By Michael W. Harris

So I have been on a bit of a streak with the whole blogging thing. Starting in early January, I have been successfully posting once a week thanks to a back log of ideas in addition to writing two posts a week for two months—essentially writing and editing multiple posts simultaneously, though usually only posting one. Some of that was thanks to the emotional wall I had built and deciding to spend all my free time on the weekend writing, but it was also thanks to really having no other projects in front of me since I was out of library school.

So if I was writing two posts a week but only posting one, what were the other posts that I was writing and not posting? Well, I have been prepping a series that will probably take the better part of a year to unspool and fully post in which I revisit a number of films from my past that have continued to “haunt” me in various ways. I am framing it around the philosophical idea of “hauntology,” specifically the form in which it refers to a “nostalgia for lost futures.” I won’t go into much detail right now as I have a whole introduction written that lays out the ideas and goals for the project. As of right now I have roughly two months’ worth of posts written, but I want to spend some more time tweaking, editing, and really getting my mind clear on the project and its aims. Right now, it is at a tipping point of spiraling out of control and growing too large and my losing control of it. And when that happens, I usually get overwhelmed by the scope of the project and give up.

I really do not want that to happen. I am really proud of the writing that I have done for it so far, but I need to make sure that it has a clear aim, because in some ways, many ways, I see where it could also become an actual book in the future.

However, while I busy myself getting that project truly molded into shape to start posting, and while also trying to clear my desk of some other projects <cough>Planet of the Apes article</cough>, I am planning on trying to start doing some serious reviews of gins. As I have detailed in previous posts, I enjoy gin and, partially inspired by a friend who has been taking copious notes while tasting whiskey, I think I am going to try and refine my palate for the drink.

Now, some friends and family have expressed some concern about my drinking habits of late. And I want everyone to know, here and in the open, that I have shared that concern. Especially back in October, when I was clearly not in a good emotional state, I was certainly using it as an escape. Now, I never deemed it a problem—I would never get drunk or have a hangover the next day, and it never effected my work—but it was certainly a marked increase in my pre-moving habits and did grow to concern me. Before I moved to Virginia, I would have a drink maybe a few times a week at most, but after I moved, it was rare when I would go a night without having at least one drink. I consciously worked to scale it back after October, and I am almost back to where I was before I moved. In the coming months, I hope to get back to my more normal habits. If nothing else, I am a man of routines, both for good and for ill.

Additionally, as not only a way of “cleansing the palate” before I start reviewing, but also to prove to myself that I have gotten back into a healthy relationship with gin and other distilled and brewed beverages, I am in the middle of abstaining from not only gin, but also all alcohol for at least two weeks. And after that, I will primarily only be enjoying drinks as part of my gin reviewing project, which will limit myslef to three drinks per week (my process will be laid out in an upcoming post). So, thank you to everyone who said something, you were heard, and your concerns were shared by me.

So that is what is coming up. I have a few other ideas for random posts that I might throw up here or there, but these two series are going to take over much of this space in the coming year, so be on the lookout for them. However, I also expect that I might have to skip the occasional week as I do want to try and have a real social life, but I will do my best to continue a regular schedule as a can. No more extended hiatuses!

But until then, Kanpai!