered version. Decisions decisions.

Number 2: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

I still have yet to finish the original Yooka-Laylee game (read about my experience with the game thus far in the first issue of Level Story) but now it seems I have reason to be excited to play it some more. The announcement of the sequel to the highly successful modern platformer came as quite a surprise to me. While a sequel has certainly been on my radar, I didn't quite expect one so soon.

What really excites me about this sequel is how it appears to capture the spirit of the first game while also moving in a completely new platforming direction in the side scroller. Several commenters wrote that the game looked similar to DKC Tropical Freeze and that is a pretty nice complement. Waking up to this news was just a treat.

Number 3: Banjo-Kazooie in SMASH

Okay, confession time. I don't like the SMASH games. I've never gotten into them and haven't had the desire to change that. Seeing all the hype for the recent Switch release got me excited in a very removed sense. Watching other people get excited about the game (and about Joker from Persona 5 being in the game) made me excited even though I knew there was very little that would persuade me to shell out my money for this title.

Throughout this time, rumors were strewn about twitter saying that Banjo and Kazooie might be announced as the next characters in SMASH. Banjo-Kazooie is a game I grew up playing all the time and I have a strong connection to it. While I had no connection to SMASH, I had a strange desire to see the bear and bird get their dues since they haven't really had much luck since being bought by Microsoft.

Their announcement brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps nostalgia had taken over, or maybe it was the fans joyful reactions that made me emotional, but I finally have a reason to pick up this game. Whether that will actually happen or not is still to be decided. But after watching that trailer, how can you not be hyped for this?!

Number 4: Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is one of those celebrated games that I hear about all the time yet somehow I am so separated from it that I only know that it is considered a good game and literally nothing else. I didn't have Playstation growing up and never had an interest in Final Fantasy games so just never played it.

But since my love for the Kingdom Hearts series has pushed me to enter the realm of Final Fantasy and since I am just generally interested in stories told in games and FFVII is said to have an amazing story, I have decided to put a bit more stock in FFVII. I have just started to play the ported game on my Switch and have watched closely for updates about the remake.

And turns out, this new interest has paid off because wow does this game look really good. Square Enix really stole the show when they premiered the full length trailer at E3. Everything looks so polished and beautiful. While I imagine there will be changes from the original, I still think this game looks amazing and I look forward to real time action gameplay vs. the original turn based combat.

Number 5: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel

Okay...let me set this up for you. I did not grow up playing Zelda. My cousin gave me a hand-me-down copy of Ocarina of Time and I just didn't play it all too often (yes, I regret my adolescent decisions). Breath of the Wild is technically my first Zelda game and it is hard to put into words how much I love it. I've put in over 150 hours of play time and when I finally beat the final boss this past Sunday, I was happy but also sad that the game had come to an end.

My biggest wish was to explore Hyrule some more post beating Ganon (when you beat the game, a star appears on your file and you are placed at the point right before beating Ganon). Then, a few days later, this sequel was announced. This is the GOAT for me. I am on the Breath of the Wild hype train. There is no release date for the game yet which kind of gets me down but I am too excited for this game to care! This was easily the best announcement at E3.

And I can't finish this article without an honorable mention….

Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC

Kingdom Hearts is my all time favorite franchise. Despite its existence in the absurd and the blatant examples of bad storytelling, I always find myself coming back to these games and having a blast with them. It is a series I will stick with through and through.

DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 has been on the horizon ever since the game was released back in January of this year. Fans of the franchise know the "vanilla" KH games are only the starting point. Almost every title has come out with a re-release known as "final mix" where new content is added including cut scenes, gameplay scenarios, additional mechanics, and more. Back in the early 2000's, final mix was a pretty unique concept. Today, final mix is just DLC. Yes, I know, KH was ahead of its time.

The new trailer showcasing what is to come in the new paid DLC has got me very excited. It looks like we will get to play as new characters, have new keyblades, and there will be a ton of convoluted plot dump that only KH can bring.

While this would have been a highlight for me, I thought Square Enix gave zero hype to this. The trailer was originally shown at the KH Orchestra concert in LA and director Tetsuya Nomura told the audience not to film it or there would be dire consequences. Someone filmed it and now the conspiracy is that this person made Nomura angry. While I don't think this person should have filmed the trailer, I also think it is kind of sick that Nomura can put out a threat like that and KH fans tweet out, "you upset Nomura. Thanks a lot."

Speculation went about saying that Square might have been planning a longer trailer at E3. Whether this was correct and Nomura pulled it due to his "dire consequences", or the E3 and Orchestra trailer were the same all along, we will never know. Either way, the trailer was exciting to see the first time but didn't do much to get me really excited like the 5 announcements I talked about in this piece.

