It’s been a productive couple of days. Yesterday, my partners on this time travel series got on a zoom call to discuss the mechanics of setting up a production here in Toronto, covering everything from regional tax credits to and financing structure to catering (of course!). The plan was to pitch the series starting next week but, since our first stop prefers to cut to the chase and just read the materials, I told everyone I’d take the weekend to go over our package. At 22 pages, it’s pretty thorough, breaking down the Tease, our Pilot, the World, our Characters, Seasons 1 and 2 and beyond. It also includes a little write-up about my love for this particular type of SF story. Rather than wait for the weekend, I made some tweaks and plan to send it out tonight for review after which it will – no doubt – be smooooooooth sailing!
Also this morning, I finally sent out those three sci-fi short pitches to test the waters with an old friend. Turns out, he liked TWO of them, so we’re moving forward on a deal and, hopefully sooner than later, development on both.
Next week, I am aiming to finish up five short pitches for THAT publisher. All very different characters. All a lot of fun in their own ways. I just have a little (lot?) more reading to do in order to get up to speed.
Also, signed a deal to consult on an epic overseas sci-fi series. Apparently, the plan is to translate the scripts to English before sending my way for input. I appreciate that – since I don’t speak the original language – but I’m really curious to see how well the scripts translate.
Meanwhile, still no progress on the TimEscape front, but I contacted someone who contacted someone who promised to contact someone about it. That should get things moving.
Impromptu tea survey: What do you like? I used to enjoy the various oddball flavors from my local tea shop – Birthday Cake, French Toast, Grilled Cheese and Spam – until Akemi pointed out that there was no actual tea in them. They were just fruits, nuts, sugars, spices, and lucky coins. I ended up switching to chamomile after watching an episode of Food Detectives that proved chamomile was a natural sleep inducer. So I started drinking a cup after my dinners in Tokyo and continued the practice when I returned home. Now, when ever I drink chamomile, I get sleepy and dream of Japan.
So, what’s your go-to tea?
Good to know several things are running smoothly for you. Best of luck though on all your projects. I’m hoping at least one or all of them will be fruitful in the end. Looking forward.
Tea for me … mostly matcha, genmaicha and jasmine.
How can TimEscape be caught in such doldrums? I think that should be a sure fire hit. Get those folks moving!
Favourite teas are Earl Grey (hot) and Chai – double spiced if possible. I found chamomile to be completely useless for helping me fall asleep, but did sometime help settle an upset stomach.
What everybody gets wrong about the Irish isn’t our fondness for alcohol, it’s our shameful tea addiction. My favourite teas are regular black tea (preferably Barry’s) or Earl Grey. My opinions on camomile can be summed up by this short sketch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIk7S-ChBI0
That video is hilarious and so relatable! I learned in the past year that people breakdown caffeine at different rates based on their genetics, and that some break it down at twice the rate of others. Well, my genetic profile puts me in the fast metabolizer group, which thoroughly explains my love (additction?) of strong coffees and teas. The stronger the better!
I like Earl Grey Lavendar when I can find it, Bigelow Chai tea, Constant Comment, generic spicy orange herbal teas, and a chocolate peppermint for upset tummy time. I have a lot of White Tea from Ocean Mart, so mostly I drink that. Someone gave me a box of what seems to be a thousand wrapped bags.
I have some fancy loose tea in containers which was a gift, but I forget about the. Chamomile tastes of dirt to me, which is weird. I miss the green tea in Japan, mine never tastes right. I like Hornimans Tea in Spain, but again, it tasted better there than here.
I find your productivity motivating. I’ve been in kind of a slump, not as productive as I should be. I love your energy and work-y-ness. And I don’t know why but it makes me get my head back into it.
“What do you like? ”
I like cappuccino and vanilla slices. Or cappuccino and Apricot Lattice. Or cappuccino and Vegemite toast.
At night I like cold infusion teas < img src =”https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.YVepDZhOKFnrTejqqEwa_gHaFi%26pid%3DApi&f=1″/>. I find it hard to drink a lot of water, but when I do I feel good. So these help.
Go-to tea? Lipton’s instant iced tea mix, unsweetened, both regular and decaf.
I’m a tea lover. I’ve never developed a taste for coffee. My favorite teas are black. A Carmel or a raspberry are great for the mornings. I try and stick to chamomile teas after two o’clock.
Even though I live in the South, I prefer unsweetened tea. That makes me an outcast here but I can take it. 😉 You think I’m kidding but you should see the shocked looks when I order anything other than sweet tea.
Good luck on the time travel series and all the other projects you’ve got rolling! That’s a lot of juggling. I’ve still got my fingers crossed for TimEscape.
On teas (on the occasions I drink tea and not coffee), I tend to prefer a variety, but I do cycle through English Breakfast, Oolong, Orange Pekoe, and Earl Grey. I’ll occasionally go with Darjeeling, but it has to be the black Darjeeling. I have tried chamomile tea, but it was a bit bland for my taste.
Russian Caravan, Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Yorkshire Tea (to name a few 😊)
Mine used to be Dr Changs tea made with honeysuckle until Long Life herbal company discontinued it. It was so naturally sweet and soothing i drank it plain. In recent times it has been original jasmine, raspberry, or plain Lipton black tea. I find all three sweet enough to drink hot without added honey or sugar. I do add sweeteners for Iced teas though.
And thanks for your kind words in yesterdays long vent entry, Joe. I am grateful to at least still have you and our blog family to vent to during this truly scary time. On the slightly up side, all the serious downsizing and freelance work stuff I’ve been doing took me to needing less than 3k to get by till the end of the year. Not sure how I’m gonna raise it or even ‘if’ I can- but its certainly a much better position than I was in a month ago.
