Vodka

As a former hardcore Soju-drinker, I have never had vodka. In fact, I've never had cocktail drinks (other than cocktail soju, which I used to make!) such as white russians or mai tai. Actually, that is, until recently. My first time at a bar, I didn't know what to order except beer. I mean, what is Mai Tai? What is Sex on the Beach? Would they be something I would be able to drink? Would they be tasty? And of course, I don't have any casual drinkers in my social group (just other soju-fans) so I had no one to ask. I'll tell you the memorable story about my first time at a bar.

There's a first time for everything, and the first times are the times when you usually goof up or don't turn out the way you want. Let's just say I've pulled off other first times a lot more gracefully than this one. As an agent for T-Mobile, I was invited with some friends/colleagues to a promotional event at the House of Blues in Anaheim (I believe the city is Anaheim -- either way, it's pretty far south from where I live -- approx. 40 miles). But the House of Blues is a very nice, and it is located inside of Downtown Disney, which is a modest hodgepodge of shopping areas and restaurants/bars. Inside the place, we were given a buffet of very nice foods (there were more than five different blocks of cheese -- some where bright yellow, some were ivory, some were almost green!).

After dinner, we headed to the bar to get something. It was extremely crowded, and the bar was packed with people waving their money in the air and screaming out stuff. My friends all clamored to get beers, and were surprised that I would want something else. I was craving something fruity. I didn't want beer -- I was already too stuffed. But I lacked the savvy knowledge of these mixed drinks. So I decided to see what the person infront of me would order and if it looked good, ask them what he/she got. As you know, I'm just so logical like that.

A rather tall and large gentleman of African American (or is it just Black now? I'm just so not PC) descent was infront of me. He got his drinks and I saw that they were something orange and something yellow. Looked fruity and sweet enough, so I asked him what he got. Of course it was very loud and crowded and busy. But instead of telling me what he got, he told me what I should get. He told me that I should get "gold rusher." What this gold rusher is, I will perhaps never know, because when I got to the bartender, he said that he was out of the gold rusher. But he said he could get me a J?germeister, which of course, I spelled as "yay-girl-meister" back then. From what he said, I assumed that this J?germeister was similar to the gold rusher, which the original gentleman in this story recommended to me. So I said ok.

The bartender passed onto me a pastic cup, perhaps a 12 oz cup. At the very bottom of this cup, there was about 2 ounces of dark, mirky black liquor, and the smell was very offensive. I didn't want to look stupid (which is actually the source that makes us appear even more stupid, if I may add) so I pretended that I knew this J?germeister was supposed to be like this and walked out to meet my friends, who all had their bottles of Coors light in their hands. And I was stuck with the J?ger. I'm sure this can be a wonderful drink, and I'm sure many love it. But I was expecting something like a fruity margarita, and this, which seemed like a watered down tar, was very very not what I wanted.

Then I decided, like everything I buy, I will need to learn about it. So I actually did some research, and found some fruity drinks that seemed harmless enough, and went to places and ordered them. Now I can order a midori sour and know what I am going to get. So this brings me to my life, 2004.

I was once an alcohol-aficionado. I loved to drink. I'm no alcoholic, unless to be an alcoholic means to love alcohol, which then, I'll be an alcoholic. But along with my sudden growth spurt of lactose intolerance also came a lack of tolerance for alcohol -- I couldn't drink half of what I used to drink, and hangovers and vomiting became more frequent. Which became bad, because when my friends meet, we usually meet and drink. We don't go watch movies, or check out new gallery openings. We go to a Korean version of the pub and drink and talk. But when I can't drink, the whole point is missed. In Korean societies, you must drink -- not drinking makes you an outcast. You are excluded. So I find this a problem.

I was working on a new blog template -- something I can submit to Blogskins.com as my first piece. I wanted a vodka theme, so I checked out some vodka websites, like Absolut.com and so on. Then I got a craving for vodka, although I've never had straight vodka. And vodka is expensive. But I became crazy and went to my local Ralph's after doing my laundry, in my matching top and bottom periwinkle track suits which I only wear as pajamas and when I run out of clothing as I did last Friday (huge run-on sentence!). I bought a Skyy melon (notice that all major vodka websites are beautifully done in flash and animation and sexy music.). This is tasty. It's fruity, but it's got kicks, like a hard liquor should. I'm concocting several recipes and drinking them. I'm starting to become a vodka aficionado and I think I'm loving it!