What Did You Think?

So what did you think about E3? What were some of the highlights and your favorite announcements? Let me know in the comments!

#Kingdom Hearts 3 #Kingdom Hearts III #The Legend of Zelda #Zelda #Breath of the Wild #Ni No Kuni #Banjo-Kazooie #Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy VII #Yooka-Laylee #Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years

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We Asked 12 Brewers: What Brewery Makes the Best Hazy IPAs?

Let’s get right to the juicy stuff.

We’re talking, of course, about hazy IPAs, which continue to keep beer lovers waiting and salivating in line (at least before the coronavirus pandemic), in hopes of securing the latest rare releases.

Interestingly, fans of hazy IPAs, also known as New England-style IPAs or simply NEIPAs, far more often find their admiration for breweries that specialize in these highly popular beers rather than for particular examples — this due to many being made in limited quantities, and without broad distribution. (No doubt, scarcity contributes to the NEIPA’s appeal.)

So, with that in mind, we asked the brewers themselves which craft breweries they believe have demonstrated great proficiency in the uniquely American beer style. Below, 12 beer producers from across the country opine on the best purveyor of hazy IPAs.

The Best Hazy IPA Breweries, Recommended by Brewers:

Tired Hands Brewing Company, Ardmore, Pa.

Other Half Brewing Company, Brooklyn

Great Notion Brewing, Portland, Ore.

Humble Sea Brewing Co., Santa Cruz, Calif.

Root + Branch Brewing, Copiague, N.Y.

Cellarmaker Brewing Co., San Francisco

Triple Crossing Beer, Richmond, Va.

The Alchemist Brewery, Stowe, Vt.

Hudson Valley Brewery, Beacon, N.Y.

Mountains Walking Brewery, Bozeman, Mont.

Hop Butcher for the World, Darien, Ill.

Keep reading for details about all the recommended bottles!

“Wow. What a loaded question. The first brewer or brewery that popped into my head was Jean Broillet and Tired Hands. I just like Jean’s approach to beer in general. Trends are changing so quickly, and everyone wants the next hype beer style, but I like to rely on breweries that I know will create a consistently good and balanced product regardless. With hazy IPAs, so many examples are pushed out too quickly and get spicy. But I can have an IPA, or any beer, from Tired Hands weeks, even months, later, and they taste the same. (Full attenuation is key!) I’ve never been disappointed in a hazy IPA, or a pilsner, or an experimental potato something from Jean, and I don’t imagine I will be anytime soon.” — Erika Tessier, Co-owner and Assistant Brewer, Origin Beer Project, Cranston, R.I.

“I’ve been a big fan of Other Half, and the brewery’s IPAs are some of the best in the game, the continuous hype well deserved. They carry explosive aroma, mouthfeel, and flavor profile that checks all the right boxes. DDH Broccoli is still one of my all-time favorite IPAs, and the All Together initiative was not only a great beer, but a great campaign to support all these small business and communities during the coronavirus pandemic. The only downside is that I don’t have the opportunity to drink Other Half here in rural Iowa as often as I’d like!” — Eric Hild, Lead Brewer, Toppling Goliath Brewing Co., Decorah, Iowa

“Great Notion was the first brewer in Portland to start making hazy IPAs, and now there’s not one producer who doesn’t include at least one example in their lineup. What’s great about the city’s brewing community is that we openly share ideas; we’ve learned a lot about this style from each other. The most impressive part of Great Notion’s hazy IPAs is consistency. In particular, the all-Citra Ripe represents the style well, showcasing a silky body, balanced malt, and juicy hop expression.” — Shaun Kalis, Co-founder, Ruse Brewing Company, Portland, Ore.

“My choice for the best hazy IPA brewery isn’t from New England, but from a kooky town by the Pacific. I’ve been stoked on Humble Sea for a while and will always stop for a ‘Foggy’ IPA when in Santa Cruz. The brewery has been cranking out a ton of sick hazies since opening a few years ago, each more radical than the last. I think the Humble Sea team really nailed it with Socks & Sandals. Classic West Coast aromatics and flavor with that soft, creamy mouthfeel of a NEIPA; it really hit that sweet spot for me. It’s like East Coast meets West (Best) Coast.” — Justin Carter, Cellar Lead, Drake’s Brewing Co., San Leandro, Calif.

