What I will miss most (#8)

Number eight on the list of things I will miss most while in the Peace Corps is actually a potpourri of three things - brewing and drinking beer, playing video games, and watching copious amounts of hockey - what I will hence refer to as my manfecta.

In the past year or so, I have taken up the hobby of brewing beer at home.  It began with a Christmas gift and has since exploded (sometimes literally) into a honest to goodness passion for me.  I love feeling like a mad scientist in my basement while I boil, ferment, and bottle up to five gallons of testosterone extract at a time.  The ability to add one type of hops over another or a different kind of grain here and there to totally change the flavor profile is exciting.  It makes me feel like anything in the world is possible...perhaps not, but I've made some really tasty brew.

A real good oatmeal stout: the reason we all have lips.  

Its a great hobby for me because, as you might have guessed, I also like to drink beer.  I am not what you might call an over-indulger, I just enjoy different kinds of beer (usually dark) and the cacophony of flavor promised by a great brew.  Kind of like a low class wine connoisseur.

I think I will miss the process of brewing beer - lining up the ingredients and tasting the progression of my beer - more than actually drinking it.  Its remarkable how satisfyingly stress relieving it is.

The second leg of my manfecta is video games.  I can't really sugar-coat this one to the rest of upstanding and decent society.  Let me preface this next part by saying that, I have undergraduate and graduate degrees that both focus on peace and conflict resolution.  However, I really really enjoy slaughtering zombies, robots, and anyone else who gets in my way when I am zoned out on my Xbox.  Listen, some people knit, some people enjoy collecting shot glasses and baby spoons, or emulating Martha Stewart...I kill zombies.


My thumbs will certainly miss my Xbox while I am in the PC.  And is it just pathetic that I am kind of bummed that I will miss some of the cool games that come out while I am gone?

The last element that makes up my holy manfecta is hockey.  There are a few reasons for this one.  First, professional sports teams in my area are not exactly in their prime.  Holding it down for us of late are the Washington Capitals - my team.  I love watching them play, they get me excited when they win, and I am bummed when they lose.  I love the physicality of the sport and how intensely the players work at each game, and the limitless strategies and tactics a coach can use to win a game.  The rivalries are great too.  The (usually) peaceful displays of team loyalty at games are exhilarating.  Goodness help the unsuspecting Cambodian who tells me they are a Pittsburgh Penguins fan - I will need to use all of my conflict resolution training on that one.

For all the uninitiated hockey fans out there - Ovechkin (on the right in RED) is way better than Crosby (left, in the urine colored jersey, also he is the one about to fall face-first onto the ice).  

My younger brother got me into hockey, and it continues to be a fun way for us to bond and get together.  I think missing hockey is also an extension of knowing how much I will miss my brother.  One positive there is that we will always have something to talk about through emails and phone calls, as I will want play-by-play updates of recent games and otherworldly Ovechkin goals.

Ok Cambodian PCVs - I need some alternatives to beer, video games and hockey while in country.  Whatcha got?