(I've deleted a bunch of whiny crybaby bullshit.)

I need a break from this. Probably just a couple of days. I doubt that I'd last much longer than that.

Until then, some of you know where to find me.

You don't see very many after work beer reports from me for a few reasons.

First, I kind of stopped going to the haunted bar after work.

Second, I hardly ever try anything unusual or new after work.

Third, I'm lazy.

Fouth, nobody cares anyway.

Well today I went to Rich O's after work. I went because I'm subscribed to this e-mail thingy that the owner sends out, and the e-mail thingy I got Monday promised a certain beer. I went, and I had some of the beer. I even updated the official description on my beer page:

Great Lakes Christmas Ale (80)

Another winner from this excellent brewery. Very complex but well balanced. Starts out sweet, followed by a surprising bit of cinnamon heat at the end. Nothing overpowering. Yummy.

Every day I climb a little higher. Every day I get a little closer to freeing myself from this dark chasm.

But I'm not out yet.

I look down at the swirling blackness below me, and I can't help but wonder, how much would it hurt if I fell to the bottom again now? Or now? Or right now?

I can't tell. The bottom is lost in the darkness. All I really know is that every inch of upward progress is another inch I could fall. Another inch closer to freedom, but also another inch closer to death.

I don't think I want to die. Not again.

But until that day when I finally claw my way out of here, and back into my life, the fear of falling will increase with every move I make.

The blackness follows me up, obscuring all of the progress I've made. It taunts me.

I'm already so terrified of falling that I can barely will myself to move, and I've still got a long way to go.

Sometimes I think I should just stop, but I can't. There are no ledges upon which I can rest.

Sometimes I think I should climb back down.

Sometimes I think I should jump.

Then, at least, I could stop being so afraid.

Tonight I was hoping to tell the tale of my exciting journey to The Land Of Oz.

No such luck.

The night was a complete waste, weather-wise. At least here at my house it was. All it did was rain.

And I was really looking forward to seeing some flying monkeys.

Tonight's one of those slight chance of severe weather nights, complete with a tornado watch. This is in stark contrast to the other night when, 75 miles West of me, two dozen people were killed by a tornado that supposedly had zero chance of forming.

So tonight I get to sleep fully-clothed, on my couch, with my weather alert thingy by my side, ready to run into my basement or into my front yard - whichever suits my mood, should severe weather threaten.

This is quite cool, having storms like this in November.

It would be slightly less cool to be killed by a tornado tonight, but at least it would get me out of work tomorrow.

Tomorrow's supposed to be our main threat. Fucking all Hell will probably come unleashed and I'll be stuck at work.

Okay, let's say you're stuck in rush hour traffic. Cars are lined up nose to ass as far as the eye can see. Traffic is crawling along, too fast to simply coast, but too slow to actually touch the accelerator.

Let's also say that someone in the next lane over wants to get into your lane. Maybe there's a wreck up ahead, maybe their exit is nearby. Whatever. They pull up alongside you, or maybe a little ahead of you, and they hit their turn signal.

(Turn signals, for those of you that don't know, are those doohickeys that stick out of the side of your steering column. You click the doohickey up to signal your intention and desire to turn right, and you click it down when you want to go left.)

So this person has signaled that they want to merge into your lane, ahead of you. I say let them in.

Stop or slow down, make a gap in front of your car, and let them into your lane.

Now, you may be asking, "Dave, you shithead. Why the fuck would I want to let them get into my lane?"

This is a reasonable question, and I understand why you're asking it. Except for the shithead part. That was really uncalled for.

Everybody wants to be a selfish prick when they're behind the wheel of a car. Shit, that's half the fun of having the damn thing. The other half is that you get to sing along to the radio without anyone hearing how horrible you sound.

But I digress.

The thing about letting that person cut in front of you is this: You get to be nice to them, but you still get to be a selfish prick to everyone behind you!

It's win/win!

Let's say, for argument's sake, that you don't let the poor sap in. What do you suppose he'll do?

Remember, he's a selfish prick, just like you.

He's going to drive even further ahead and he's going to try to cut in front of someone that's already way ahead of you.

Maybe that other person has read this entry, so he knows what to do. He slows down and lets the poor sap in.

What happens next is what I like to call a chain-reaction. I didn't make that term up. It's from a movie or something. I think Ted "Theodore" Logan and some hot girl were in it. That Leaving Las Vegas girl I think.

But I digress.

The guy way ahead of you taps his brakes to let the poor sap in. The guy behind him taps his brakes, and so on. By the time you get more than about four cars back from where the actual merge is taking place, those people don't know what the fuck is going on. All they see is a bunch of brakes lighting up ahead of them.

So they slam on their brakes and come to a complete stop. So does the person behind them, and the person behind them and so on and so on until you are forced to come to a stop and sit for a good thirty seconds until the traffic starts moving again.

And, while you're sitting there stopped, that merger and that mergee way up ahead - they've gone on about their merry way. They're probably already home getting laid, while you're still stuck in traffic.

You could have been that mergee!

But nooooooooooooooooooo! You couldn't take one second out of your precious life to help a fellow human being. So instead, you're getting thirty seconds stolen from you. Karma is a bitch, isn't it?

If you'd just let the poor sap in when you'd had the chance, your inconvenience would have been minimal, but you'd still have had the satisfaction of knowing that everyone behind you would suffer.

Like I said, it's win/win.

I hate Mondays soooooooo much.

But this one just got a little tiny bit better. Maybe even a lot better.

I came in this morning and checked my calendar and saw that the entire afternoon was full of stupid meetings.

Imagine, if you will, my glee when I checked my calendar again just now and saw that all of the stupid useless meetings were last Monday, and that I have this afternoon open.

Yay!