“Anthony Sorice of Root + Branch is one of a small handful of brewers that can really make a hazy IPA shine. His beers are well thought out, meticulous, and patiently executed. Root + Branch does a great job of keeping the style well balanced. Examples are bright, clean, and show the right amount of restraint, which is very rare these days. I had the pleasure to work alongside Anthony for a period of time and it was clear from the start that he had an excellent grasp on what makes a New England-style IPA work. There’s a very good reason why his beers sell out so fast, and it’s not just hype. The care, quality, and love is obvious.” — Stjepan Pavich, Lead Brewer, Other Half Brewing, Brooklyn

“Tim Sciascia at Cellarmaker makes amazingly crushable hazy IPAs that are consistently imbued with aromatic notes of Citra hops and tropical fruit. This adds to the drinkability of his beers, and shows off his amazing ability to find and select the best hops out in the market.” — Brian Rauso, Co-founder and CEO, Green Cheek Beer Co., Orange, Calif.

“Anytime I have a Triple Crossing hazy IPA, I end up staring at the glass after each sip. I’m half wondering how the Virginia brewery did it, and half hoping the consumed beer will magically replenish itself. That ‘it’ is being able to layer expressive yeast character, water chemistry, and hop aromatics in a way that makes its hazy IPAs truly stand out from the crowd. The single-hop Triangles series really showcases Triple Crossing’s chops; with only a single hop variety, the team achieves an envying amount of structure and complexity. Simcoe Triangles was the last one I had. It’s fresh-cut grapefruit bliss, summertime melon, and dank citrus wrapped up in a velvety smooth mouthfeel.” — Turner Humphries, Head Brewer, Hoptown Brewing Company, Mooresville, N.C.

“In my opinion, The Alchemist is one of the best producers of hazy IPAs. Everything the brewery makes in the style is nicely balanced in terms of aromatics and bitterness, and it’s based in Vermont, which has excellent water sources. Some of my personal favorite IPAs are Heady Topper and Focal Banger. Heady is probably Alchemist’s most famous beer. However, Focal Banger to me seems to be a more dialed-in recipe. I’m more of a malt gal myself, and I enjoy its malt sweetness. Not only does John Kimmich and team produce delicious hazy bois, but they’re also involved in community outreach, aspiring to educate and involve the community around them. The most recent involvement is an anti-racism action plan.” — Haley Ann Warren, Head Brewer, Sparge Brewing, Wellington, Colo.

“Hudson Valley Brewery consistently puts out great, more straightforward hazy, hoppy beer that flies under the radar because of all the attention — and rightly so — its innovative sour IPAs get. Though not an IPA, the hazy pale ale Diadem was one of the best hoppy beers I’ve had this year. The thing that excites me the most about what the Hudson Valley crew does, and where they seem to consistently differentiate themselves, is in blending capabilities. Their ability to skillfully arrange different fermentation profiles can really take hazy, hoppy beers to a place that is perfect for the modern drinker’s flavor and aroma wheelhouse.” — Ben Clayton, Founder and Brewer, The Test Brewery, Brooklyn

“The funky folks at Mountains Walking are making my go-to hazy IPAs these days, in particular the rotating Oat Whip series, which feature single hop varieties without changing the notion of a cloudy, juicy, hoppy beer. They make great companions at the end of a long trail hike or sitting on the side of a stream after a day of fly fishing. We were one of the first to produce hazy IPAs in the wilderness state, and we called them ‘frontier style’ because no one here really knew what a New England IPA was at that time. So we made up that term, since I had brewed in New Mexico and Pennsylvania prior to coming to Montana, where hazy IPAs had been around a lot longer. I’m glad to see other breweries taking the reins on this category that shines brightest on the local level, and making cloudy suds regularly available in Montana.” — Luke Steadman, Brewmaster and Janitor, Smelter City Brewing, Anaconda, Mont.

“I’ve always loved Other Half’s hazy IPAs. Along with a few others, Other Half paved the way for the style. The team is always pushing boundaries and I appreciate that. Right now, I’m really digging the brewery’s double dry-hopped session IPA, [DDH] Baby Diamonds. I love how well Amarillo and Galaxy play together, and it’s easy drinking.” — Maria Cabre, Head Brewer, J. Wakefield Brewing, Miami

“Hop Butcher is knocking it out of the park with the hazy IPAs right now. No two are alike, but they’re consistent with quality, pleasing mouthfeel, and exploding with flavor. The extensive range of hop profiles is incredible. A few of my favorites are Tavern Cut, Neon Green Relish, and Blazed Orange. I’m always excited to see what the brewery is going to put out next.” — Rachel Leiby, Head Brewer, Geneseo Brewing Co., Geneseo, Ill.

