Three Beautiful Things 09/13/2021: Pants Stay Up at TSA, Listening to Sy Montgomery and Lulu Miller, Train Rides and a Party

 1. Last week, I didn't get the process started in time to acquire TSA Pre-Check. I was a little nervous going through security this morning because I was wearing the same pair of khakis that fell to my ankles as I went through TSA at the Newark Airport back in June. 

But, this morning, my pants didn't fall down at TSA. 

And my flight to NYC went pretty well, even though it was a day of delays. The delays didn't cause me to miss my connection to JFK at SeaTac and the delays at SeaTac and the wait for a gate at JFK didn't matter because I wasn't on a time schedule in New York. 

2. While up in the air, I listened to the beginnings of two books on audible: Sy Montgomery's Soul of an Octopus and Lulu Miller's Why Fish Don't Exist. Having watched the bewitching and moving movie, My Octopus Teacher led me to want to read Sy Montgomery's book and the first three chapters I listened to today helped deepen and broaden my love for octopuses. I love to read any accessible book that delves into animal intelligence, animal consciousness and that's exactly what Sy Montgomery does in her book. Lulu Miller's subject is human. Why Fish Don't Exist is a biographical study of the biologist, David Starr Jordan and I found the early chapters absolutely absorbing. 

3. Once off the plane at JFK, I made my way to the AirTrain for a short ride to Jamaica Station. I then bought a ticket on the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station and found the right train immediately. The train made no stops between Jamaica and Penn Station so I arrived there in no time at all. At Penn Station, I made my way to a New Jersey Transit ticket agent and purchased a ticket to Nanuet with a transfer at Secaucus. I found the right train immediately and, at Secaucus Junction, with a little help from an agent, found my way to Track H and waited about 45 minutes for the train to Nanuet to arrive. The train to Nanuet made eleven stops between Secaucus and Nanuet so the ride was just under an hour long.

I got off the train and within minutes, Debbie drove to where I was waiting in our new Camry. I piled inand she drove me to Josh and Adrienne's house.  

Once we arrived,  Debbie cracked open a pint can of District 96's Nuclear Option, a remarkable quadruple IPA with an ABV of 14%. 

I've never drunk a beer that disguised its high alcohol content like Nuclear Option. It was smooth, barely a trace of bitterness. It's not boozy, either. It's loaded with tons of Citra hops and is creamy, juicy, and unbelievably tasty and easy to drink. 

Debbie had prepared curry for dinner and saved me out a bowl. 

I didn't want to eat the curry until after I'd drunk the Nuclear Option -- I didn't want my taste buds to try to process the complexity of Debbie's curry over rice at the same time they were going nuts over the beer.

I enjoyed my dinner and then Debbie and I started drinking gin and tonic and we talked until about 2 a.m.  Two or three times I refreshed my gin and tonic with gin only, foregoing the tonic, and Debbie and I did something we hadn't done since June: we had a party.