Are you going to be there?!? All the cool kids will be!

And by all the cool kids, I of course, mean me. :) But its that time of year again, the Northwest Tea Festival, yeah ok so its still small time and not exactly worth planning your year around, however it is still a tea festival, there shall be tea and tea lovers. So much question is, are you my beautiful (I use that word rather loosely) steepsterites, going to be there? I will, anybody going to join me so I don’t have to spend another festival talking to myself and pretending I have an invisible friend who had a nasty accident at the white out factory.

October 1st and 2nd at the Seattle Center. http://www.nwteafestival.com/

So I was in a creative mood and decided to creative this useful thread as an excuse for me to write something completely unconstructive so unless you have time to kill I would suggest ignoring the following.

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Today was the day, the cupboard was a buzz with excitement as the anticapation had been building for the past week. Today was the day for the great journey, and I the humble tgy in the corner was ready! I was all packed, travel itinerary was set and now there was nothing to do but wait for our flight and imagine what wonders we would see on this, the greatest of all journeys.

Last minute adjustments were being made, a few late additions and substitutions were being handled. Those were always nerve wracking, you could be on the guest list for weeks and then at the last second you were being bumped and someone else took your spot. Last year that happened to my friend dian hong who was already packed away and anxiously ready to go and just before the box was sealed he was subbed out for a golden curl. It about devastated him, took him months to recover, although I don’t think he will ever quite be the same. Poor guy.

Me however, I am blissfully unconcerned, I am the only raw oolong in the cupboard, therefore I know that I will be making this trip. Oh the things I will see, rumor has it that we will be making all seven continents, it’ll be the first year that has ever happened. My neighbor, da hong pao, who arrived on the return trip from last years box, boasts that he has been to 22 countries and oh the stories that he has.

He tells us of a race of people who are but 6 inches tall, how he was captured by them, then befriended them and helped them win a war against their neighbors. Then he meet a farmer who was 72 feet tall, how the farmers daughter took care of him and then he was eventually taken to live with the queen. He has many stories of flying islands and talking horses but while being to fantastic to completely believe it has peaked everyone’s curiosity and excitement.

While da hong pao has opted out of this years journey, he did ask me to give his regards to the Houyhnhnms, whoever they are. But I am quite certain I will discover them, oh the wonders I shall experience, and the stories and songs that I will write for years to come. I am ambivalent about breaking up with my girl friend last month, it would have been wonderful to share this experience with silver needles but I am also glad to be a bachelor for this trip. Able to do whatever I want and meet whoever I want, if you know what I mean. Hey its a big world out there, might as well play the field a bit.

I was mid thought thinking who I might encounter over the next several months as the whole world went dark. The box had shut, I could hear the tape as it sealed us in. There were excited murmurs from everyone around me and joyful tears from loved ones that were staying behind. Well I had no one crying for me, nothing to hold me back, no this was just what I needed, it would be a good trip. I figured I’d try to get some shut eye, after all we had a very long trip ahead of us. The journey had begun!
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Stay tuned to find out what exciting adventures lie ahead for our friend tgy.