The article We Asked 12 Brewers: What Brewery Makes the Best Hazy IPAs? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/12-best-hazy-ipa-beer-2020/

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johnboothus · 4 years

Text

We Asked 12 Brewers: What Brewery Makes the Best Hazy IPAs?

Let’s get right to the juicy stuff.

The Best Hazy IPA Breweries, Recommended by Brewers:

Tired Hands Brewing Company, Ardmore, Pa.

Other Half Brewing Company, Brooklyn

Great Notion Brewing, Portland, Ore.

Humble Sea Brewing Co., Santa Cruz, Calif.

Root + Branch Brewing, Copiague, N.Y.

Cellarmaker Brewing Co., San Francisco

Triple Crossing Beer, Richmond, Va.

The Alchemist Brewery, Stowe, Vt.

Hudson Valley Brewery, Beacon, N.Y.

Mountains Walking Brewery, Bozeman, Mont.

Hop Butcher for the World, Darien, Ill.

Keep reading for details about all the recommended bottles!

The article We Asked 12 Brewers: What Brewery Makes the Best Hazy IPAs? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/12-best-hazy-ipa-beer-2020/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/we-asked-12-brewers-what-brewery-makes-the-best-hazy-ipas

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bitegore · 5 years

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About Pride- you aren't wrong, but there's a difference between someone wearing leather gear and someone practicing other parts of a kink. Wearing a collar is fine, being on all fours on a leash is really not for public spaces. Because that's involving non-consenting strangers in your kink. Sure, it's good for people to know kink isn't wrong, but something not being wrong doesn't mean it's appropriate for public spaces. Just like sex isn't wrong, but having sex where minors and nonconsenting (1)

(2) strangers can come upon you without warning isn't a good idea. If there's an area that's specifically designated as an area where there will be sex and full kinkplay, great! Mark it clearly and go nuts. But if it's somewhere people could just come up without realizing, that's not a good idea. There are people who don't want to see strangers engaged in sexual activity, and there are parents who would immediately snatch their questioning kid away from any event like that.

(3) There's nothing wrong with indicators of kink in public. Leather gear, badges, flags, that kind of thing. But actual kink /play/ is too much for places where someone could accidentally walk into it. And I really don't think Pride should be designated a place where you should expect to find people performing sex acts randomly scattered about. Not because it's shameful, but because it's something that you need to get people's consent to involve them in.

(4) And I know kink isn't innately sexual, but a lot of it is going to be interpreted that way to someone unfamiliar with the exact scene. Besides, even the nonsexual kink requires consent from all involved. In short: anything that says or demonstrates "I'm into kink" is great, good for people to see, and often stylish. Actually /doing/ that kink, except in areas that are (literally or not) surrounded by "here be kink" signs, is not so great. Because, again, consent. Nothing to do with shame.

-----

This is long, so I’m sticking a cut on it.

Okay, before I start I want to preface this with: I do actually see your point. I’m going to be arguing with you, but I really want that to be clear. For the most part, I agree with you. You’re just arguing a point that I didn’t try to make, and I kind of want to clear that up.

Second: my head is hurting worse than usual today (an explanation, not meant as points or to give me a pass if i’m wrong, lol) so if anything seems unclear or hard to understand, please point it out, and i’ll try and correct it/make it clearer.

Point 1: involving nonconsenting strangers in kink. I agree, that’s bad! But no one was actually talking about doing kinkplay in public at Pride. From what I understood*, it was more about having leather pride at kink, as in like- people wearing leather gear and/or kink gear that isn’t made of leather, and wearing leather pride pins and stuff. Not actually engaging in kinkplay. “There's nothing wrong with indicators of kink in public. Leather gear, badges, flags, that kind of thing.“ That’s exactly what I was referring to, in all honesty. Anything beyond that point is, as you said, involving strangers in your kink without their consent.

However, there’s one thing you said in there that I disagree with. “Wearing a collar is fine, being on all fours on a leash is really not for public spaces.“

I’d argue that a leash is fine, honestly. Maybe not to be at, I don’t know, a coffeeshop, but at a big busy festival like Pride with a ton of people around, I think something like that has a much higher chance of getting lost in the shuffle. Hands and knees don’t work because, crowds and being at knee height is unsafe, and if I were to take my sub to a place like that I’d be worried she’d get kicked in the face.

Point 2: “ And I know kink isn't innately sexual, but a lot of it is going to be interpreted that way to someone unfamiliar with the exact scene.“ Again, I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t agree with this either. There’s a lot of elements of kink that people connect with sex, but I think there are also a lot that the vast majority of people haven’t really thought about.** The vast majority of people are not very well educated on kink, and therefore there are a lot of elements of kink that absolutely fly under the radar to vanilla people.

