Fun Harassing Tea Shop Employees

There's a store at our local mall called Teavana. I was excited when I first saw it was coming; I mean, I was all trying to peek behind the plastic they put over the gate. My expectations, I think, were a bit too high.

Now, I don't know if it's just the one they have here, but it seems that all the samples they ever have out, and a good amount of what they have available in-store, is blended with either Yerba Maté or Rooibos. Now that's fine, I know there are plenty of people that like them, but I don't particularly care for either one. Rooibos reminds me of coffee for some reason; I only like coffee when it doesn't taste like coffee, what I have heard referred to as "candy coffee." What teas they do have without Yerba Maté or Rooibos mostly seem to have large chunks of fruit in them. Good on occasion, but in general not my cup of tea. (Now is that a horrible pun, or far too literal use of a cliché?)

I was in there today to get a tea pot - because even if the vast majority of their selection of teas I have not found to be to my taste so far (or my price range), they do have a lot of nice pots. I was sidetracked by the associate holding a tray of samples, eager for something to do. I tried one of the samples (both of which had Rooibos, like most the times I have visited. Why?) and then made the mistake of chit-chatting. Or she was a good salesperson. Either way, I found myself smelling several different gallon-sized tins of tea, while the salesperson scoured the wall for spiced teas without Yerba Maté or Rooibos. Her efforts met with limited success, so I ended up asking to see the one Pu-Erh I saw on the shelf (with strawberry chunks? Again, why?). To be fair, it did smell good, and out of curiosity I asked how long it had been aged.

It was not on the canister.

Not in the training manual.

Not online.

Now the staff were nice and quite helpful, and checked all those places. Customer service was excellent, but somehow I get the feeling I'm not the target market. Of course, American tea snobs are probably a pretty small target market, compared to the larger category of people who just like tea. Especially when it's fruity.

Book Review: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

This week I read "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland" by Dianna Wynne Jones. It purports that much of what we see in generic fantasy novels is stage dressing in a theme park, put on by management for the sake of the 'tourists.' It breaks down the cliches you'll be familiar with if you've read at least a few epic fantasies, and puts them into the form of a guidebook. Humorous if you're a fan of the genre, or a reference of what to watch out for if you're writing fantasy.

It's good, but much of it was pretty much along the lines of what I'd seen on tvtropes already. Although, being specifically about fantasy, and fantasy in literature, it went a little more in depth. For example, theorizing about the ecology of Fantasyland. Taking into account the special properties of the horses there, such as being able to gallop all day without rest, sometimes without food or water, the conclusion is made that they must be a separate species from our horses--one that breeds through pollination, as the mares never seem to be in heat, and the stallions never show interest. Other observations include that no one wears socks in Fantasyland, and that the primary meal is stew, which is not good traveling food, as it takes so long to make. I don't believe tvtropes mentions that one, though I don't dare check unless I want to waste the rest of my evening, for precisely the reason expressed in this xkcd comic:

Finally: Poi!

After a few years of watching videos on Youtube, I finally got myself a set of Poi to start playing with. No, no fire poi yet. Although that would be cool, skin grafts are not my idea of fun; I'm going to practice with my nice, safe, LED poi before doing anything more daring.

And a lot of practice that will be. Like most things, when done well, it's a lot harder than it looks. Practicing will be fun, though. Especially when it gets warmer out and I can practice where there's more room - no narrow hallways or low ceilings. That has had the good effect of forcing me to stick to the simple stuff, instead of jumping ahead to harder moves and getting frustrated. Now I can consistently do a few beats of the butterfly without the balls colliding. Still working on that.

There is a series of instructional videos at playpoi that I'm going to start trying, and a plethora of others on Youtube if you find yourself interested.

You Have to Begin Somewhere

In leiu of getting an actual website set up, I'm starting a blog. A website of the more traditional variety is still planned, but it will take a little time, so I am going to take advantage of the speed and ease of blogging. What better time to start than now?

It is my intent to cover a wide variety of material in this blog. Hobbies, interests, and random thoughts, among other things. Yes, I do realize that a more focused blog might garner a larger or more devoted audience, but that's not why I'm doing this. For the most part. :)