Anogete's Journal

Question for you tea drinkers and/or British folks out there. And if you're from the U.K., and my question is ridiculous, forgive the poor American. I love Earl Grey, and I'm under the impression that is one of the most popular teas. I've always steeped a cup from tea bags from the whole foods store or the market, never loose leaf. I've tried many different brands, and they all taste like Earl Grey to me, with very slight differences. There is a little tea shop I go to now and again for loose leaf tea. They sell their own mixes, and I've rarely been disappointed with the quality. However, I had never purchased any Earl Grey there. Today, I felt the hankering for it, so I dropped in and bought a loose leaf bag of it and some apricot-peach black tea as well. I whipped up a cup of the Earl Grey as soon as I got back to the office and was aghast. I'm very familiar with what I believe is the taste of Earl Grey. It's comforting to sit down with a cup of it. However, this recent purchase was not what I have always known Earl Grey to be. It tasted nothing like every other brand of the tea I've tried. And now I'm wondering if I've been fooled by all the other brands I've had or if the tea shop is completely off base or terribly artistic about their Earl Grey. It had more of a licorice flavor that overwhelmed the bergamot, if the bergamot was even there at all. It even has a bit of an anise taste. Don't get me wrong; I like it. It just isn't what I wanted. Have I been mislead all my life? My tongue is sad. Twinings is a favorite brand of mine, and I like their Earl Grey. They're based out of England, and they're reputable. They couldn't possibly have fudged their formula so much; the fault must lie in the tea shop I went to. Right?

God, that was dull, wasn't it? On to more interesting and/or risque things...

I found this article to be interesting, yet also disturbing and rather frightening. The basic gist is that a group of men were asked to complete a survey that rated their attitudes toward women. Then they were shown pictures of various things, foremost being women in different attires, while their brain patterns were monitored. They found that men who rated as "hostile sexual" (i.e. misogynists) reacted to bikini-clad women as if these women were objects, not people. The portion of a person's brain that interprets another individual's intent did not activate because they did not view the woman as a person, but an object. Yikes. The article did make mention of possibly reproducing the study with women instead of men as the test subjects, and I think that would be fascinating, especially considering my oh-my-god moment with the picture from yesterday. I can honestly say that I was all about that fellow's intent when I was looking at that picture. I didn't see him as just an object, and I'm not sure that I could if I tried, but maybe I'm just fooling myself.

I'm writing again. What? Can this be? Well, I did write that Snape/Hermione fic for the SS/HG Exchange, but that was under duress since I volunteered to pinch hit before I could stop myself. I like the way it turned out, but I nearly went mad with worry over the week that I did write it.

Anyway, Tin Man fic is falling out of my head. Or out of my fingertips. After a false start which I scrapped on Saturday night, I began anew on Sunday afternoon. It's already up to 8,000 words. How did that happen? Typically, I write way slower.

I found a little tea shop a couple miles from my apartment, and I've spent $60 there since Friday. They have a wonderful selection of loose leaf tea, though. I've already had three cups today.

Has anyone read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence? I have the first three novels in it, and I'm anxious to begin the first (Over Sea, Under Stone). Will I love it or hate it?