Friday, May 27
Life's been really ordinary lately. I've been working a bit, but not so little or so much that it's blogworthy. Slowly putting the house back together, dodging calls from unpaid contractors, making buttons.
We're planning the birthday trip and doing lots of research about Vancouver Island, specifically Tofino and thereabouts. Plane tickets are bought, so now it's a matter of figuring out how many days we spend in nature and how many in the city. We're flying one week before my birthday, returning the day after, and still planning on the Fish House for the actual birthday night dinner. (People who know my actual birthdate can do the math and plan to join us at any point; Internet stalkers and house robbers shall remain in the dark.) I'm thinking five or even six days should be in the woods and three or two in Vancouver. I adore Vancouver, it's a wonderful city, but we've been there a couple of times so we've covered a lot of it already. We know where to go for a good ol' ordinary everyday cup o' joe and that we'll certainly have a meal and a Caesar at the Spidot at some point. Other than that, it's all about the wandering, and that can last for as long as it needs to. Oh, and the died-and-gone-to-heaven Granville Island Market. But basically, I figure there's a better chance that DG will get a gig that causes us to return to the city than to the forest/beach, so I say we should spend more time roughing it. Question is, how rough. I'm not thrilled about the prospect of schlepping tents, sleeping bags, towels, etc. 3000 miles to save a few bucks on accomodations. I love the idea of camping, but I think it's not practical this time. So one of the other establishments will probably get our money. I guess there's a chance we could slum it in a youth hostile, but I think the bottom line is I'm too old for that shit at this point. It's worth a couple dollarettes to not have to carry our own bedding.
In other news, it's time I admitted that I'm powerless over sugarfree cinnamon-flavored gums and mints. I'm spending great amounts of Paypal play money on variations on that theme, and now this is a Thing when I travel: finding the local specialties. I'm looking for cinnamon heat. I demand lacrimation and rhinorrhea. Xylitol is a plus, with its claims of dental health; caffeine or vitamin enrichment is always nice. The only danger is "cinnamint", a vile abortion of a concept if ever there were one.
I'm also adamant that they be sugar-free. Sadly, this means my beloved bulk red-hots, Certs, Clark's, Freshen Up, and even good ol' Big Red and Tic Tacs are out of my life.
But I soldier on. Within arm's reach right now I have Trident White gum (Cinnamon Tingle flavor, and dental claims), and Dentyne Fire gum (Spicy Cinnamon flavor in the US, cinnamon/cannelle in Canada: better flavor than the Trident White, but no dental claims.) I abhor the pseudopharmaceutical overpackaging of so many of these: give me good ol' Trident Cinnamon in the 18-stick Val-U-Pak (xylitol! dental claims!) any time. (Actually, don't. I have a case on order already.) There's also a regular Trident cinnamon in Canada (Spicy Cinnamon/Eruption de Cannelle) which seems to be the same as the American Trident White: blister pack, dental claims. I also kind of like the Ice Breakers Unleashed gum (Cinnafusion flavor), but again, overpackaged and no dental claims. I haven't yet come across the stick version in the Plenty Pack, but I bet I'd buy it if I did. Wrigley's Orbit looked promising but turned out to be the dreaded Cinnamint, so forget that one. Flip-a-Mint gum (Cinnamon) comes in a nice plastic box which they encourage you to save and reuse, but the gum itself has no discernible cinnamon flavor. Extra gum isn't too cinnamony either, but it does come in a Plen-T-Pak, and ya gotta love that. I've already talked about my love for the fine Altoids family of products, so no need to go into that now. I do hope they make the new "smalls" in cinnamon flavor someday. The one I'm still looking for is Ford Xtreme xylitol gum. It was made by Ford, the people who make the crappy gum that's in gumball machines at supermarkets, but seems to be a thing of the past. If you see it, grab a pack for me, ok?
It's not just gum I'm gaga over. I've also gone mad for mints. I totally dig Ice Breakers Mints (Hot Cinnamon flavor), would love to find their Dual Pack in same, but sadly it only exists in minty and fruity varieties. I can report that Momints are interesting in format: little globules with a semi-hard shell, sold in a slim package that's designed to slip into the cellophane wrapper around a cigarette pack, but unfortunately they taste kind of minty and gross. Even worse are the Ice Breakers Liquid Ice "liquid mints". The use of the word ice should have been a clue, but the red color and fact that it was labeled "Cinnamon" suckered me in. I think there may have been a hint of cinnamon in the little candy shells, but the liquid inside was pure mint. Narsty.
Products I've ordered and will let you know about in the next few weeks as they come in: Dragon Fire gum (cool tin, encouraging flavor name: Hot Imperial Cinnamon), Zingos Extra Strength Cinnnamons (the fire-breathing logo gives me hope), Arm & Hammer Advance White Sugar Free Tartar Control Gum, Cinnamon (dental claims up the gazinga), Spry Xylitol gum (dental claims), Epic xylitol gum (dental claims), Penguin Caffeinated Mints (Feine! yay!), Dr. Ken's Sugar-Free Dental Gum (Cinnamon Fresh; dental claims, of course), and Slim Mints, which contain l-carnitine and chromium. They actually contain more chromium per serving than my chromium supplements do, which would be really convenient if a "serving" weren't 12 mints.
While finding links for this post tonight, I've learned that Myntz makes a breath strip in "Cynnamon" flavor, with a kind of Flowfazery package, that Euromints caffeinated mints come in cinnamon, and that Blitz makes their Powermints in cinnamon flavor too. The search continues.
I think it's safe to say I will be hotly kissable for quite a while.
11:24 PM
