1.11.2011

The Second Steep

Quality matters.
I imagine myself to be an exceedingly practical person.

Exhibit A:
Having finished my King Crimson herbal tea--think Fruity Pebbles meets tea--I wanted another. King Crimson is a deep red and fragrant tea. Then the second steep. What came out was neither tea nor water, but an anemic, fluoride pink, flavorless bastard. I had created a monster. It was hideous, but born of my hand. It was while sipping the swill that I started to wonder.

Am I cheap? Have I taken the practicality thing too far? This isn't planning an efficient route, or organizing my kitchen items by frequency of use. A line had been crossed. I dumped the pot. I believe in efficiency, deseverance, organization, simplicity, function, aesthetics, and quality. This Tea-Frankenstein was none of the above.

Brought close to the brink, the abyss looked at me. I saw myself driving around looking for cheap gas, camping parking spots at supermarkets, using coupons on dates, tipping with spare change, refusing to take a cab when tauntauns are freezing to death, cashier haggling, returning fruit, trying to use my decade old student ID, drinking Old Milwaukee Ice, not seeing movies after 6PM, buying generic medications, and resenting people who send one word text messages because I'm not on an unlimited plan. This was almost my future. This was almost me.

Practicality is sexy; being cheap is not.

5 comments :

  1. Man, if we'd only been in the same city when we each individually started drinking tea-- I could have taught you tea etiquette and saved you some heartache.

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  2. Nick drinks alcohol?

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  3. Yeah. Old Milwaukee Ice? I call bullshit.

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  4. Oolongs are awesome on successive steeps. Black teas, not so much.

    Miss you.

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  5. @Van. Where have you been all my life?

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