December’s just like any other month

The last couple weeks have been interesting to say the least. For once, an actually promising job lead came through a cold call. And while I’m still waiting to know whether that particular opportunity will pan out, I’m still sending out apps hoping some employer will bite. An overarching theme tends to be life keeps slowly chugging along. The same could be said for a friend of mine, who related basically a similar story when I visited his business during last night’s Art Hop (nothing really new or exciting since the previous time I saw him).

I’ve always enjoyed going to Art Hop. It always gives me an opportunity to walk around the city of my birth and marvel at the various works of art while occasionally running into friends I might not otherwise have a chance to see. December is usually one of the months where Art Hop is expanded, meaning there are many more venues that participate than what during a usual Art Hop, but even the regular ones I don’t ever have the time to see everything. Since I didn’t arrive until 6 p.m., I decided to focus my efforts this time near the Park Trades Center. But while walking around, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that there were some things that I’ve seen before. Certainly while there was plenty of new things to see, but I still had this feeling like this has all been done before. Perhaps it’s because Park Trades has resident galleries so when you visit multiple times, you eventually get a grasp of where certain artists are. And while there is a lot of familiarity, nothing really beats spending time at the West Michigan Glass Art Center on a frigid December evening. I just felt this Art Hop wasn’t as exciting as Art Hops I’ve attended in the past.

I also used the opportunity to try one of many new breweries which have popped up in Kalamazoo within the last year. While Tibbs was understandably packed because it was their opening night, I eventually got a seat at the bar at Gonzo’s BiggDogg Brewing, which had opened since my last trip to Kalamazoo. While there certainly is plenty of space for the bar staff to work, the bar area looked quite large within the footprint of the building. The two beers I had were the VP Ale, a terrific vanilla porter which rivals Atwater’s Vanilla Java Porter, and the Sub-Continental IPA, which is one of the best IPAs I’ve ever seen or tasted. I would put Sub-Continental with the likes of Hopslam; it was just that good. And while the pizza had some sourness that won’t get it to be one of my favorites, I definitely have to give credit for using spent grain in the dough. I may yet try their poutine, but a conversation I overheard about where they could get their cheese curds made me lean against it for the moment.

Hopefully the holidays aren’t too exhausting, but given my limited income, I know I won’t be traveling too often. I do enjoy seeing family, but like everything else, it just seems like it’s been done too many time before. Although should I get a new job (or at least be in the definite process of that), it’ll make my Christmas just a tad bit brighter.