Habits

Wow. Yesterday evening the rain rolled in. It went from blue sky to raining in about an hour, and it's still raining this morning. This should make my grass go ballistic, or grow ballistic. I'll have to mow it some evening this week since I'll be in DC over next weekend. The trees are leafing out nicely, so I'll have my privacy back soon.

I'm a caffeine addict. I'm working on about my 7th cup of coffee this morning. When I started my current job I didn't drink coffee. I started with an occasional cup here and there and progressed to where I am now, which is 6 - 10 cups every morning. The only time I don't drink coffee is when I'm out camping. I start hiking early in the mornings and don't hang out in the campsite drinking coffee. I'll have very little caffeine period the whole time I'm out camping although I drink an occasional Coke. Mostly I'll be drinking water and Gatorade for hydration purposes. I'm not sure why I don't get a caffeine headache, or rather a headache from caffeine withdrawal other than that maybe I have endorphins from the physical activity. If I don't drink my usual caffeine load when I'm at work I often have a headache by mid-afternoon. I should really cut down, but it's pretty much my only physical addiction. I quit smoking back in 1989. Alcohol, I probably have less than a drink a week, although it can be more than that on occasion. *laughing* I drink more alcohol- than caffeine-containing drinks while I'm out camping because of a tradition I have of drinking a beer to celebrate setting up a new campsite or returning to a campsite after a hike.

My other addiction isn't a physical one. I'm addicted to anime. Japanese animation, for anyone who doesn't know what anime is. What makes it an addiction is the amount of time I spend watching it, and the amount of money I spend on DVDs, CDs, manga and other anime-related products. As addictions go, it's probably not very harmful since I can afford it, both time- and money-wise. It does gain me some strange looks on occasion, mostly from family members and friends when they see how much anime-stuff is in my house. Still, being 'normal' would be boring, wouldn't it?

A less harmless habit than the anime is my general love of shopping/spending money. I blame it on one of two things: 1) I was twisted by being below the poverty level for so many years as a graduate student, so now that I have money to spend, I spend it. Or 2) I have multiple copies of a shopping gene (located on the X chromosome, of course) and all of my copies are up-regulated. I suppose it could be a combination of both of those theories. Absolutely nothing lifts my spirits like spending money. Until I get the bills of course, but then I can cure the depression of bills by going shopping, so it's something of a vicious cycle. I'm getting it under control though. Citibank actually helped me by being so horrible. I stopped using them and opened new accounts elsewhere. Except I'm paying off my new cards every month, and slowly paying down the Citibank card, so it ended up being all good. Who knew I might have to eventually thank them one day for being such *delete, delete, delete* . . . . a fun group to work with.