Also, a secondary aspect of this is that queer people in general tend to be reduced to their sex lives as well, not just kinky people. Straight cis people- especially older people, from my parents’ generation and older- have a tendency to reduce gay men to ‘ew, they have gay sex!’ and lesbians to ‘but how do they have sex? there’s no penis’ and trans people to ‘but how do you have sex with them?’ Reducing kinky people to ‘but they have sex like that?’ is pretty much what they’ve done to the entire rest of the queer community anyway. So I don’t love that argument for the same reason I don’t like things like ‘trans people shouldn’t be allowed at pride, because what if parents of gay or lesbian or bisexual kids see those weirdos and drag their kids off’. It seems like it’s missing a very large part of the history of the community as a whole*** in that particular respect.

Last point: i just want to call attention to it, I’m not arguing.

“I really don't think Pride should be designated a place where you should expect to find people performing sex acts randomly scattered about. Not because it's shameful, but because it's something that you need to get people's consent to involve them in.” It’s also illegal to have sex in public. It’s indecent exposure in New York, my home state, and it’s classified as a misdemeanor in many others****. So, you’re definitely not wrong there.

However, there’s a difference between performing sex acts and making it clear you engage in them without actually having sex. There are a lot of posts around talking about people walking around wearing nothing but pasties over their nipples and thongs and nothing else, or people wearing shirts explicitly talking about sex, or whatever. If you google “pride NYC,” which is what I did because i didnt want to just google “pride parade” and get a ton of canned stock images, you see a lot of pictures of half-naked individuals wearing rainbows. I don’t think that if those people are perfectly alright to do that (and i do believe it should be allowed for people to do so! Pride is for having fun and being proud of your sexuality, so that kind of thing being policed would be a little weird to me) someone wearing a puppy mask or a leash and collar are also just following the trend in their own way. People making sexual assumptions about someone because they’re dressing in a sexual manner or wearing things that imply sexual actions are the ones making those assumptions. The people wearing those things could have chosen not to, but I don’t think they should be barred for choosing to wear them.

Again, I’m not sure I covered everything, so feel free to point it out if I fucked something up, and I also am not sure any of this is going to make even a little bit of sense to anyone that’s not me, lol, so if this is a whole bunch of completely confusing ramblings, feel free to let me know and I’ll take another stab at it tomorrow when my head hopefully feels less foggy.

----

*And I might have been wrong. I’m not discounting that. I can be wrong, I’m only human, and my understanding of things might not be 100% accurate.

**By this I mean like the difference between calling someone Daddy (overtly kinky overtones because it’s become a wildly popular thing in media) vs things like asking for permission for small things or waiting for their Dom to give them a go ahead before taking an action, which is more inherently kinky than just using a title (in my opinion, again, this is all in my opinion) but tends to just strike as a little weird

***i wasn’t around for very much of it. I was born in 2001. But I’ve spent a long time following a bunch of angry older folks on here who every now and again go ‘wow you guys clearly dont remember what it was like in the 80s/90s/are being incredibly reductive, read these pieces from the 50s and 60s’, and I feel like i have a slightly better view on some of these things than a lot of the people I see on here. Naturally, though, I might be wrong about parts, and if I’m misrepresenting something, feel free to send me reading materials

****I did a google search, and the first thing i saw said, verbatim, “ Public Sex is a Misdemeanor. In most states, the laws that criminalize public sex make it a misdemeanor crime. Some state laws explicitly criminalize public sexual activity. Other laws are broader and cover a variety of indecent or lewd conduct.“ The full source can be found here: [x]

#long post #red replies #leather/bdsm at pride discourse

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somedaypast-thesunset · 6 years

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So the girl he was heavily involved with for years even tho his best friend was in a thing with her and they were the last ppl to see him alive before he killed himself has now also killed herself.

First of all - all my jokes are fucking tasteless now I feel like I wished bad shit upon him and got what I wanted. That's super low and tasteless and shameful to myself. Like even if other ppl don't know it's gross if you do and like I get why I did it as well - I cope through tasteless humor. It's passive aggressive. It's not me at my best moments even though I think it's funny as fuck.

Secondly OMG I don't have the tools to cope with this. This has been a point in our relationship since the very beginning. I and many other girls put up with his attachment to this girl who actually wasn't super interested in him and introduced the idea of polygamy to him. She was known to be a bit of a rat and like.. Not well liked by anyone but him, in all seriousness. Like if I died i think ppl would say nice things - this could be like a shrug your shoulders thing for many people. I never met her. I put up with him telling me he always loved her and he would be with her again with his other wives and like you knew he was deeply into her but again, she showed little interest back.

