Woah! Roscoe

I like writing these blog posts to you guys. I hope you like it too. I hope the feelings mutual, if it’s not? Well…I can make cookies??

Sometimes I feel so full of energy writing and I just want to pummel everything into the keyboard for you to see. Today isn’t one of those days. Today is the kind of day where I feel like a chat, over a nice cup of tea, is more the way to go.

Why is it a chat day? I’m not sure. It rained.

I woke up this morning and the day looked dull and drizzly. So I chose my outfit accordingly. Grey baggy pants which manage to pass off as professional (but have the physical feel of pajama pants) were the choice of the day. Then all you need is slippers and you’re set for a rainy day lounging around the office (whilst staying ultimately productive…of course).

I think perhaps I’m feeling the calm before the storm. Because, you see, this coming Saturday is the East & South Ceroc Champs. These are essentially the biggest deal (aside from National Champs) on the NZ ceroc circuit. They’re pretty major. And I’m competing.

Why do I do it? I think it’s the sense of achievement when you find you’re through to the next round. It’s easy to feel guilty about spending so much time dancing and not doing more productive and successful things if you’re just doing it for fun. Then it stays as a passtime that you fit around your life. And that’s just peachy for most people…

But for me, I have this ridiculous thing about wanting to be achieving something ALL THE TIME. Therefore, I need an excuse to dance. It needs to achieve something, other than making me happy. It needs tangible results and I guess the champs are a way of me excusing myself from sitting at home working on Woah! Roscoe or studying. Just an observation.

Do you do that kind of thing too? Am I not alone in this mindset?

So back to the over-the-teacups chat. I had tea this morning at work. Tea at work tends to lack tastiness though, I premptively took my own teabag because I knew that otherwise I would be disappointed time and time again with my boiled beverages. It was a wise choice. After first tea consumption bright and early in the day everything looked up. It was a good day, thank you tea. I think we may potentially take hot beverages for granted..

I remember back when I was 14 or so, I was working for an Italian Bakehouse and Cafe, very delicious place but the air conditioning was TERRIBLE. It was in part of an old art gallery and theatre, and being an historic building hadn’t had much done in the way of insulation. In winter the place was absolutely freezing. We had one nice big heater but not enough power points (story of my life!) to plug it in at the same time as the sandwich toaster, which we used to heat big slices of calzone. This meant everytime someone wanted a hot meal the heater had to be unplugged, not that it was ever pointed in my direction (behind the counter). But through out this time of strife and discomfort my hands were held by the warmth of a coffee cup.

In summer, it was the complete opposite. With every window and door open in the entire place, it was still impossible to shake the heat from the bakers oven. I roasted. It was hard enough to be in the prescence of the heat without having to run around after customers and handle warm bread. But one day, my boss made me a hot chocolate, and I looked at her baffled as sweat beaded on my forehead. Why would I, right now, in the middle of summer, EVER want to hold a hot mug. I said no thanks. I turned down a free, freshly made hot chocolate. And she realised I didn’t know a vital piece of information about hot beverages. And the kind woman told me what has come to be known as an old wives tale, a hot beverage will trick your mind into thinking your outer limbs and skin are actually cooler because of the greater contrast to the hot tea in your inards. Does it work? I’m not sure. But it was a nice hot chocolate.