Cup Of Tea

I'm sitting here with a cup of tea. This is new. I never really drink tea. I suppose it's an acquired taste that I've never had much interest in acquiring. I've always seen it as something with medicinal purposes only -- to imbibe when I'm not feeling well, to soothe the sore throat, to help open the blocked sinus cavity a bit, to help the body release the toxins that ail me. But to sit and sip a cup while I sit and try to write? Unheard of.

Generally there is always a cup of something beside me as I write. Maybe I'll have a cup of coffee to stimulate the mind, or perhaps a glass of wine if I need to reign in a bit of the creative fire that spirals out of control, or maybe a gin and tonic if I'm feeling feisty, but tea? No offense to myself but, that just doesn't sound like my style, does it?

To be absolutely honest with myself, and you, the cup of tea isn't a result of some new found intellectual enlightenment I've achieved. It actually came about because I simply didn't have a lot of options. I already had a cup of coffee around 8:00 p.m., which my daughter wisely pointed out would probably keep me awake longer than I'd like and ultimately make me late for work tomorrow morning, so I couldn't really counter what she said with another cup of coffee. And given the writer's block I've had lately, I'm certainly not in need of wine to help reign in the wild fires of creative thought passing through my head right now. And my fairly new life as a Celiac has made gin a forbidden spirit, so obviously we will have none of that, regardless of how feisty I may be, in the weeks/months/years to come (those days are gone... wave goodbye to the Bombay Sapphire and Stellar). So, my only options were water (life or not, it just lacks in flavor), orange juice (um... no thanks, not writing material at all), or tea (Good Earth Original or Mint Medley and the word Medley beat out the word Original so I went with the mint).

To be even more honest with myself, and you, I sit here drinking this minty fresh cup of tea because I promised myself I would write tonight even if I had nothing grand and spectacular on my mind, and I must have something to sip while I do that. (Obviously, this post is far from grand and spectacular. I'm working very hard not to delete this stupid thing right now. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're all just as bored as I am, but you're going to continue to read it just as I'm going to continue to write it with the hope that something somewhat amusing may come from it. You know, something odd like the fact that I just google searched mint tea and ran across some homeopathic guru's advice on the pros and cons of mint tea. One of the cons, for you gentlemen out there, is that prolonged use of mint tea can lower testosterone levels. For women with Polycystic whatever that is called on your ovaries, lowering testosterone levels in your body is a good thing, but for the men of Earth who take great pride in their virility well... you might want to stop drinking it lest you find yourself with a prescription for cialis much earlier in your lives than originally anticipated.)

I suppose I could get all mystical right now and say something like I'm drinking tea because it does "soothe the throat" and having writer's block is a form of "sore throat" since I can't really "speak my mind," but that would be a little ridiculous (or, at least I'm not in the mood to be that ridiculous right now). I might as well call upon the power of the unicorns and leprechauns and ask them if they'd like to join me in the study for a spot of tea and a cigar (though, I guess the cigar would require a glass of port instead of tea. What does one smoke with a cup of tea? Maybe some strange rose petal tobacco out of one of those dirty hookahs the local college kid stole from the Oasis Hookah Bar down the street?)

Wow... I'm really reaching here. This has got to be one of the worst posts I've ever put up here. (Oh boy... I just stared at the clock and talked myself out of deleting this again. I'm actually sitting here telling myself that writing is a craft that requires discipline, and yes I do believe that's true,and yes I know that if I don't write something I know of at least two people who are going to start hounding me again the way they did last week. But seriously... tea? What was I thinking? The best I got out of it was a lower testosterone level and a minty fresh aftertaste in my mouth, which is also a little strange. It's like some downgraded peppermint schnapps or something, which I always hated. Maybe I should've gone with the Good Earth Original. It at least has a bit of spice to it. If one wants to soothe the throat and clear the way for the creative voice, maybe one should spice it up a bit. Who knows... I guess I'm not really down with this "cup of tea" thing. I'll give myself points for trying and I'll hit the post button before I give in to the delete button.)