I forgot to get a straw on my way out of Subway. I spent half the way to my office frustrated at the situation, upset at having done that. Part of my frustration was knowing that I had recently cleaned my desk, and my normal treasure chest of leftover straws would not be waiting for me. So I got to the office and searched frantically for a clean straw, finding only useless swizzle sticks, bane of real straws everywhere.

Then suddenly I stopped, tilted my eyes to the ceiling as if to say “No, wait, I’ve got something, right there, on the edge of the brain. Come on, concentrate, there it is!” And suddenly I knew … I can take the lid off.