On getting stoned.... and tea.

What a crazy freaking day it was. I had to go to the dentist today. It sucked, it always sucks, but at least I made a new friend: nitrous oxide. Mmmm... I was there for almost two hours, and I barely even noticed it! I had my headphones on, and was listening to Weird Al on shuffle, which (combined with the drugs) was very interesting. The few times I bothered to focus my eyes, I was watching billiards, then poker, then I'm not entirely sure, but there was a lot of fast movement, so I tried not to focus anymore.

I'm not sure if I liked it or not. time was... strange, to say the least. It felt like riding wave after wave of blacking out; I never went entirely out, but I was never really clear either. It just was degrees of how out and clear I was, and it really was like a wave. For a while (a few minutes, maybe a month, I dunno), I could have sworn I was going to die, but I didn't seem to mind too much. Hell, you could have told me that a five year old was going to be drilling in my mount and I doubt I would have cared!

With about ten minutes left, they started weening me off the "good stuff", and switched me to straight oxygen. That sucked, it burned, and I wasn't ready to come down yet. I think I might have begged for them to do more work, but to be honest it's not entirely clear anymore.

I started really cleaning up on my way back to work, and by the time I got there I was feeling pretty clear. I may have been talking to myself in the car, I'm not really sure...

the only thing I really remember is that at one point I really had to pee, but had completely forgotten what peeing was, and just knew I had an uncomfortable pressure somewhere past my feeling range. Since I wasn't sure how to explain this to the dentist without sounding like an idiot, I decided not to say anything. That's probably for the best, as I'm afraid of what I might have said!

Of course, that's not even the exciting thing that happened today, just a fun little aside. The best part of my day was getting home, and having this waiting for me:




What could be in the box???



Let's find out together, shall we???



That's right, it's tea! Tea, and a very cool tea pot!



In case you can't tell, that's the tea on the left, and the teapot on the right. More on the pot in a minute...

What kind of tea did I get? Blood Orange, Rooibos, Spearmint, and Chamomile. Ok, technically not tea, since it does not have real tea in it. Herbal tincture would be a better description, but then I'd just sound like an idiot!



Here's a close-up of the Blood Orange tincture. Delicious smelling!!! Kinda looks like potpourri, doesn't it?



Brewing brewing brewing. The teapot is super cool, you put your water in, microwave it, then throw the loose tea or herbs in, and let it brew a few minutes. In the case of these brews, 7 minutes at 180 degrees is the magic number.

How do you get the tea out without the leaves coming out?



Kinda hard to see here, but it goes so damned fast I didn't have time to line up a good shot. What happens is this: you set the pot on TOP of your glass, and the pressure opens up a valve that lets the liquid drain out the bottom (into your cup!) while straining the leaves up top. Then you just throw the leaves out, and enjoy.

So, my verdict? The pot is super cool, and I can't wait to try some real teas, and some other herbal concoctions in it. As for the four sample flavors I got?

Blood Orange - Kinda weak, needs 2 teaspoons full per pot of water. Pretty tasty, kinda like licking the rind of an orange. Not bad, but I probably won't buy it in larger quantities.

Spearmint - Amazing. The smell is mind blowing even before brewing, and the flavor is pretty intense. It's a great pick-me-up tea, I'm just sorry now that I drank it so late in the evening...

Chamomile - Delicious. My favorite so far, I'll probably be buying this in bulk. I like chamomile anyway, and the difference between this and that crap you buy in a bag is amazing. This will probably be something I'll be drinking every night, that's how much I love it. If I ever have a daughter, I'll name her Chamomile. Or not, if the misses says no. Damn women!

Rooibos - I dunno, I haven't tried it. I've never been a big fan of this (it's also called Red Tea, so look out for it), but maybe it's really good when it's fresh. I'll have to get back to you on this.

I generally avoid plugging other people's stuff on here, because you're here to see me DAMMIT, and I'm not sharing my limelight with just any old internet bum wandering around cyberspace. I'm making an exception: go to www.adagio.com now. NOW! Go, I'll wait....

Hmmm... Lalalalala.... I wonder how many holes I' have in my chair... Let's see, one... two... three ~CRUNCH~ three. :)

Back? Ok, cool. If you like tea, you should buy it from there, I can say that it is very fresh, and 1000 times better than anything you've ever bought in a store.... Unless you go to a tea store... and if you do have a tea store nearby, let me know how it is, I've always wanted to go to one.

Well, I've got a ton of internet out there to surf around on, so I'll be seeing you. Have a good tea-filled night, I'll see you again next time.

Dr S

PS: A quick follow up: I gave up on the dream thing. I just couldn't keep up with reminding myself to do reality checks all day long; it became impossible to get anything done. Maybe someone else out there can try it and let me know how cool it is.