Normality

I’m starting to feel myself again, being back in the gym this morning helped. I’m taking it easy though, not pushing very hard and trying to keep my heart rate low. Grabbed my usual Sunday morning cuppa from the Vida afterward and feel as if things are falling back into place.

I’m not certain how my Sunday became so busy, usually they’re supposed to be relaxing, instead I’ve been zooming around doing odds and ends, picking up people from the airport and helping a friend with some software related stuff. Not that I mind too much, because I’d rather be busy than bored, doing nothing.

Fake Coffee

The last two days have been hell. I finally understand the true meaning of Vida e Caffe ("Coffee is Life") because without it I seriously feel like I'm dead (I assume this is what heroine addicts feel like when they go cold-turkey). I got home yesterday evening and was so tired and useless that I even missed the gym. I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep. This morning when I finally woke up I was still tired, even though I got double the dosage of my normal sleep.

This morning was terrible, convulsing and foaming at the mouth (okay perhaps not that bad) but with my head pounding, I was stumbling around as if drunk. A lot of people, have been giving me moral support and telling me of similar stories of when they kicked their smoking habit or quit coffee (I think there should be a support group for people like us). I'm really appreciative of the support in this trying time. But for the record I have no intention of quitting coffee, quitting is for losers (and I ain't no loser). In fact I can't: "Coffee is Life" remember and caffeine is not the only reason that keeps me hooked. It's the taste too...that mind blowingly, bitter, chocolaty, goodness.

Damn I love the taste. I was determined to go the entire day without anything, just water but eventually I gave into temptation. I ran off to the closest coffee shop and even settled for a decaff Americano (fake coffee) just so I could try trick my senses into believing that I was feeding it with that sweet black nectar. Decaff coffee is to coffee drinkers what Nicotine patches are too smokers; not nearly as satisfying...but at least it takes the edge off.

The day is almost done I'm feeling more human. I think that it's because I might finally have kicked the caffeine dependency. I can't imagine it getting much worse...

Coffee Overload

WOWA! Definitely hit the upper limit of the caffeine tolerance today, started with a quick Vida on my way to work. Even though my work has it's own coffee machine...it's never as good. So on the way from the car park to my office I always tend to sneak in, to grab a quick cuppa...there's also a shorter route from my car park to the office, but somehow I always manage to take the more "scenic" coffee route.

If I don't have enough coffee in my system I'm not productive, period...today in contrast to yesterday I was a little hyper. Yesterday I only had one cup, and this only happened late in the morning, as a result I made tons of mistakes, my brain was slow and I was about as productive as a bull in a china shop...exactly! I wasn't productive at all in fact I was completely anti-productive.

Today in contrast I had 3 cups of coffee by 10am, and was as sharp as a tack. I was firing off really constructive advice to our clients in our weekly Friday meetings. After which I loaded up on some more coffee, corrected all the bad work I did yesterday, finished my work for today, and on top of that did some additional research. Hoohoo somebody stop me...seriously somebody stop me. All this caffeine is making me feel weird...am I supposed to feel like I'm having an out of body experience? And is my left eye supposed to twitch like this?

Post Long-Weekend Depression

A quick follow up on yesterdays post, so Mister Brown is apparently the Taiwanese Starbucks! My cousin filled me in, they are also available in Los Angeles, and on her recent travels to Taiwan she said that she stumbled upon a Mister Brown’s Café: “like Starbucks only with more comfortable sofas”, were her words! Absolutely no doubt I’ll be on a mission the next time I’m in that area.

Long weekends are great…my only gripe with them, however is that they never seem to be long enough! Sure if you have a Monday off like we did yesterday, the week is shorter but the “New Monday”…errr that’s Tuesday, takes for freakin’ ever to end. I chalk it up to post long-weekend depression.

The little rest makes one believe that there is hope…hope that one has actually conquered the rat race and no longer have to partake in the grueling labour that is reality. But in actuality it lifts you up; just to send you crashing down again! “Stop playing with my emotions, darn you!”

I reckon if they give you a Monday off they should just cancel the whole week… Along with my plans to institute 3 day work weeks, the cancellation of work on a “long weekend” falls under my “Benny for President” campaign as referred to in a previous post. Are you guys still certain you won’t vote for me?

Sure the country would most probably fall into economic disarray, but I’d be too busy doing state visits to the South of France, eating fromage and baguettes to even notice or to have it have an affect on me…Anyways enough poo shooting… there was some solace amongst the arduous “New Monday” and it came in the form of a skinny, mucho cappuccino from Vida.

Livin' La Vida Loca

Another morning and another Vida ! I’m a crazy fan of the Vida brand, and love how it has flourished and grown organically, as the marketing fundis might say. Since the very first Vida cappuccino I had, from the Kloof Street branch, a few years back; I haven’t been able to get enough of them. I think I’m addicted to their baked confectioneries, sandwiches and in particular their coffees. Perhaps someone can prove me wrong but I think their stuff is laced with crack!

A lot of Vida’s success amounts to the passion the people, associated with the brand exude. The staff are highly effective, happily friendly and well trained, and because of this: top notch products and service are produced each and every time. I always feel more, lively when an energetic staff member greets me with a “Howzit Bubba! What can I get you?” And perhaps it’s the combination of the energy from the staff and caffeine fix that gets me buzzing for the rest of the day.

Martin Luther King might have had a dream, but I have a loyalty card…so maybe he’s dream may trump my loyalty card but I think the deal you get is still pretty damn dreamy: Basically the deal with the card is you get 10% off of whatever you spend, straight back to the card every time you swipe it…In the beginning I had no clue how the thing worked, but I signed up and swiped it, each time anyways. I figured I went so often that, at some stage, it was bound to pay off. Eventually one day one of the guys cracked, and asked me why I hadn’t used my loyalty card yet, since I must have accumulated a heck of a lot of Vida credits!

Life for a while, after that fateful day was sweet! And I had a free Vida coffee everyday for close to a month. I’ve been swiping my card without using my credits for a while again so as soon as I build up enough credits! I’ll be Livin’ La Vida Loca! Baby!