Pocket TROAMM

I have made it a week without caffeine.

Withdrawal symptoms are gone. I’m finding myself wanting to go to bed at 11:00 p.m., but that’s the absolute worst. I’m wondering how long this can last. I’m certainly convinced that I will someday, eventually, drink coffee again. I’m only 30 years old. I have at least ten more years ahead of me. I have at least four more semesters left to earn my Master’s. I’m going to need coffee at some point.

Just not sure when that’s going to be. I’m really enjoying sleeping at nights.

The tarot card reader, who does her readings out of a shack on the bus line, just took down the hand-painted “25% off first reading” sign. Missed my chance.

Day 3 Without Caffeine…

Headache’s gone.

Went to bed at 8:30 last night, and slept for ten hours. Still sluggish and slow. Still can’t think straight. Still want coffee.

Need to go grocery shopping, but I don’t want to go outside. The sun is outside. It’s bright. I’m scared to death the headache will come back. Plus, there are also people outside. And I effin’ hate people right now.

Don’t go cold turkey, try decaf. It may just be a need for hot brown liquid of any kind.

 Decaf blows.

Day 2 Without Caffeine…

I decided to quit caffeine a couple days ago. I drank the last little bit of caffeinated drink left in my house on Monday, actively avoided the coffee shop yesterday, and set my face in grim determination to bear all of the pain.

Woke up at 2 a.m. with a splitting headache. Took some pills. Back to sleep. Woke up at 7. Still have the headache. It’s lingering. Not as bad as it was last night, but it’s still there. I’m sluggish and irritated at everything, and drinking water like a fish.

I began thinking that coffee had no effect on me, since I always seemed to be tired, no matter how much I drank. Now I see that’s not the case. The caffeine was keeping me balanced and normal. Now I’m messed up.

Books ‘n’ Stuff…

I’m a Kindle user. Two years ago, I bought one for my trip to NYC, and I’ve never looked back. It’s convenient, easy to read and most of the books are cheaper. On top of that, I’ve never been one to romanticize books. I read books for the stories, not the “feeling of the pages between my fingers.” Blech. I felt pretentious just typing that.

That isn’t to say I hate books. I love books. I just prefer e-books, at the moment. Which brings us to today. I haven’t bought a fiction e-book in about seven months. Why not? Because, for the past six months, I have worked in a library. It’s hard to justify laying down ten bucks for an e-book, when I pass the physical book on the shelf every day.

That leaves any e-book purchases to impulse buys, which was still very much a possibility. Until last weekend. Omaha got rocked by a pretty extreme thunderstorm on Saturday night. ‘A’ and I were in Target buying scotch tape when the storm started. Attempting to wait out the rain, we headed out of Target and into the adjoining mall, which eventually found us in Barnes and Noble. As we walked along the aisles, I came across a book I read as a teenager.* I asked if she had ever read it, and she said no. I told her a little about it, and she asked me if I could get it from the library. My first instinct was to say I would just buy it and download it on my Kindle, but as she wasn’t quite ready to start reading it yet, the need for immediacy wasn’t there. I said I would look when I got home.

We had the book, but it was at a different branch. It was then I really discovered the hold system. I’ve known about our hold system since I started working here, but I’ve never used it. From the website, I clicked a single button to place a hold on the book. It asked me where I wanted to pick it up. I selected the downtown branch, where I work. The book came in today’s extension shipment. It would have been here Monday, had the branch, where the book was located, not been closed on Sunday and Monday.

So, with price, convenience and speed covered, it makes me wonder when exactly I’m going to buy my next book on the Kindle. I guess it might be different if I didn’t work at the library. I’m here three or four days a week. I’m not making an extra trip. I guess this’ll probably last to at least the Fall. Then I quit the library. I guess we’ll see then.

* Taliesin by Steven Lawhead

storybursts replied to your post: Pulled out my DM hat for the first time in two years…

Please tell me you have an actual, physical hat and that this isn’t just a metaphor.

It is a metaphorical hat. I should get an actual, physical DM hat.