Garbanzo Toons

Coffee

It calls to me every day. Well, may it's me who calls to it. Anyway, somebody's calling, and I've been listening. But only on school days. And not all school days. Only the days when I need that lift. Those days become much more frequent near the middle and the end of every school year. No matter how I feel when I wake up, as soon as I walk into work, I want that cup of coffee. I used to get a slight buzz from it. That doesn't happen much any more.

I barely touch the stuff outside of school. But if I've gone five days in a row of a morning cup, I wake up on Saturday morning with a headache. That's when I force myself to take a week or two off. Or if realize that I'm fine until I walk into school (like I mentioned above) and then my head starts feeling like it's caught - Uncle Fester-like, in a vice. Some days it takes half a cup or less to get rid of that feeling. Other days I finish the whole cup.

I know what the problem is. I'm not addicted. (I hear you laughing. Cut it out!) It's just that I don't get enough sleep; working, tutoring, going to the gym, household chores, unexpected predicaments, the rest of the vicissitudes of life. You know. And I'm not always crabby if I don't have a jolt of caffeine. Only sometimes. And I get over it when I get home . . . usually.

You know what would really be great? If we had a cappuccino machine at school. That would be a fine start to my day, and rather than be chained to my morning coffee, I could be a connoisseur of fine coffee blends. I don't mind coffee snobbery if I'm the one being the snob. I developed my taste for cappuccino many years ago when I worked at a bar and I had to learn to work the cappuccino machine. My cappuccino skills figured prominently in the wooing of my wife. I was waiting tables at another restaurant. She was tending a bar that featured a cappuccino maker. She wasn't good at it yet, so out of the goodness of my own heart, I ordered (well . . . encouraged) my tables to order cappuccinos so I could go back and instruct her on the proper foaming-of-the-milk technique.

I don't stop at any of the coffee sources along my drive to work because I'm cheap. I'm not paying those prices. I know other teachers who do. obviously, they can afford those huge Styrofoam jugs of Joe they bring to school.

I also have a cup of coffee every morning when we go camping because everything tastes better cooked over an open fire; salmon, pancakes, coffee, you name it. Oh, and sometimes on long car drives I'll get the large mug, the ones I make fun of others for needing every day.

This gets me thinking; how do real drug addicts and alcoholics cope? They have much stronger addictions. I wonder what it's like for a heroin addict to break the habit. Or a crack user. Maybe coffee isn't so bad as addictions go, but don't tell my cardiologist that I'm drinking the stuff. He told me to stay away from caffeine.

Labels: coffee

posted by Harry @ 7:27 PM 2 comments

Coffee, The Wonder Drug

I never wanted to be a coffee addict. Like millions of others, growing up, I loved the smell but hated the taste. In college I only drank it when I needed a boost. And that was rarely.

After college, I worked a lot of restaurant jobs, sometimes late mornings, but mostly at night. I developed a taste for cappuccino during a bartending stint, where I had to learn to make cappuccinos. They were exotic, visually appealling, and offered more sensory experience and layers of taste than a simple cup o' Joe. Learning the art of cappuccino (and it is an art when done correctly) helped me worm my way into the affections of a lovely coworker who is now my wife, but that's another post.

Years later we bought a little home cappuccino machine. I used it occasionally, but it was too time consuming for one or two cups. I got lazy. I don't even know if we still have it, but I may look for it.

Now, as a teacher, I'm up and going early in the morning. Instead of going to bed at sunrise, I'm getting up before sunrise. Even so, I rarely want coffee in the morning . . . until around February. That's when my energy level starts to wither. I still avoid it most mornings because those times when I've given in, I hated the headaches when I stopped.

In addition, my doctor has advised me to stay away from caffeine. I haven't had a cup of coffee in weeks, but my wife drinks it every morning. Other teachers come in with their cups from Dunkin' Donuts, 7-11, Caribou, Panera, Starbucks. There's coffee brewing in the office, the teacher's lounge, and in one or two classrooms around the building. I can taste it every time I look at it! I want some.

Tonight we switch our clocks ahead an hour for daylight savings time. Monday morning I will actually be getting up an hour earlier than I have been. It's going to be even harder because we're coming off of Spring Break, so I've been sleeping in for the past week.

That Monday morning cup of coffee is going to be so good. I drink it so rarely, I usually get a small buzz from it. And I might have one Tuesday. But no more after that. Really!

Labels: coffee, daylight savings time

posted by Harry @ 12:20 PM 1 comments