If you're new to the blog, this post explains what's going on.
Sure, a pig roast is fun, and it’s always interesting to have a couple dozen of Normandy and Ed’s friends come for the weekend, but the most exciting part of our 4th of July weekend was waking up at three and brewing up a nice french press of coffee. I learned from my chocolate disaster - by spacing my three small cups throughout the day I avoided any ill effects. In fact, as when Ed and I cheated on the drive back from a market a couple months ago, drinking coffee brought nothing but joy to my day.
At the outset of this project one of my hopes was that my self-imposed asceticism would help me appreciate everyday items I might otherwise take for granted. With that in mind, here is a list of things that are great about coffee:
1.) It suffuses the body and mind with a pleasant alertness.
2.) It is a warm breeze that disperses the fog of tiredness.
3.) Like more traditionally celebratory beverages it fosters conviviality between friends and family, but unlike alcohol it sharpens conversation rather than dulling it.
4.) If I was drinking coffee daily I would probably write twice as many blog posts, and they’d be four times as entertaining on average.
5.) In a culture bereft of anything like a universal, meaningful ritual, the act of rising and taking the time to enjoy a beverage at the same time as millions of my countrymen fosters a universal sense of kinship. Well, I guess it’s not shared by people who don’t like coffee, but we don’t need to worry about them.
6.) When I drink coffee I feel an abiding love for the world and all its inhabitants, a love that deepens with each sip.
7.) Wait, why am I not drinking coffee every day?
8.) Seriously, reading over that list, I suddenly feel hollow, like this whole thing is a misguided farce.
9.) My life is empty without coffee.
10.) Six more months.
11.) Six meaningless months.
-Garth
