Very early in the trip I was talking about being frustrated with all the flem inside me from my cold/allergies, and so Brandon suggested that he could make tea. I was like no, I don't want you to have to take on a responsibility on my behalf. But it was too late, and he was like no, this is my mission, I will make this tea. So he goes over to the kitchen area to start the tea.
For the next half hour, or maybe hour (had absolutely nothing even remotely close to a perception of time during the trip) the conversation would move from subject to subject, and in between there would always be moments of asking about the tea. Was Brandon making it? Was it ready? And it was just going on in the background, always an undercurrent, the fact that this tea was being made. Brandon always explained that he was making it, and it would be a little while longer. But eventually it got to the point where we had been waiting so long for this tea that it had just become this abstract idea, that we were just waiting for this tea. And it almost seemed like we were waiting for the tea to be done before we could progress further, like once this tea is done then we'll move to the next chapter. But why? The tea had become like a religion, like Christianity where everyone is waiting for Jesus to come back, waiting to be taken to heaven. And I sort of felt like what I imagine a Christian becoming an Atheist would feel like. The tea does not hold us to it, we can forget the tea and live life freely. Sure tea would be nice, but you can live fully without it! Awaken from beneath the worry of the tea. Tea is not life. And so "Tea is not life" became one of the night's themes.
There were some other good themes, including "you have to go to the bathroom to go to the bathroom." My favorite quote of the night came after I did some goofy joke to Mary. I heard a smacking sound, then she said "I facepalmed so hard that it hurt."
my favorite was your "You Are The Joke"
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