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| ~ No 4 / Mar 2001 / Page 2 ~ | ~ Mint rubbing - a way of life ~ |
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The n Phases of Becoming a Mint Rubber I was after a long and difficult "session", which exhausted almost all my mint supplies, when i finally discovered your site. i became quite enthousiastic about it, and i want to make myself heard. i even hope to be featured with an article and this very ambition scares me - i think ambition is incompatible with the pure and uncorrupted soul of a true mint rubber. why? the answer resides in the very philosophical base of mint rubbing. its legitimacy as an art (and not any other type of human activity) consists in performing it for itself, as a purpose and not as a medium. this activity, this art, is a reward in itself and should be practiced as such, deprived of any finality, purified of any intent. the therapeutical effect cannot be denied, but it must not be a purpose. i'm still far from that zen attitude the mint rubbing deserves. so, i'm writing this to you. when you won't hear from me anymore, you'll know that i might have reached the pure state of mintrubbing-ness, which is the product of the n-level process described below. The n* phases in becoming a mint rubber (*who bothers to count them?)  The basic equipment 0. MINT - fresh if available, borrowed from a neighbour if you're an expert in public relations 1. as already shown by you, A TV SET is a must-have of the begginer. the remote is, of course, indispensable. 2. an object that can be of great help (and you haven't yet mentioned it!) is a TELEPHONE. statistics show that mint rubberettes are more likely to (ab)use this facility. the best one is the phone at work, but also increases risks. the home phone, however, can be as dangerous, depending on who receives the bill. 3.(connaiseurs only) GETTING A PERSONAL COMPUTER or ACCESSING A COMPUTER AT YOUR WORK/STUDYING PLACE - must have an internet connection. my best mint rubbing experiences occured in the laboratories of the PUB (polytechnic university of bucharest - an excellent place to start for those who haven't rubbed any mint in highschool, a nest of experienced mint rubbers, whom only modesty prevented from admitting that mint rubbing is the real object of study; there, even teachers are mint rubbing & gas burning experts). The auxiliary resources Friends - feel a crise coming? about to get (vade retro!) to work? get help from a friend! any friend worthy of this name should be there for you, answering the phone and sustaining long conversations, chatting or sipping a beer in a bar for as long as you need her/him. Coffee, cigars, tea, beer, wine, coffee, leaves, scissors, gas, paper, matches... or anything similar - i've had one my greatest gas burning experience with nail-remover (rom. acetona): it was cheap, it produced a beautiful flame and prolonged the burning time of the matches. Manicure sets are also known as ladies' favourite mint replacement, together with playing cards - paper based or electronical - Solitaire & FreeCell fanatics will approvingly nod heads. Alternate activities - need diversity? (you shouldn't, if you're an experienced mint rubber) try other activities! the gas burning was already presented, so i'll try to suggest a more seasonal romanian habit - laying with the belly in the sun (from rom. "a sta cu burta la soare"). Caution! should not be mistaken for sunbathing or suntanning! This technique can, eventually, be practiced when no sun is present, and even without leaving your room. Collective mint rubbing is still an intermediary phase. In the end, one should be able to perform mint rubbing without external support, without the tv set and even (traditionalists will reject me in anger) without mint! But there's a long way to there and, we shall all agree, we hate long ways. (i also hate long emails, and look what's happening to me!) Now i must stop and quickly get some mint, but not before describing : The final state (any coincidence with the romanian ultimul hal is not purely incidental) As it will never be stressed enough, mint rubbing is an art. Performing an art requires special conditions, one of which is to afford it. If you can rub mint for your own pleasure and still get paid for it, you're an artist. If not, you can find yourself in a different branch, practicing another ancient romanian habit : cat's tail pulling ("a trage m^tza de coada") - less rewarding, i must say. now i can finally go to bed and sleep - the room is full of that unmistakable breath-taking flavour of long-rubbed mint... PS : don't judge too harshly my english skills, they were obtained mostly by watching tv, so i speak and write a beautiful pool english (from romanian "engleza de balta"), as a precocious mint rubberette which i am (according to public declarations of many members of my family). (Cristina Rotaru) 
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