withdrawal

it's been about 2 weeks since i've played a video game. the reason is simple: the in-laws are here. even when they're out for a bit, i can't get into the frame of mind that i need to enjoy gaming. that is, i can't immerse myself in the game knowing i'll be interrupted at any moment. and one thing that my mother, hops' parents, and hops herself all have in common: they do not understand that many/most parts of a game are non-repeatable, and when you talk over them, especially to tell me about how you just discovered some wonderful new piece of lint in your belly button, or whatever thing it is that could wait an extra 30 seconds until Link stops talking (ha ha ha, link never talks, but you get the idea), I will miss an important bit of plot development (frequently, in a game where plot developments are few and far between), and I will probably get upset. especially if you interrupt me during a metal gear cutscene (ha ha ha, no really, wake me up when it's over).

besides the interruption of the cutscenes, the talking over important dialogue, and the peering-over-my-shoulder feeling, i just don't really like to game when someone else is in the room. it feels anti-social, and clearly, i have no anti-social tendencies.

Anyhow, so to pass the time I've cleaned out my office closet, laced up and used my new climbing shoes, fixed up my bike a little (but alas, not enough, it seems), finally put the cleats on my new carnacs (even though it seems the cleat receivers have been lost? or did I just not get any? i don't know, they still work well enough), brewed a lot of japanese tea, and returned to pipe smoking.

the return to pipe smoking, in particular, has been a great success. i am tasting the tobacco far more intensely, and appreciating a much larger range of flavors in each smoke. i have several guesses as to why this is so:

1) i no longer drink coffee. i suspect that coffee was deadening my sense of taste.
2) i drink lots of tea and pay very close attention to the flavors. i think this attunes my brainses to paying attention to flavor details. now, i did this before with coffee, but i drank coffee only once a day versus continually throughout the day for tea. i also usually paid close attention when smoking. this point may be moot.
3) i'm only smoking once or twice a week.
4) i took a 3 month break from smoking.
5) i'm smoking out of the same pipe each time, and it happens to be my most high-end pipe.
6) i haven't smoked anything with latakia, only Va, VaPer, and VaOr blends.

as a science-minded person, i'm intensely curious to know why tobaccos seem so much more flavorful of late. as a lazy person, i won't bother to set up an experiment.