The thing is me and her share a ton of similarities and could've gone the same as eachother if life's journeys handed us different opportunities. She had a neglectful home life. Her parents seemed disattached and overall uninterested in her because they were themselves drug addicts and alcoholics. I believe her mother married a new man and she seemed exposed to sex early, early on. She began drinking at 13 and her parents were quite cool and lenient which seemed to lead her obviously to partying and heavy drugs and casual sex. She was not well off nor were her parents and several times he told me she suffered from eating disorders and self harm, she seemed to potentially have prostituted herself at times and was inappropriately sexual in public to a point it made multiple people uncomfortable.

He sometimes told me we needed to meet because we'd get along. Many times I felt like perhaps because we shared alot of traumas and then deal with people like him.

I'm not saying he's the reason because he's not at all. If I died, he wouldn't be the reason. But people like him are people we encountered everyday. And she obviously suffered more ridicule than I did.

He said, "she was a flight attendant and had this and this going for her I don't understand"

You don't understand depression then. And people like you are people who depressed people encounter every fucking day. They are constantly expected to overcome and put on a show like becoming a flight attendant as a full blown drug addict. There a problem and it's a problem if you believed she was functional because she wasn't because she's dead.

Of course, I've spent days lamenting life. I shared with him my non existent will to live. I cried and he told me to get a job. You know, like her. She was a partial example of getting over your shit. But she wasn't at all. She was a hardcore drug addict. He ignored my cries for help, he mocked my depression, belittled my traumas and told me it was all such a burden on HIS life.

And then she dies.

Where do we go now?

And I feel selfish for at all making the death of a poor young drug addicted woman about myself in any way at all especially not knowing her. It's not my place to be involved at all in her death, I think not even in this mental capacity. She deserves the respect of not having randoms feel bullshit -esoecially selfish bullshit - on her death. At least. Like just let the person be now -especially now. I felt this about my mother. Here was a sick person. They were not well. No matter how much you wanted or perceived them to be they weren't well. And when you carry it for so long that's a dramatic burden on your being. Let their souls fucking rest. No more analyzing

But here I am. A moral piece of shit. Making it about myself.

How can I not? My first thought is wow I can't die. Not right now. Like I struggle every single day not wanting to die because I wake up and immediately I'm like fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. For a week the first thing I ingest in my body is smoke and I can't not fucking do it. Today it took me several SEVERAL hours to get out of bed. I accomplished showering. I responded to two messages of importance. I ate only because a friend bought me dinner. I have just sat. And I'm not even anxious about the fact I'm staring at a fucking wall for several hours. I'm almost content because why am I fucking here at all. Why does this world exist? Why is my life this way-? I know it's my journey but holy fuck is this journey extremely tragic. Not even like to me like even around me the tragedy which I've heard and seen is so enormous I can't even comprehend how people are convincing themselves this is all okay?

But now to make this choice among this tragedy - the legacy I leave is mostly hurt. It would've been painful before but to knowingly do something like that after this is so vicious and terrible. I would need years away from him before I did not lay huge guilt on him. And like no one deserves such levels of grief in this world because I know this pain and it's always painful when someone does but taking your own life is serious. I've never thought it wasn't. It creates immense issues for the people alive. My dad didn't even kill himself and I deal with issues but someone who does this so randomly and selfishly - really unbearable pain. You have to really deeply consider what you're doing and your personal pain has to be so fucking large that it's worth dispersing among others permanently while you disappear. And I totally get why people do it. And maybe she didn't kill herself. Maybe she overdosed and died accidentally. But is it an accident to be a drug addict? To lie to yourself your functioning when you drown in a bathtub?

He was overwhelmed with the options he had in front of him now. He "can't even come home". He doesn't want to go through the remembrance. We briefly agreed that we still wanted to talk to eachother. He told me he loved me and thanked me for taking his call.

I had nothing for him. Perhaps it dawned on him that he just created a situation I had no part of but now was dealing with gracefully and respectfully and in consideration to his feelings. But would still create an emotional impact on someone still struggling, regardless.

Because the whole fucking thing is so complex I have no idea how to handle this. I am almost actually worried that it will be a wake up call for him and he will change in a direction I might have "wanted" previously but obv under these circumstances... I don't know. Like someone had to die for that to happen and that doesn't make me feel good.

Maybe he never comes back. Maybe this is it now and he permanently moves to be away from all the memories.

Maybe he goes back on drugs. Goes to her funeral, gets caught up, does drugs and dies too.

