So those hops in beer, they really do decrease libido. I never thought I'd care, but actually I'd really rather not have my libido decreased thanks so much. Also a depressant. And maybe decrease athletic performance. (Because of the estrogen?) So ordered some unhopped malt extract today, as I can't find any unhopped beer to buy. Also planning on "priming" my wine (adding a bit of sugar before bottling to make it champagne or an asti or whatever.) Thinking of just using a lemon as a preservative for the unhopped beer as that supposedly works just fine for wine. Rather not be ordering mugwort, yarrow root, etc online... We shall see.

There is also the question of how much it really matters to use certain special types of yeast as opposed to just what they have at the grocery store.

Anyway, the online info is unsatisfactory. Most are ignorant concerning gruit, think hops some essential ingredient.

It seems 16 mile interval runs are really mentally tough. Hard to stay with them. But then each third week really should be easier anyway.... My right lung is hurting a bit. But then I found out the hops in beer have estrogen in them. And read of a small informal study that found men's running was hurt by beer while women improved. So I stopped drinking beer (which is an anti-inflammatory) and now my right lung hurts.

Really don't like wine or spirits and amazingly no one at all is making gruit locally. All the beer has hops. Such is this world. So I must get on the ball and start brewing my own unhopped beer. I noticed a difference in my libido immediately when I stopped... Not sure how much it really has to do with the lung issue of course. Have been very lax concerning flax meal lately....

Started my first batch of beer. Just a standard brew, basically just following the direction and throwing some packets/cans into some water. But have more interesing plans in the future. Want to experiment with beer that doesn't use hops. Instead gruit, etc.

Also plan on making wine. Maybe even today.

So basically yeast turns sugar into alcohol. And that's it. Beer is barley, hops, yeast, and sugar. The wine recipe I'm going to do is grapes, sugar, lemons and yeast. And it really sounds like gruit would be better than hops.

Same trail as last time but just in one direction and hit this really beautiful spot where I was in a valley and the trail was almost a perfect line going down the middle of it, perfectly flat and I could follow the line of the trail almost a mile off into the distance. Other than the trail, no signs of life in any direction.

Felt very fast today. Almost felt like I was sprinting, not briskly jogging, at times. Just a 2/2 for 100 minutes. Worry my right hip will start bothering me and I'll have to slow down but so far, feeling good. Making sure to put flax meal in legume stews.

I guess this run was around ten miles. Didn't really even touch me though. Might have to go a lot farther next time. Listening to Beethoven's 9th, 7th, 3rd.

Also at home been listening to the 5th and 8th. Beethoven said people liked his 7th so much more than the 8th basically because people are stupid. Well, I like the 7th the best of all of them. Although the ode to joy of the 9th is really good. Typical preferences.

CNRN exam tomorrow. Will be glad to get that over with.

I think the headache was actually caused by bad cashews (7 months past expiration date and wife says they tasted a bit funny). Food was having a metallic taste, along with the headache for two days. With that taste going away I went on a bit of a bender and had 4 beers while I was practicing cello. That's a fun way to practice. Probably not a good idea though... According to definitions I'm close to being a heavy drinker now. A single beer is like nothing. 'Slurp' Gone.

Would like to drink a lower ALC. Like 1 or 2% and drink a lot more. And just perhaps stay better hydrated that way. Kvass sounded very good. But I would have to make my own probably. Is a place near Pittsburgh that uses a tenth century Russian recipe. I love the idea of feeling like I'm living in the middle ages. But it's an unreliable a nano-brewery. The only one in the US making kvass...

Beethoven is way too modern to support that middle ages feel. Have to expand. Arvo Part is pretty good....

Why do I like feeling like I'm in the middle ages? Why do I want my stories to have that sort of setting? I dunno. Think because I want a pretechnology time. The far past. Yet no all the way to cavemen. That's all really. And then.... I thought the other day it's like a sort of suicide. Like I'm putting myself back in time with all the other dead people. And/or a preparation for the reality of my oncoming death.

I don't know. I don't have the feeling quite right at the moment. Have an exam. Thank god no more regular school.

But perhaps something like reconciling myself to the fact they're all completely gone with practically no trace at all even of their existence? No, not really.

Like I want their lives to not feel so futile. Not quite so completely dead and forgotten? Maybe that's part of it....

I proscrastinate less. I worry less. I get on with just living more when I've got a beer in me.

The 7/2's are a bit much. Really left me dead yesterday. Think I need to just concentrate on 2/2's and 3/2's. If I want to run a race, all I need is one 3 mile run 4 days prior.