Head Rattle

I.
Now that the winter has ended (fingers crossed), I've been walking more, to and fro from the train station in the morning and evening, listening to iPod mp3s that are both... strange and familiar. It's odd to be traipsing through the grittiness of the real world while my brain is off in other realms of space and time.... Oh, wait. Is it?

II.
Why did someone ask me for a pencil sharpener? Why assume that I, of all people, would have one? I don't do my work on paper, and I don't use pencils; no one does in this day and age. Or almost no one. I suppose it's because I'm an editor, and people imagine they see a pencil behind my ear. Okay. I'll wear an eyeshade, too, and keep a bottle of bourbon in my desk.

III.
I've been drinking a type of Kuerig coffee that includes ginseng and guarana, so the label says. I know what ginseng is, and what it's supposed to do for you, but I was not familiar with guarana, which sounds like an STD. Now I've found out (here) that it's a Brazilan plant that, when extracted and mixed into a beverage, "quickens perceptions", "helps with endurance-based activities", and (ought oh) will "lead to more frequent visits to the toilet". Sounds a lot like caffeine. The ingredients include tiny amounts of saponin (?) and "amorphous substances". Some people call it a "smart drug". I call it rocket fuel.