It's hard, you know? Life is sick. I love this person. I want to be with this person long term. We are both so traumatized and under the radar so long that our separate bitterness turned towards each other and we both brought entire semi trucks full of baggage into this. I love him though. I have never loved someone like I've loved him. I never chose him out of desperation. He truly demonstrated a real care in his messed-up ways. Not like he carved my name in his arm but like struggling under huge anxiety and depression to demonstrate love to them and that was and is really hard to do especially consistently. He tried. He took me places I've never been just to show me. The love he has had for me is not something anyone else has ever had. No one else wanted to show me the world because they wanted me to see. I know the exact moment I fell deeply in love with him and we lived sometimes I romantic dream. If you cherry pick our best moments, it's beautiful. The fact two super fucked up ppl, a former drug addict and a mentally unwell person created beautiful moments is a feat on its own. These are times where both of us had to find a reason to live to give to one another something. They are deeply empowering moments of the pureness of life on this planet and I've never connected with anyone else that way but I still had like a deep first love with my Oshawa ex. I do love him. I still do. I won't stop but I'm not in love. And I will probably overcome this and create a new never before seen world with someone else and it won't belittle the unique beauty I shared with them.

I don't want to cut ties with him. It really hurts my soul to not be in contact with him regularly. It's not an obsession or compulsion - it really hurts because I love him.

But I also can't deal with this. It hurts that I legitimately have to continue to move forward in life and it's like obvious "the best thing to do" is "keep trying" for his sake so he's not dealing with it even though I really need love and support right now.

And now it's like a huge volatile gamble. Let's state the obvious. Will he attempt a solid relationship now that he's lost her? The one other person who might have had a sliver of affection towards him this way. I can't think about that in order to really be healthy. I can't invest because I hope this changes him. It's kind of rude.

Here's the totally crazy mystical out of my mind delusional theory:

I keep thinking that like a thing happened on the island. And maybe it's like I never felt these things before because I was disconnected and once I took the step to connect in like a spiritual way that perhaps things like began to attach themselves to me and accompany me on my journey and I think that maybe they affect things in life but you have to be actively open to what they're affecting. Like I felt I needed to sit at the aboriginal day thing and hear an elder speak and it wasn't like he gave me info but he like.. He gave me something deeper. And these native things keep coming up over and over and I don't feel more attuned I feel like its presenting itself to me and I'm choosing how to act and perceive. And I don't think they're angry with me or my life. I think they're trying to help me. And I guess in this fucked up way I feel like this was slightly on them. And like I think spiritually things are ambiguous - is it evil to do this? Did I attract evil things that did an evil thing? I think it's their existence and I think they don't have total control. Like they can't magically give you a phone call with all the things you wanted because so many things have to take place in other people's lives for that to work. I don't believe if any of this is remotely a thing that they would've killed her. Like went out and targeted her specifically to benefit my life. But I think for a brief moment in time, they flew through everyone's lives and reset the story. I think they can't decide who dies. Maybe not even when. But I think they can influence the journey of someone else and without malicious intent create brief moments in time with all their might and power in all the quantum physics that may solely only benefit the life of one person. "benefit" because if it's true I think it's a stark reminder that you're not always going to get what you wish for the way you wished for it. Perhaps "the only way" this would've worked is if she died and considering her life choices it's not unlikely it would've happened anyways, they just maybe rearranged the timeline. And I guess if true it's important to acknowledge that they may have taken time from someone else to give to me because of how deeply I wanted it without concern for others. That's an important power in this spiritual world to have and no guarantee. Like they just created a scenario, they didn't create the result. Whatever an individual chooses is up to them and it's not if we didn't get together they died in vein but that instead of focusing so much on what I want I should deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeply consider how much I want it and would I want someone else to literally die for it.

Maybe it "works out" (it doesn't, she's dead). Maybe he realizes that he fucked up with her and he has a chance to redeem himself still with me. Maybe he begins to see my true struggles. Maybe he decides life is too short and unpredictable to "wait for the farm" because people will literally die before it happens. Maybe he comes home and decides finally that we can live together (not right away). That we need each other.

How can it happen wrapped in her death? Plagued by her memories. Is it real? Is it just fear?

I'm still bitter. I can't turn it off. I said nothing, really. I don't know what to say. It's better in my experience to say nothing when everything you have is shit.

I guess now it's to wish for him to come home but I should specify alive. And not on drugs. Not insane. It's sad he's alone right now. It's sad he made that choice.

He's honestly been my reason to be alive for the past two years. He made life bareable. I don't know what to do with anything without him because my will to live is gone.

