May 30, 2026
Tea, again
I made peppermint tea on Monday morning before the kids woke up. I took one sip. Too hot. Then everyone woke up and I lost sight of my cup in the commotion of breakfast. I took it down to the office mid-morning, hoping to remember to drink it. The screen paralyzes me. I forget and suppress the urge to drink, pee, or take deep breaths.
The cup was still untouched by 5 p.m. I took a symbolic gulp. Enough to make space for some new hot water to reheat the brew. I did that the morning after and drank half. Somehow I lost sight of the cup again. It got moved to the other side of the kitchen counter. My son found it and dropped the tea bag on the floor. After cleaning up, I drank the cold tea and put the bag back in the cup. Peppermint is great either way.
On Wednesday the bag was still in the empty cup. I had some hot water ready and felt too lazy to open a new bag. It was fine. Half went down in one sitting because the water wasn't boiling hot. No stomach cancer for me; 160°F is enough. My tea is not the ritual it is for my Chinese in-laws. I meant to finish it in the morning, but once again I drank the cold leftovers after wrapping up the daily cleaning. Everything was put away. I left the cup on the empty counter.
Thursday morning I double-bagged. I like to add a fresh new bag next to the one decomposing, probably because I hate myself, or money, or because I deep down think I'm poor and undeserving. At least that's what my wife speculates. I just like it. I also know I'm not very serious and am a bit of an idiot, especially for small things like this. Ironically, after two brews of the double bag, I discarded both that night.
I can't tell if I'm too distracted, or if life is too messy for me to have an uncomplicated relationship with a 10-cents cup of tea. When tea feels precarious, it doesn't seem crazy to think I've lost enough grip to be worried by low-grade existential unease. Maybe it's just remote work fucking with me, or that AI + Trumpism shitstorm. Either way, I can't seem to finish a cup of tea.