Coffee and Run-on Sentences.

My most recent concern is that after many years of leading a relatively caffeine free existence (within reason, I mean, seriously folks) that I am slowly becoming dependent upon a morning coffee run. It started a couple weeks ago when I woke up extremely tired and with a hankering for a non-fat sugar-free vanilla latte from Starbucks. Now, mind you, I am consciously aware that Starbucks coffee basically tastes like sewer water, but in latte form with some vanilla syrup it's fairly tolerable although has a slight aftertaste of steak juice. But I digress...

So I rediscovered that there just happens to be a Starbucks directly on my way to work, convenient side of the road and all. So I stopped and felt that rush of energy and mental alertness that carried me through to lunch. A couple days later I found myself craving that foamy latte and what turned into an occassional fix has become a regular (although not daily) stop for coffee. I have abandoned Starbucks though...because when I decided that, in an effort to make my caffeine fix more affordable, I would switch from a latte to regular coffee with an exceptional amount of milk I realized just how unpalatable the coffee is at "the bucks". I tried a new coffee shop also on my way to work called Java House....the place was empty...$1.52 later I realized why.

Today I woke up in an exceptionally bad mood. The dog was whining, I was having a weird dream and it was Monday. As Chris woke me up I was already pissy ( a mood which wasn't helped by his subsequent comment about my particularly bad morning breath). As I got out of bed the dog was already getting into the garbage (something he's become ESPECIALLY fond of the last few days) and I basically woke up yelling. As I walked out of the house I decided that I needed a narcotic fix for my mood. I stopped at a new coffee house that sells organic coffee and espresso- Village Joe. I ordered a small coffee with room for milk. I was bummed they didn't have any non-fat set out and settled for the 2% and 4 packets of Equal. By the time I arrived at work I was already feeling a bit better. I'm not sure if it was the coffee or that I booked two scouts before lunch, but this day was looking downright up (yea figure that one out).

So the point of this whole story is....am I becoming caffeine dependent??? Part of me feels like saying "screw it. whatever gets you through the day", but another part of me knows that it's a slippery slope from coffee in the morning, to coffee in the afternoon to "man my head hurts! don't talk to me until I have coffee!!!" and not sleeping at night (which is already a problem for me). So I'm going to chalk it up to just a case of the Mondays and try to stay away from that delicious organic coffee on my way to work tomorrow....maybe I'll have to take a different route.

Hey. At least I'm not robbing CVS drugstores for Sudafed and setting up a meth lab.....not yet at least. It is a slipperly slope though.