Only The Bald Know How Hard It Rains
I don't believe in many drugs. All the miracle effects that people purport to obtain from smoking, drinking, snorting, injecting, or absorbing their substance of choice simply aren't there for me. Every time I've consumed substantial amounts of alcohol, it's never succeeded in impairing my reason, judgment, or speech. I smoked pot and didn't understand the hubbub surrounding it. The differences I perceive between tested medicines and sugar-based placebos are practically nil. In short, I generally don't believe that chemicals have any effect over me. Such a perspective may be setting me up for unhealthy delusions of indestructibility, but I've not been proved wrong...with one exception.
Coffee is the one substance which works as advertised - and then some. The conversations I tend to embark upon while fueled by bottomless cups of coffee at late-night dining establishments can resemble flying in a plane with no wings; it's not unusual for me to have a (not literal) out-of-body experience where I realize that I am rambling on at long intervals about topics which, hours later, I will have no recollection of, much less any insight about. Coffee gets me instantly ambitious about any idea, whether it be fascinating or frivolous, practical or implausible, completely unexplored or completely overdone. The very entry you are reading now was written based upon a late-night whim of caffeine-fueled inspiration. In fact, I think it's safe to say that most of my ideas will never be developed or carried out without coffee being involved in some way.
And that's not a bad thing. Coffee may be a vice, but, as vices go, this one is for me. I've long believed that creation is one of the most beautiful things that a human being can do. Given a blank piece of paper, man can use it in an infinite amount of ways in order to enlighten and educate himself and others. And, if there is a better meaning of life than the enlightenment and education of one's self and others, I surely have not heard it. But one cannot enlighten or educate others without the initial spark of inspiration, which is ever-fleeting. If Greek myths spoke of an ambrosia that can help us capture and develop this elusive butterfly of creative thought, it would be relegated only to the gods, kept cloaked in mystery, and forbidden from the fallible clutches of mere mortals. As it is, you can get a decent cup of this ambrosia in any restaurant in this country, usually for no more than a buck fifty.
For those about to brew, we salute you.
Coffee is the one substance which works as advertised - and then some. The conversations I tend to embark upon while fueled by bottomless cups of coffee at late-night dining establishments can resemble flying in a plane with no wings; it's not unusual for me to have a (not literal) out-of-body experience where I realize that I am rambling on at long intervals about topics which, hours later, I will have no recollection of, much less any insight about. Coffee gets me instantly ambitious about any idea, whether it be fascinating or frivolous, practical or implausible, completely unexplored or completely overdone. The very entry you are reading now was written based upon a late-night whim of caffeine-fueled inspiration. In fact, I think it's safe to say that most of my ideas will never be developed or carried out without coffee being involved in some way.
And that's not a bad thing. Coffee may be a vice, but, as vices go, this one is for me. I've long believed that creation is one of the most beautiful things that a human being can do. Given a blank piece of paper, man can use it in an infinite amount of ways in order to enlighten and educate himself and others. And, if there is a better meaning of life than the enlightenment and education of one's self and others, I surely have not heard it. But one cannot enlighten or educate others without the initial spark of inspiration, which is ever-fleeting. If Greek myths spoke of an ambrosia that can help us capture and develop this elusive butterfly of creative thought, it would be relegated only to the gods, kept cloaked in mystery, and forbidden from the fallible clutches of mere mortals. As it is, you can get a decent cup of this ambrosia in any restaurant in this country, usually for no more than a buck fifty.
For those about to brew, we salute you.