Good luck with all the projects. xo
How’s your mom and Andria doing in Montreal?
Red Rose…Only in Canada, you say?
I drink a lot of tea (I really DISLIKE coffee) so I have no problem with a little orange Pekoe. When I’m in England I drink PG Tips. I’ve noticed that tea is a lot stronger there and me thinks that perhaps Canadians are getting weaker leaves. I have never had a bad cup of tea in England, though I’ve had some less desirable ones in Canada (mostly of my own making!)
Ohhh, you said Tea. I happen to be allergic to coffee and you said tea. I currently have a stock of tea where I just gave a coworker 10 samples to try from a tea shop that is run online by a friend of mine. The best part is on her web site when you pull up her teas you will see a list of each tea blends ingredients. Her “Farmers Market” tea I enjoy as an iced tea. Her “Echinachea Cranberry” is a treat. My favorite is her “Gnomes Blend” . I am currently drinking her “Golden Sunrise”, Ingredients: Black Tea, papaya pieces, calendula + jasmine + sunflower petal. If you like I can message you and Akemi the link to her facebook and website.
I am not a tea drinker. But I got sick once and kept coming to work. Just pushing through while feeling terrible. My boss up in NJ sent me a box of tea that she liked to drink to prevent her from getting sick. (she was always sick) There was enough there for my work mates too. They asked me how it tasted when I had a cup of it. Pretty much like I had suspected….. it tasted like rocks, dirt, pebbles, sticks, twigs. In other words, bad.
Unrelated to your blog entry here, next weeks episode of Marvel’s Agents of Shield is going to be a time loop episode. I don’t know if you watch the show but since you are a fan of time loops, I thought you might want to give it a watch if you weren’t going to already.
Looking forward to see what comes through on those fronts. You’re so wonderfully cryptic, for obvious reasons, that it’s fun to try and guess what it could possibly be. Sort of like looking at a pile of Christmas presents for another family and trying to figure out what’s in each package.
Every morning I start the day with a cup of oolong. A friend turned me onto it. He’s been plagued for years with a mysterious fungus that made white spots on the palms of his hands. He’d had all sorts of prescriptions and some that he had to monitor his liver, but nothing worked. While he was visiting Hong Kong an old woman told him that he should drink a strong cup of oolong each day. Within a few months it was cleared up and it’s not been a problem for over 10 years.
During the day I’ll drink iced tea that I make with an English Breakfast blend. I love Earl Grey (hot) but something doesn’t agree with me and every time I drink it I feel fairly nauseous.
The fruit teas are also good so don’t feel bad about enjoying a cup. Peppermint is great after a heavy meal or too much fun the night before.
There’s a blend in central Mexico called Yerba de los Borachos which translates to Drunkard’s Tea. It works like nothing you’ve ever tried. A night at the Casa de Mezcal was the reason my B&B gave it to me the next day. Unfortunately I didn’t think to buy some to bring home and we’ve not been back to Oaxaca in over 20 years, nor have I been able to find it in other parts of the country.
Irish breakfast tea is my favorite. But I do also like a cup of Earl Grey.
I have an elaborate tea canister collection of Teavana product prior to them going through transitional ownership. I have a Breville machine which can brew mixtures of any of the various teas in the inventory. My current go to during the summer is the watermelon chiller green tea which I sometimes mix with Youthberry for a wake up. When I want to sleep I take a quieter blend of japanese pearls and chamomile as well. My tea station is one of my happy places in my home.
Drea: {{{Hugs}}}
I absolutely love chai. But not just any chai… I love it when it’s made in a saucepot on the stove with loose tea, fresh ginger & raw honey… the way my friend from Kashmir taught me. 🤤
I’ve recently had to give up caffeinated coffee (I only developed a taste for it when I was a barista trainer), so I now tend to collect all kinds of herbal teas. I have one upper kitchen cabinet with three shelves completely stuffed with close to two dozen different flavors of tea.
One other favorite of mine is ginger tea, & not the weak-ass crap other Americans drink. I LOVE the Korean & Japanese ginger teas that PUNCH you in the face with deliciousness! Even then I usually add some fresh slices of ginger to brew, & then also snack on candied ginger root. 🤤
Gosh, there’s so much going on for you. Really look forward to hearing more about each project although I know you’ll only tease us with vague snippets!
My usual brew is ‘builder’s’ either a strong English Breakfast if I want to feel posh or the bog standard PG Tips, made strong enough to stand a teaspoon in with a dash of milk and sometimes a teaspoonful of sugar. I have tried others but always come back to these two.
However I do enjoy a Chinese meal and find I can eat a lot more food if acoompanied with a pot of Jasmin tea.
Actually, I haven’t had a Chinese take away since before Christmas. My regular/local restaurant closed suddenly after 30yrs…. I really miss the food and it’s lovely owners terribly.
Two things:
1) Tea. I love the Republic of Tea’s Cacao Cinnamon Pu-erh Tea. I used to have acid reflux but I didn’t want to take the pills. I drink at least 1 cup of this a day and no more acid reflux. Well, unless I do something silly like eat a meal of all fried foods but then hey, my own bad on that. I also drink a lot of their Mango Celeon and occasionally their “Cuppa Cake” series Lemon Chiffon. That one is nice over ice.
2) Have you watched “Dark” on Netflix? It’s a mind bending time travel Sci-fi from Germany. The reason I ask is because we leave captions on (Hubs is a bit hard’o hearing). The voice over and the captioning did NOT match, sometimes at all. Since you mentioned the ‘overseas’ and tanslation thing, thought it might interest you on double fronts.
“Dark” itself was a really bendy, twisty, hard to explain and hard to follow series. It was done pretty well, however, and we enjoyed it for the most part.