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I got accused of spreading tea porn in the Scribophile moderators forum.

From today's post in the Scribophile moderator's forum: *** TEA PORN *** Having my first go at the 10g piece of 2005 pu-erh tea. Initial notes: Breaking it into two 5g pieces is not easy when you don't have a tea needle. My wife knows exactly when the worst time is to get in my way. Once I got the piece broken in half (with some shreds, alas) and my wife out of the kitchen, I got everything going: 5g tea rinsed in 12oz. water at 212°F. I immediately dumped the first rinse, then refilled the steeper with the same amount of fresh boiling water over the same leaves, then let it steep for 4 minutes. BTW, for my tea porn friends, I use an IngenuiTEA Teapot from Adagio Teas to steep. Don't let that be a turn-off: it works, and has for me for years. First steep results: strong tea, with a little astringency at the back of the throat. N.B.: I always have to let things cool down some, lest I fry my tongue. Today, I fried part of my tongue. Note two: it's hard to enjoy tea while one's wife is talking business on the phone (loudly) nearby. As it cools, the tea gives off a woody aroma. There are traces of woodiness in the taste as well as it cools. A slight warming sensation spreads throughout the upper body. It's at this point that I wish I'd committed a blasphemy. I have some amber crystal sugar that I got as a sample from Adagio Teas. It's like rock candy, except that it dissolves faster. A rock or two would be nice at about this point. I'm assured, though, from the description on Teavivre.com, that a rock candy sweetness will develop after about the third steeping. The last drops go down smoothly. Unfortunately, I'm left with a combination burnt tongue / astringent feel in my mouth. However, the bitterness isn't so bad if you're used to drinking unsweetened tea at the drive-thru (another blasphemy, I know, but spare me the carbonation and sugar). I'm looking forward to future steepings, but after 12oz. of a liquid that's old enough to have a driver's license, I need some rest at the moment.

mlooney & ProfessorTomoe Shipping. We get it there come Hell or high water.

I don't know ... maybe this ... (Ashley <-> Elliot) ^ <---- (oo) Susan Catalina

/me takes note. "I got that one..."

Tea porn comes at a steep price.

They had an interesting story on public radio recently. A guy taking a college course on government had to do a paper on Constitutional Amendments. He found a chapter on proposed Amendments that had been sent from Congress to the state legislatures for ratification, but had not been passed by enough of them to become Amendments. There was one, saying that Congress couldn't give themselves an immediate pay raise, it had to wait until at least after the next election to take effect. It was proposed in something like 1789, only ratified by nine states. So, he wrote about this for his paper. And got a C. He appealed to his professor, who declined to change the TA's grade. So, he determined that he'd show her -- he'd get the Amendment ratified! He started writing to state legislators. And writing, and calling, and visiting, and eventually he got someone to sponsor a bill in one of the needed states, and it passed. So he wrote, and called, and campaigned, until another state ratified it. And another, and another. It took him ten years, but the last state needed finally ratified the Amendment in 1992, and it became the 27th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. One guy. One very determined guy. And one professor who, when a reporter asked her if she had heard about this, or knew that he said he'd done it all because she'd given him a bad grade, was tickled pink that she had had a hand in changing the Constitution. She wound up submitting the paperwork at the university they'd both long since left, to get the grade officially changed to an A+.

When my mom asked what 50cents can afford nowadays, I said "the credit card surcharge".

That works. Of course we will need to add in Liz in college...

You might have expected that, seeing as that the Dragonriders series is a rare example of veterinarian science fiction. Naturally CritterKeeper would show up to defend it. (Heads off to the book recommendation thread to recommend the entire series)

When this song was in the top ten on the Billboard chart, JFK was still alive.

So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde, and that's it hangin' on the shed ALL TOGETHER NOW Tie me kangaroo down, sport, Tie me kangaroo down Tie me kangaroo down, sport, Tie me kangaroo dowwwwwwwwn!

Do you really believe that 'charity' had any intention of benefiting them? I'm not sure people in that "charity" ever saw kangaroo with their own eyes. If there are any "people". May be private action of that single person. She's probably going to end up saying that, or maybe Diane will jump to that conclusion, on Friday. Diane does know that Ellen and Nanase knows Susan personally, they're the reason Susan and Diane are meeting. I wonder though if Diane knew that Adrian had been taken to the hospital the day of the "gas leak and crazed stalker from Ellen's past" and might assume that Adrian tried to protect Ellen. Hmmmm ... unless Adrian spent multiple days in the hospital, why would Diane know he was there? On the other hand, if she knows, yes, him trying to protect Ellen makes sense given the official explanation. We don't really know how rich or poor her adopted family was. My impression is that they were comfortable enough to adopted two kids, they're already putting one through college and they probably plan on Diane going to college as well. Diane doesn't have a job that we know of so we don't know if she's got her own income or still on an allowance. The fact that she has a card doesn't mean much, debit cards are easy to get and don't require a steady income. She is dating boys for money. No matter how much money her family has, SHE personally doesn't seem to have that much. Unless she's doing it just for sport and the money are way to keep score. The family might have enough money for two kids in college just because they were saving for that since they adopted them. Or maybe they just think giving her bigger allowance would be spoiling her. Diane already knows Susan know Ellen and Nanase. They helped them to meet. Better not mention Grace, yes - Diane certainly knows Grace is friend with Ellen and Nanase but Susan doesn't know about that. I would expect that potential is USUALLY magic potential. So far we know he picked following favourites: Nanase, Justin, Noah, Grace, Ellen, Edward, Noriko, Mrs. Kitsune. And yes, it seems Mrs. Kitsune didn't like to embrace her magic, although what happened with Noriko certainly didn't make their relationship better. She still rather send Nanase to the school he's teaching in ... was it because she realized it will be useful? Or because alternative would be having her in same school as Tedd?

OK, as part of the web of shipping: (Ashley -> Elliot) -> <- Susan <-Catalina

The potted flowering plant made it to my friend's father's funeral. He called it "beautiful." Told his mother that he wanted it if she didn't. At least some good came from this.

English muffin toasted. Topped with Tiptree Little Scarlett Conserve, which (according to the novels) was James Bond's favorite jam. That should give me a positive energy rush for a little while.

Got a phone call to remind me about my appointment with the psychiatrist tomorrow. This appointment has been three times rescheduled. I assured the receptionist that I would be there this time. Barring any suspected heart attacks, that is.