Our Lives

Yesterday I came to the conclusion that I am tired of my surroundings. I am fatigued and apathetic. Every single day is the same as the last. Wake up at 5:30 AM, use the bathroom, take a shower, get dressed, do my hair, brush my teeth, eat cereal and a cup of tea, go to school at 7:10, study, work, "learn", lunch, study, work, "learn", go home at 2:40, have a snack, do homework, check Facebook, watch TV, eat dinner, go on my computer, brush teeth, get changed, go to bed. Every single day. It's a monotonous daily routine that controls my life 10 months a year. Weekends and breaks from school are spent doing school work. The other two months are spent hanging out with friends and going on vacation to Cape May or to my grandparents' house.
I also have realized that when I get a job this summer its going to be the same. Except for it will be getting up at 7:30 AM, and going home between 6 and 9 PM. College will likely be the same monotonous cycle. And so will the next 40 to 45 years or so after I graduate. In other words, my life will be the average American's.
You spend 60 years doing things you don't like, then you retire and have grandkids to take care of until you die. And if you don't have grandkids, then you can live out your years doing things you've never gotten to do before, but with limits. Age takes a toll on you, so when you're 80, and you've spent your life hunched over a computer in a windowless cubicle, you realize you can't climb the Matterhorn or canoe down the Amazon. (I know both of these are far-fetched but they're just examples.
I need a vacation. I need to do something I've never done before and go places I've never been. I want to backpack across Europe and drive a classic muscle car across the United States. I want to see Rome and climb the Eiffel Tower. I want to visit Alaska in the summer and hike across Ireland. I want to visit the lands of my ancestors: Ireland, Scotland, England, Italy, Germany, Slovakia.
I need to feel alive.
Not that I feel dead or anything, I just feel that there has to be something more in life than working endlessly and when you stop working, you're too old and tired to do anything for yourself anymore. We as Americans work too hard, and dig ourselves into an early grave because of it. We try to keep ourselves alive by taking a hundred pills and supplements, to keep us alive and working and do nothing to empty our pockets. We as Americans need to stop working and have some fun once in a while.

Tea is a Bitch

I have to say, that I love hot tea. There's like 3668971766702232542068 different kinds of flavors and blends, so if I don't like one blend, I can buy another. Or even make one. (Which I have never done because if I did, it would probably taste like a mix if dishwasher detergent and pigeon crap. No, I don't know what either of those taste like. If you do, add it into the comments, so you can say that you have officially tasted something completely disgusting.)

But I digress. I have learned that some tea-making is hard. Up until last year, the only tea I have boiled and served myself were Apple Cinnamon, Gingerbread Man, Green Tea, Peach, Apricot Spice, Earl Gray, Raspberry, Orange Spice, Chamomile, English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast. I know I am forgetting a few. Everyone knows I love tea. In my opinion, tea would beat coffee in a fight any day. Although I would like to see tea and coffee get into a fight. But it might make the world explode. And it would taste bad.
My dad took me to a Teavana once. And it was AWESOME. I bought this blend that tasted really good. It's called "White Ayurdevic Chai & Samurai Chai Mate White Tea". It was very expensive but tasted very good in the store. My only problem is that it's a bitch to brew.

The White Ayurdevic Chai & Samurai Chai Mate White Tea has to be boiled with 1.5 teaspoons for every 8 ounces at exactly 175 degrees Fahrenheit and steeped 4 to 5 minutes. I understand that the brewing of  tea is "both an art and a science", so says the bag it came in. I learned that if the temperature is too high (over175), it scorches the leaves and berries like a fire breathing dragon burns down a Medieval village. If it's not hot enough (under 175), it is too weak to even brew correctly.

I bought a diffuser and a tea thermometer to make "the perfect tea". When I bought the thermometer a week ago, I decided to test it. I thought the directions said that the water had to be 275 degrees instead of 175. I got some hot water from the water cooler. The thermometer said it wasn't 275. So I put the cup of hot water in the microwave for a minute. The cup was so hot, I could barely touch it. I used an Ove Glove to put it on the counter, and used the thermometer again. The water was steaming and close to bubbling. But it was only 211 degrees. I put it back in the microwave for another minute. In that time, I went on my computer and put on my headphones. I heard the microwave beep, so I went to get my hot water. AND THE WATER EXPLODED IN THE MICROWAVE. I used the Ove Glove once again to put the cup of boiling water on the counter, and used the thermometer again. It was 240.
After cleaning out the microwave, I came to the conclusion that  tea is a bitch.