I guess I'm a selfish terrible person.

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jeantparks · 7 years

Text

What the heck’s going on aboard Yahtzee?

There’s been a lot of progress going on aboard Yahtzee these days. While Jill’s been working during the week, I’ve been getting as much done with the boys as possible and then when the weekends come, I’m on it. The thing is, I’ve found that even though a number jobs have been started, there aren’t many that have been finished. And the ones that have been completed would probably be noticeable to only Jill or me. Ahh, such is the life of boat projects.

Thankfully I get to walk down to all the boat projects with views like this.

Upon last report, I’d ripped out some plumbing to the sink in the aft head and built a new drawer, re-finished the windlass motor and basically gotten the boat ready for an Alaskan winter. Since that time there has been a flurry of things happening, decisions being made and lots of indecision about which way to go on a few projects.

Though a lot may not be “finished” yet, here’s what’s in the works:

Re-finishing Woodwork

A primary consideration when thinking about moving off the boat for the winter was that we could tackle some work we otherwise wouldn’t with four souls aboard. Sanding and varnishing was very near the top of that list.

While Yahtzee has some nicely finished brightwork down below, there were some places that had become a little lackluster over the years. Chief among them were the areas around the companionway and the main bulkhead behind our cabin heater. Due to a lack of heat displacing material, heat from the diesel fireplace dried out the wood and made the finish look a bit off. Also, there were a few dings that needed fixing.

Woodwork isn’t necessarily difficult, but neither is it interesting or fun to write about. It’s just time consuming and relatively messy. I’ve spent days sanding, cleaning up the dust, varnishing and then sanding some more. And then I put in some new aluminum flashing to protect the wood.

Part of the companionway before…

…and after.

So far, everything has turned out exceptionally well. Plus, a new project sprouted when we began sprucing up the interior a bit: a new headliner. Yahtzee’s headliner, or ceiling, has never been my favorite part of the boat, but I wasn’t keen on doing the project while we lived aboard. Now we’re in the perfect spot to get this done. So stay tuned on that one.

Pondering our Heater

To get started on the bulkhead woodwork, I had to remove our diesel fireplace. What I found is a heater that is in very tired shape. We’ve given it a lot of use over the years and spent time and money repairing it along the way. And now might be the moment to cut our losses and get a new one. It’s old, the back is rusty and brittle, and it creates a ton of nasty soot. In researching replacements, I realized that a new diesel heater isn’t as expensive as I thought, and that newer models will actually provide the same amount of heat in a smaller, more user-friendly unit. If anyone has experience with the Dickinson Alaska, I’m all ears.

New Arch Solution

One of the things that has always bothered me about our boat and home is how the wind turbine and radar are — or should I say, were — setup on the stern. Several problems existed here: they were each mounted on the aft end of the cockpit coamings with four large bolts and then had a hole cut for wires. That’s 10 holes in the deck! Why, when one of them is bound to leak — and the starboard pole did. The other problem is that the starboard pole was mounted directly above the AC inlet and battery charger. That makes no sense to me.

Yahtzee with the ugly old poles.

No poles.

The other problem with the whole setup is that it was clearly put together in separate stages by one or two previous owners and didn’t match. They basically mishmashed an arch together that didn’t look good or function all that well.

My goal, then, is to have a new aluminum arch fabricated that gets welded and bolted solidly to the toe rail on each side. I’ve got an engineer and welder helping who clearly knows his stuff and is working through this with me to make sure we get it right. By welding it to the toe rail, which is exceptionally strong, we can fill 8 holes in the deck, get rid of the leak and leave two holes for wires. That’s a win. Another win is that I can properly run new wires with actual seals that don’t let water in. Once the arch has been mounted, we can then weld on radar and antenna brackets, the wind turbine, and anything else that suits my fancy. That project, too, is in the works.

Cushions

The bottom line here is that we need new cushions and we want them done well. This isn’t a project, per se, because we’re not doing them ourselves, but getting new interior cushions in the salon has been on our list since we bought Yahtzee over five years ago. And for good reason. The ones we have are from 1984 and are, should I say, past their prime. Because this is a job we’re hiring out, it’s the first of the big ticket, just-plunk-down-the-cash, type things that just have to get done. Once it is done it’ll make a huge difference, and then we’ll be on to the next one — new sails?

These old cushions had to go.

Fortunately, writing all this out and reading through it makes me think, “Wow, this is all doable!” But for every project I’ve started and have yet to finish there are many more waiting on the list that I’m sure will — whether out of necessity or due to my own wild ideas — spawn new ones. Such is the life of a sailor and boat owner. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.