Caffeine

I recently gave up pop for Lent. I’m not Catholic, but seeing if you have the discipline to give up something you like is an interesting exercise. Since I quit pop short-term, I’m considering making it a permanent deletion. Having more money in my pocket, and less chemicals in my body, seems like a good idea. I am cheating a little, though, by drinking more iced tea than ever. I can make tea at home, but can’t produce diet Dr Pepper in my kitchen. Years ago, I had some minor success with making homemade root beer. I quit that, though, because root beer doesn’t have caffeine in it. That’s why Mormons avoid pop, but drink gallons of root beer. For them, Mountain Dew is “right out” (Monty Python). I truly love caffeine. It is the one thing I will admit being addicted to. Caffeine is Magical Stuff. I tried to quit caffeine a couple of times, but the constant yawning was embarrassing. “No, you don’t bore me. I just haven’t had any pop yet, today. OK, you do bore me – but only a little.” I don’t understand the point of coffees and teas that are decaffeinated. Neither taste that good naturally, without being doctored up a little. They are acquired tastes, to give us a delivery vehicle for caffeine. Most of us did way too much caffeine in our college years, but the body can shunt more abuse when we’re young. If caffeine was your only abuse in college, you did far better than most.