to have a beer with my sommelier friend, Chris, after work.. and if that doesn’t come to fruition then I rush home to open a couple wines, I may open a couple reds to see how they react to oxygen and taste at different stages. In the loft, there are not tables, hardly. My usual has been moved, and now, rather, I sit at the only seated table, by the stairs, and one chair at its stationing; meant for me, to be. Just finished with a group of ladies from Nebraska and MN, celebrating birthdays, all of them, I guess all turning the same age this year. And their attitude, story and disposition only pleasurable, laughing and chatting and uncomplicated, just how any interaction over wine should be. I have to work quick in this loft, and think about how to get the writing out– has to be the blog, what I once scorned I know see as foolish to– why hate what’s essentially free? The copying of pages, at least at this point will only add clutter to the condo, and cost what I can supply, money-and-other-facet-wise. So I exhale and breath in my Loft.. sorry if I didn’t capitalize earlier.. this session, like an unfiltered wine; rough, raw, honest, TRUTHFUL. The kegs over there, by Jeff’s office, getting my attention for some reason.. beer, when I come from wine, but it doesn’t represent an antithesis, at all! Why do people, some, think so? All of us in the wine world enjoy beer, at least the people with whom I invest time. 16 minutes.. no way I’m landing on a thousand words.. not today.. maybe tomorrow when I can bend the clock a bit. Thinking tonight I’ll look for or project a certain character, in wine, meaning when I open the bottle and start interaction I’ll meet… whatever character I’m targeting. Like what? Well, tonight I want romance in the character, truthful charm and nothing intrusive.. so, a Rhône? No.. a Merlot? Maybe. But I don’t have any Merlots at home, I don’t think– or wait, I may have one.. can’t recall at the moment, not that my wine collection or ‘cellar’ is so expansive.. I’ll stop by the store, find a couple Merlots to play with, meaning I may only have a couple tastes and dump the rest– OR, bring to work tomorrow for the crew to taste. And that’s another aspect many don’t get about wine.. it’s to share, to build community and conversation, character, and exploration like a book, let it drive you mad, keep you awake, have you forward, or diagonal, or in circles.. that’s indicative of some loving dynamic. 11-something minutes now, and I think of what Katie’s doing on her travels.. I do hope she writes, or takes more pictures or at least journals, something.. she has to! How can’t she? Well, she or someone could say, “No time.” True. But if you want to capture a moment then you do. And she is taking pictures, which I love, so that’s a start. And maybe that’s her method. We are the same, but we’re not. Katie equates, she measures, I just leap.. my approach to wine is consideration of character and story and a loose projection of how the character will develop, or “evolve” as Zach likes to say. Mine, more a reader’s proclivity. Not that mine’s right, but it’s mine. And that’s what I hope to discuss with my friend Chris, how wines greet the sipper, their character, different language evoked from the wine itself. Time ready myself for leave from this lovely Loft– I’m singing in wine’s climate and code.. watch me, no worries, only the pursuit I cited the other day, and above.. my notes my life my way my story… The beginning of Massamen’s notes….. Not just an adjunct. I will not be KEPT!