Message in a Bottle

Wow. I got this message in my inbox a few minutes ago:

From: Me
To: Me
Subject: Drink your Orval!

The 2 bottles of Orval you bought on 2005-11-27 are going to expire on the first of April, 2010! Better drink 'em (if you haven't already)!

And if you haven't, why the hell not?!

I'd all but forgotten that I'd set up a reminder to drink my cellared Orvals back when I owned such a thing in Ohio. In the event that I might have forgotten the beer itself, I apparently took the precaution of setting a timed reminder for myself to drink them before they potentially expired.

This little blast from the past has been sitting dormant for almost four years now, and I can't help but wonder what else is in store for me now that I'm getting these little time capsules. Maybe a reminder to sell all my stock before the economy possibly turns sour? In any event, it occurs to me that if I really did have this kind of power over time and space, I probably shouldn't have wasted it telling myself to drink some beer.

Four years is a long, long time ago. It seems to be an absolute eternity, and memories of then are like those of a distant, bygone era. It feels to me like I am an old veteran, forced by a sudden surge of chemicals to an indifferent amygdala to remember slivers of a war long since fought.