airing out my crazies.

"Hey, I know you drink a lot of tea, so I just wanted to let you know that I bought a little electric water warmer," Seth said as he popped by my office this morning. My tea habit is surprisingly well-known around the office (though no one yet knows about my nun's habit). Seth likes gadgets - he also has an apple slicer that he has let me use on occasion. I am not in favor of most kitchen gadgetry. I don't like paying extra money for something that only does one thing, particularly when that one thing can also be accomplished by some other common kitchen implement, like a knife. But I was a little curious about a "water warmer," and I noted how carefully the producers of the item did not call it a "water heater" or even worse, a "hot water heater," which might cause all sorts of confusion. I think if I had made the product, I would have called it a "warm water warmer."

Seth came to my office all aflutter last week because he had been introduced to green tea, and knowing about my tea habit, figured that I would be able to discuss green tea at length with him. I don't like green tea. It just tastes like slightly off water to me, maybe water that has freshly-cut grass in it. Now Seth has apparently developed a tea habit, enough of one to purchase a warm water warmer. I must have given him a funny look when he told me about it, probably because I didn't know what a water warmer was, but he misinterpreted and continued, "I don't like using the microwave. It does weird things, even to water."

Um. Right.

You know, this isn't even the first time I've heard about a microwave causing harm. My sister refrains from using hers. She also has a warm water warmer, though I think she calls it "the stove." I was at her house once when she and her husband had a short discussion on whether the microwave was, in fact, "evil." I mean, I dunno, there may be something to the theory, but, man, it's a microwave. My sister is a little extreme when it comes to food and the preparation thereof. But the good thing about having someone like her in my family is that when someone like Seth comes along with kind of a nutty view, I can let it slide because I've probably heard it before.

You might think all this is going to piss my sister off; she does read this journal. But nah, she knows she's crazy unorthodox, and she's proud of it. I suspect she brings it up unasked in casual conversation. I think everyone in my family realized at some point that you can either hide your idiosyncrasies or you can claim them and be proud of them. And I gotta tell you, it's much more fun to air out your crazies. Although, you do tend to attract some weirdos.