For the past eight months, I've awakened each morning to espresso, kippers and a dual internal soundtrack: Political campaigning on one side, and all the aspects of a normal life on the other.
Full disclosure: Some days I ate cereal.
My losing effort last Tuesday was like a road sign at a wilderness crossroads, informing me that one way forward is blocked for now, but the other route remains wide open for transit.
Well, okay. So be it, and let's see where the road leads. After all, turning back isn't a viable option.
As for New Albanian politics and community affairs the next four years, The Libertines aptly peg it: "We're going nowhere, but nowhere's on our way."
However, this sentiment is true only for the city of New Albany and our intellectually vacant ruling doctrine of Gahanism, and not for me, personally.
I'll surely entertain future political options, and they'll become clearer as time passes. Meanwhile, I'll still be right here at NAC, spearheading the underground opposition to reigning doltishness wherever and whatever its sources.
Otherwise, it's time to complete the process of decoupling from NABC and begin devoting my available time to discovering what I'm going to do with my life at the ripe old age of 55. Seeing as some of you have asked why there must be an uncoupling, the most honest answer I can can give short of devoting 50,000 words to the topic (although this might yet happen; stay tuned) is the simplest:
It has been 25 years, and it is time.
My eight-month sabbatical clarified something I already knew: I'm burned out, though not burned out on beer itself. Rather, I'm exhausted by, and finished with, the parameters of my relationship with beer up to this point.
In the end, business is business; I've had my time on the inside, and now I'd like to view it from a different angle. Also, at this point in time, beer appreciation in America is several miles wide and quarter of an inch deep. I find this situation appalling, and yet think there's a place in it for me, combining expertise, entertainment and education. I find myself thinking like an ex-coach in color commentary mode.
Hence, an evolving project I'm calling Roger's Simple Beer Pleasures, dedicated to the proposition that it's possible to avoid being in a hurry, taking your time, and beering locally.
I'm older now, and simple beer pleasures are the most meaningful to me. They tend to be encountered locally. It is my aim to get unplugged and explore some of them, slowly and thoughtfully. I'd tell you where it's leading, except that I've no idea ... and that's the whole point of the journey: To find out.
This endeavor may or may not lead to writing, events, demonstrations, audio-visual, and travel. For the moment, it's back to writing about beer more often at Potable Curmudgeon, and tying the writings together on social media a bit differently.
I also plan to continue helping to build the New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association, and if possible, to be involved in some way with the Brewers of Indiana Guild, which I'll be compelled to leave as a director once the buyout is final.
In summary, the revolution doesn't cease. It merely changes form. Thanks for reading.
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