Chenda's sober ramblings.

[zbigi]

Must be from one of those subs patrolling Lake Geneva.

[Jean]

No, it's a french company. It was pricey, but there was no other option that didn't require to redo ou water system from zero.

[chenda]

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Portugal has had some bad earthquakes and tsunamis in the past, but it doesn't seem to get them regularly.

[chenda]

I have just had a coffee for the first time in a few months and I'm buzzing like I'm on crack. I mean I have never tried crack and I'm not sure what it is exactly but it feels good! A weird feeling of peace and joy fills me like I'm an overflowing fountain of love. I think this might be the substitute for alcohol I need. The occasional double expresso - cafe duplo as they say in Portuguese - is the hit I need. And a healthy hit. But only to be used sparingly on special occasions.

[guitarplayer]

This is my experience with coffee as well, I'd been telling DW and @jean about it and they seemed puzzled.

@chenda I don't remember exactly, are you in Portugal permanently?

[chenda]

@guitarplayer - Not permanently, at least not yet.

I suspect some people are more sensitive to stimulants than others, even after long periods of abstinence.

[Jean]

Coffee starts to disrupt my hearth and stomach in relatively low quantities, so i never took enough to notice an effect on my brain.

[7Wannabe5]

I've given up coffee during periods when it seemed inadvisable, such as pregnancy and when suffering from acute Crohn's disease, but I always come back. You will understand the depth of your addiction if/when you find yourself in an isolated camper in an ice storm and you realize that you only have whole beans and no grinder, so you crush each bean with a pair of pliers until you have formed a pile of shards adequate to brew your needed fix, or when you find yourself visiting somebody who only has a dusty can of instant coffee hidden in the depth of their cupboard and you are willing to drink it in that vile form, or you are willing to cut the corner off of an old sheet to serve as your filter, etc. etc. etc.

[guitarplayer]

I would just munch on the beans, and an old instant coffee reminds me of Cameron Highlands, alongside the papayas I had there.

I've been actively considering roasting a little jar’s worth of dry unroasted coffee beans I have in a popcorn maker the past few days. There's no end to these sensory yet intellectual adventures.

[Biscuits and Gravy]

Somewhere @chenda mentioned how quitting coffee reduced their anxiety, so I switched to decaf a few months ago to see if I could lower my naturally high baseline anxiety. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my newfound chillness. I get to keep the ritual, I no longer fear caffeine withdrawal headaches, and spotting a roach doesn’t send me three feet into the air anymore.